Summary: Documenting an experiment with the effects of social cycling on bike use in young women from Darlington, England, Beauty and the Bike shows a compelling vision of how attainable a cycling culture can be with the right equipment, social network, and basic bicycle infrastructure like bike lanes and paths.
Beauty and the Bike
Darlington Media Group
55 min, In English and German
DVD (PAL format only) available from the Beauty and the Bike website for £14 plus shipping.
Overall Impressions: 4.5/5
The new documentary Beauty and the Bike comes at a fortuitous time. There has been a lot of discussion within the bike industry and within transportation policy lately about how the role of women in cycling is a critical part of creating wide spread adoption of the bicycle for everyday transportation. In countries with significant bike usage, there is a correlation between the number of women cycling and how widespread cycling is adopted within the culture. The current theory goes that if we can get more women riding and get the biking gender split close to 50-50 (it’s currently 66% male in the U.S.) we’ll see an accelerated shift to more and more of the population living their life on two wheels. Since women are still the primary errand runners in most households, their choice of biking instead of driving to the grocery store, picking up kids, etc will have an even larger impact on how cycling is perceived and how many cars there are on the road.
Beauty and the Bike follows a group of teenage women from Darlington, England and their German counterparts in bike friendly Bremen to explore why so few English girls ride bikes beyond childhood. In discussions about urban cycling, it’s easy as Americans to fixate on cycling meccas like Amsterdam and Copenhagen and assume the rest of Europe is closer to these cities on the alternative transportation spectrum than American suburban sprawl. In fact when I bring up European transportation innovations as a possibility here, I’m often met with the argument that what works in Europe won’t work here because Europe is different. It’s as if we think Europeans are a different species and do not react to the same stimuli as genus Americanus.
As we’ve seen recently in Hungary, the Europeans can cling to car culture and fight infrastructure for bicycles just as well as we can. While England has a more developed rail system than much of the U.S., much of the country is very car focused with suburban development the norm (albeit on smaller lots.) The film begins by showing how car dominant the Darlington streets are and interviewing the women on why they do not bike.
Early focus of the film is on the equipment. The participants mention the fact that the sports bikes that are offered in the market do not allow you to reasonably wear fashionable clothes. Peer pressure also looms with many girls saying since none of their friends bike and biking is seen as odd, they do not feel encouraged to ride.
The Darlington project attempts to address these concerns by providing classically attractive and functional Dutch bikes and using the test group as the social network to provide support for the new two wheeled lifestyle. Watching these young women joyfully riding their uprights in dresses and heals is one of the best parts of this film and is inspiring to think about what an empowering tool the bike could be.
With their Dutch bikes chosen, the women head to Bremen, Germany, a city where 25% of the population commutes by bike. They join German counterparts to ride the city and are exposed to bike paths and other infrastructure throughout the city that invite all users to get on bikes. They also see a culture where motorists give deference on the road to vulnerable users like cyclists and pedestrians.
After an enjoyable time riding in Bremen, the Darlington ladies are confronted with the automobile dominated roads of their town upon returning home. Some are yelled at by passing motorists to get off the road while others are made fun of by their peers. Two ride to school and find no bike racks, being forced to lock up to a street lamp. Several of the women stop riding. Having the right bike is not enough. The social support of their fellow participants helps a few women get back on the bike but clearly the lack of even a bike lane on the road provides a real barrier to continued cycling.
Beauty and the Bike focuses much screen time to arguing for better bike facilities as the key to getting more people on two wheels. While I am in agreement with this sentiment, I think this film is far more interesting because it deals with the social pressures and interactions that cause individuals to make certain decisions. Alternative transportation policy usually focuses on big infrastructure improvements like bike paths and rail lines and often leaves out consideration of the interaction of persons with the improvement. Yes, we need great projects, but we also need to think about the psychology of asking people to dramatically change their lifestyle. How can the broader public visualize the bicycle as a viable alternative? We must make biking as attractive as possible while providing the social support system to encourage continued use. Most people do not want to be the only person biking or put on the costume (helmet, reflective clothing, clip-in shoes) that identify them as different from their friends. I believe addressing these issues will be as critical as building bike paths in getting more people on bikes.
Beauty and the Bike does an excellent job of discussing the barriers to entry for cycling in the majority culture in a positive, uplifting narrative. The filmmakers have provided a film that will not only spark conversation but make you want to go out and make its vision a reality. This film is highly recommended viewing for anyone who has, is, or ever will ride a bike.
(NOTE: The current DVD offered of Beauty and the Bike offered by The Darlington Media Group is PAL formatted. This European video format is not playable on most, NTSC only U.S. DVD players. It is however, playable via the DVD media players on most computers.)
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on Jan 20th, 2010 at 8:18 am
Dear friends from Austin, thank you very much for this splendid comment and review to our film. We agree very much with you that the social background and pressure are as important as the infrastructure on main and busy roads when it comes to the question, why women and teenagers do not cycle.
As you can see on our web site, we also produced a bilingual book (German-English) with lots of pictures, in which we explore further and deeper into the social question that lies behind it. We are going to send it to Elliott for review.
By the way: My ancestors used to live in Austin, Texas in the 19th century! I know that there are quite a few relatives of mine out there! And there is the “Wupperman Little Theatre”!