Briggs perception of an auto mechanic is interesting. I wonder if in the early years, the job was much more perceived as a middle class one (and on the higher end of that range). There’s a secondary plot in either a late season of Downton Abbey, or one of the movies, that correlates with this. It is certainly the case that the skilled mechanic was in a different stratum as the gas station attendant or ‘grease monkey’. (which was probably always the case, but growing up any given auto mechanic could also be called (and not meaning with disrespect) ‘grease monkey’)
(One thing to note is by 1928 we really weren’t in the ‘early days’ of mass automobile production anymore. The Model T had launched twenty years prior and in fact had just finished its final production run the previous year)Report
I remember one of the previous cartoons where the mechanic was coded as a somewhat recent immigrant to the country.
In that one, he came across as… well. I don’t want to say lower middle, but definitely not higher than middle middle.Report
Yeah, that’s definitely a different take than this one on the profession and the social status it is perceived as having. And only a year apart, so it’s not a change between artistic eras.Report
Briggs perception of an auto mechanic is interesting. I wonder if in the early years, the job was much more perceived as a middle class one (and on the higher end of that range). There’s a secondary plot in either a late season of Downton Abbey, or one of the movies, that correlates with this. It is certainly the case that the skilled mechanic was in a different stratum as the gas station attendant or ‘grease monkey’. (which was probably always the case, but growing up any given auto mechanic could also be called (and not meaning with disrespect) ‘grease monkey’)
(One thing to note is by 1928 we really weren’t in the ‘early days’ of mass automobile production anymore. The Model T had launched twenty years prior and in fact had just finished its final production run the previous year)Report
I remember one of the previous cartoons where the mechanic was coded as a somewhat recent immigrant to the country.
In that one, he came across as… well. I don’t want to say lower middle, but definitely not higher than middle middle.Report
Yeah, that’s definitely a different take than this one on the profession and the social status it is perceived as having. And only a year apart, so it’s not a change between artistic eras.Report