Cars Makes My Head Hurt

I loved the movie Cars. Pixar is a great company and they have churned out some of the greatest animated films. Monsters, Inc., Toy Story 1+2, Bug's Life, The Incredibles, all classics. I love Cars' humor, I love the use of Click and Clack from NPR's Car Talk as Lightning's sponsers. But Cars, while I love the story, animation, etc., raises so many questions about the movie's universe.

First, how did it come to be just cars and no people? The place where Cars takes place is so clearly Earth, so, where is everyone? I sometimes like to imagine that Cars is a continuation of Stephen King's short story, Trucks. You know, where the cars become sentient and start killing and enslaving the humans.

It is strange though because the cars are sentient, but are they organic? They have eyes on their windshields, they think and feel. Do they have organs? Lungs? A heart? Do they reproduce, or are there just factories that make new cars? How are those run? Are there robots that make them? Are the robots sentient? How do they get rid of old cars?

Another thing that confuses me is that the cars run businesses. So, they have a currency? Do they have a banking system, a government? Also, how do they hold stuff? They have no hands. I also like to imagine that they're telekinetic.

I get a lot of flack from my friends for asking these questions. After all, it's a kids movie. It's pretend. Does it matter? Well, no. Not in the grand scheme of things. But it's hard to get into something if you have a million questions niggling your brain. I suppose I will never know the intricate details of the Cars' universe. But at least it will give me plenty of fodder for late-night musings.