Easy Rider, released in 1969 and directed by Dennis Hopper, gives a glance into the hippie lifestyle that was so big in the 1960’s. The hippie movement revolved around the use of psychedelic drugs by the young American population. This movie follows two hipsters on their journey across the United States, from the Mexican border through the southern United States to finally end up in New Orleans, Louisiana for Mardi Gras. Their destination of Mardi Gras is very specific, and is chosen because of what Mardi Gras symbolizes. Mardi Gras represents freedom and the ability to live in the moment without concern of consequences down the road. On their journey, they receive not only love and friendship, but also face persecution. In Easy Rider, the “hippie” movement and the freedom which is embodied through the use of drugs attracts anger from the rest of society who in turn persecute those who are a part of this counterculture. Hopper portrays drug usage in a positive way that allows people to be more down to earth and less judgmental.
The movie starts in what seems to be Mexico, where the two main characters, named Wyatt and Billy, participate in a drug deal for cocaine with a Mexican drug lord. After buying the cocaine, they travel back to America to meet a man who seems to be of a very high social class, signified by his chauffeur, his Rolls Royce, and his extravagant clothes. The man then buys the cocaine from them, leaving our main characters with a large sum of cash. Up to this point in the movie, there is not a single word spoken. The only thing the audience observes are the events leading up to the sale of the cocaine. This put the emphasis immediately on the drugs, setting the tone for what’s important in the rest of the movie. It also set the scene of the film by giving Wyatt and Billy the money needed to begin their journey across the country. In this important opening sequence implies that freedom and drugs go hand in hand. Drug use is a theme that is explored throughout the movie. After the drug deal concludes, the scene shifts to displaying the motorcycles that Wyatt and Billy ride for the rest of the movie and symbolize freedom on the open road, without the confinement of a car. These motorcycles are an important part of the character’s personality’s and lifestyle. Motorcycles generally represent freedom for the rider, and the open road, a blank canvas to go wherever he likes. It is no different for our main characters in Easy Rider. In fact, one of the motorcycles, ridden by Wyatt, is designed with an American flag, stars and stripes livery. The American Flag is another symbol for freedom. These symbols for freedom all relate back to the general tone of the decade. It was all about freedom, peace, and love. Their freedom to ride wherever the road takes them and go against the typical American lifestyle provides a sample of the counterculture in the hippie movement. The overarching theme of persecution by society is explored throughout the movie and provides a basis for the argument that hippies are wrongfully persecuted in society. After the introductory scenes, Wyatt and Billy ride up to a motel with a vacancy sign on. When they ride up and ask for a room, the owner sees the two of them and then immediately goes back inside and turns the “No Vacancy” sign on, slamming the door behind him. This incident introduces the fact that people in the counterculture hippie movement are disliked by most of society. That’s why in some areas, hippies would form their own communities, away from the persecution of society. On their journey, our main characters meet a group of people who also live the hipster lifestyle and embrace it. This coalition of independent people live a sustainable lifestyle, growing their own food and living off the land. They primarily smoke “grass” or marijuana, and share everything that they have. The director added this scene and setting to help the audience appreciate the hippie movement and the happiness and freedom that come with it. This is an important example of bias from the director. Even though much of society would frown upon this sort of lifestyle, the director shows this scene in such a positive way that the audience can’t help but appreciate the freedom that they have. As nice as this place was, when the main characters were extended offers to stay, they had to refuse, saying that they had to get to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. This important scene showed the audience why the hipster lifestyle is so appealing to Wyatt and Billy. The film now transitions from showing the great lifestyle and all the benefits that come from living a free life as a hippie to a focus on the negative persecution they suffer at the hands of the rest of society. The scholarly work titled “The Road Movie Book”, edited by Steven Cohan and Ina Rae Hark, talks about what keeps Wyatt and Billy from achieving their utopian version of America. According to the article, the persecution from the redneck Southern culture prevents them from having the freedom which they desire so much (Cohan and Hark, 1997). The scene that depicts Wyatt and Billy being arrested for parading without a permit supports this argument. They were just gleefully following a parade through a small southern town, when they were arrested and treated like “animals” in jail by a southern police officer. This persecution persists throughout the rest of their journey in the South. While in jail, Wyatt and Billy meet an alcoholic lawyer named George Hansen who is incarcerated with them. It was ironic for Hansen to be in the jail since he is an attorney. In the film, Hansen symbolizes the blurring of the line between society and the hipster movement. His upper-class status is contrasted by his alcoholism that shows he is unsatisfied with his everyday life. He also longs for freedom and to just pick up and go to Mardi Gras. He joins the two men and they hit the road for New Orleans again. During their journey, Wyatt introduces Hansen to grass. Hansen is reluctant to try it because of the problems he already has with alcohol. The film’s bias here is clearly seen when Wyatt convinces Hansen that grass is not bad at all and in fact is much better than alcohol. The film portrays this drug as a means towards relaxation and analyzation as the group discuss different ways the world operates. It is important to stop and address the use of scene editing used in the production of Easy Rider. When transitioning from one scene to another, the director inserts a set of quick flashes from another scene in the movie. We later come to find that the scenes being displayed are from the very end of the movie where our main characters are killed. Since they are on drugs much of the time, we are led to believe one of two things. The first option is that these flashes are visions for the characters on what they see coming. The drugs are inducing psychedelic hallucinations of their demise. The other option is that all the scenes in this movie are just flashbacks. What we are seeing is all the recent events of their life flash before their eyes. In both scenarios, their use of drugs impacts them greatly. From the viewer’s perspective, throughout the movie we are unaware of what these visions are, which further reinforces the idea that the psychedelic drugs create these visions. The film does this to foreshadow the characters’ deaths, creating a sense of tension for the viewer with the knowledge that something bad is going to happen. Eventually Wyatt, Billy, and Hansen all make it to New Orleans. While in New Orleans, a group of southern men they see at a café assault them in their sleep, killing Hansen. His death symbolizes society’s overall inability to accept others who are different. It shows that society isn’t ready for the free thinking, and free living lifestyle of the hipster movement. This event also shows how even though the hipsters believe they are living free, they are not. The persecution they face keeps them from being free. Donald P. Costello, a professor emeritus of English at Notre Dame University addresses this point in his article titled “Counterculture to Anticulture”. Costello argues that society fears Wyatt and Billy because they are free; however, in reality they are not free at all. Their “enslavement to easy money and instant pleasure” prevents them from being free (Costello, 1972). More evidence for this claim comes when they make it to Mardi Gras, now without Hansen. Wyatt and Billy go to a whore house and take hookers through the streets of Mardi Gras. They take a drug that seems to have the effects of LSD and stumble through the city on a high. After this experience, Wyatt proclaims that they “blew it”, meaning he blew his chance to be free. Soon after this, Wyatt and Billy are driving down the road when a couple of rednecks pull up beside them, and shoot them both with a shotgun in a shocking ending. The director finishes the scene with a slow zoom out camera shot, showing the carnage of the burning motorcycle that had been shown in earlier flashes in between scenes. The use of this scene gives the movie a chilling sense of finality. This event showed the inability of society to accept the hippie’s different lifestyle. They were unable to understand what it meant to really be free themselves, and couldn’t support someone who could. Easy Rider portrays the 60’s hippie movement in a way that I had not thought of it before. It’s focus on freedom is the most interesting argument to me. Throughout the movie, we are led to believe that Wyatt and Billy are the very definition of free, from the symbolism on Wyatt’s motorcycle, to the hippie lifestyle that revolves around freedom from the oppression of society. In the end, it turns out that because of the persecution they face, they are in fact trapped in oppression themselves. The director’s bias supported the hippie movement and encouraged the use of drugs, however it also served as a warning to not become too focused on the immediate rewards of drugs and to be aware of the problems that can come from that. The main thing I have taken away from this movie is that freedom has a different definition for everyone, and to always remember to be accepting of everyone, even if they don’t follow society’s rules. |