Easy Rider: A Pursuit of American Identity

Easy Rider: An Epic journey into the unknown

For the American dream

Easy Rider is the late 1960s "road film" tale of a search for freedom (or the illusion of freedom) and an identity in America, in the midst of paranoia, bigotry and violence. The story, of filmmakers' Fonda/Hopper creation, centers around the self-styled, counter-cultured, neo-frontiersmen of the painfully fashionable late 60s. As for the meaning of Easy rider, Peter Fonda (Wyatt) said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Ў§it is a southern term for a whoreЎ¦s old man, not a pimp, but a dude who lives with a chick. Because heЎ¦s got the easy ride. Well, thatЎ¦s whatЎ¦s happened to America, man. LibertyЎ¦s become a whore, and weЎ¦re all taking an easy rideЎЁ . However, their journey is far from an easy ride; it is a unsettling, frightening and revealing experience rounded up in self-destruction.

Introduction to Easy Rider (1969)

Easy Rider is a counter-cultural, experimental, independent film for the alternative youth/cult market, with sex, drugs, casual violence, reflecting the collapse of the idealistic 60s.

The film does not have a clear plot, and its artistic merit is also doubtful, as a film critic Peter Biskind said, Ў§It had little background or historical development of characters, a lack of typical heroes, uneven pacing, jump cuts and flash-forward transitions between scenes, an improvisational style and mood of acting and dialogue, background rock 'n' roll music to complement the narrative, and the equation of motorbikes with freedom on the road rather than with delinquent behaviors.ЎЁ

However, it presents an image of the popular and historical culture of the time and a story of a contemporary but destructive journey by two self-righteous, drug-fueled, anti-hero bikers eastward through the American Southwest.

Their trip to Mardi Gras in New Orleans takes them through limitless, untouched landscapes including Monument Valley, various towns, a hippie commune, and a graveyard. However, they inevitably encountered local residents who are narrow-minded and hateful of their long-haired freedom and use of drugs.

Extremely successful and low-budget, this film has won the 1969 Cannes Film FestivalЎ¦s award for the Best Film by a new director. The film also received two Academy Award nominations: Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Jack Nicholson in one of his earlier, widely-praised roles.

A Counter Culture Background

Counter culture is cultural & political challenge to mainstream values and practices in the 1960s in America. It is roughly divided into three stages: an early stage prior to 1968, when the civil rights movement and youthful optimism predominated; a middle stage characterized by intense polarization; and a late stage when new activist groups such as womenЎ¦s liberationists emerged, placing the end of the counter culture in the early 1970s. At the same time there is a crack in the mass consciousness of AmericaЎXsudden emergence of insight into a vast national subconscious netherworld filled with nerve gases, universal death bombs, malevolent bureaucracies, secret police systems, drugs that open the door to God, ship leaving Earth, unknown chemical terrors, evil dreams at hand.

The 60Ў¦s for the youth is an era of sexual libertarianism, angry politicism, vehement rejection of authority, and widespread experiment with drugs. Easy Rider is indeed one of the rallying points of the late 60Ў¦s, a buddy picture, crossed with sex, drugs, rock and roll, and the heeding freedom of the open road. Influenced by the rockЎ¦nЎ¦roll, aftermath of cold war and the beat writers, the youth were growing more discontent, despite the seeming prosperity and conformity. The youth audiences were especially fond of this film because it represents a reflection of their hopes of liberation and fears of the Establishment.

Themes of Easy Rider and its Counter Culture Elements

When films emblematic of 1960s American Counter Culture are mentioned, Easy Rider comes to the fore. Wyatt and Billy, suggest the two memorable Western outlaws Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid (two buddies). Their costumes combine traditional patriotic symbols with emblems of loneliness, criminality and alienation, the American flag, cowboy decorations, long-hair, and drugs. They have sacrificed a lot because of their peculiar outlook and behaviors, which are controversial for their non-conformist style.

With their unconventionality, the film has also manifested a break from modern society and defying the rules of mainstream society. At the beginning of their trip,