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Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969)     Stasia McGehee 10/28/97


I. Billy and Wyatt ride operate as lone cowboys on the desert of the American imagination. In accordance with the western genre, they are outlaws, rugged individualists, who ride into town, and then leave; ultimately they never belong. Their affinity with the frontier is highlighted when Wyatt stops to fix a flat at the old farmer’s house. While he changes his flat in the background, the farmer is shoeing his horse in the foreground. Hopper’s cowboy hat and fringed jacket is emblematic of his outlaw attitude as well as a demonstrated lack of respect towards the people he meets.

And also, in accordance with the western genre, Easy Rider celebrates the wide open spaces of the countryside. Our heroes, unable to procure lodging from polite society, sleep out in the open. And finally, women are marginalized, expendable props, admiring the bikers from the sidelines. But instead of taking from the Indians, our heroes barter with their Latin counterparts, procuring drugs and amassing illicit fortunes.

II. The music in Easy Rider operates as "dramatic superstructure," supplementing or substituting for characterization, dialogue and plot. The music of the 60’s is out front and loud; like an integrated musical, the motivated song advances and establishes the plot, substituting for dialogue while providing narrative commentary. For example, the film does not condemn the pair for their part in the drug trade; they pose as benign outlaws. In fact, by initiating the novice into the use of pot, cocaine, and LSD, the movie seems to be valorizing the drug culture of the 60’s. However, their smuggling operation is damned by the musical commentary, as Sly and the Family Stone’s song "Pusher," laments how individual greed leads to the destruction of communities. Later Jimi Hendrix "Purple Haze" gives us a glimpse into a drug-induced mindset. And finally, when they arrive at the commune, "Age of Aquarius" outlines the tenants of agrarian idealism. Other songs, like "Slow Ride" valorize a laid-back biker culture. Later the music during their acid trip in the cemetery is repetitive and dirge-like, affording a sense of entrapment and anxiety, foreshadowing their imminent demise.

III. Wyatt and Billy encounter a variety of people along their sojourn. Those who lead a self-sufficient existence, outside of society are the most welcoming. Those who are most constrained by the status quo are the most fearful and unwelcoming.

Wyatt admires the self-sufficiency of the older farmer, who seems to genuinely enjoy a sense of freedom that alludes the bikers. He is hospitable, reverent, and sensitive to his wife’s convictions; yet he is his own man, without having to travel, and without forsaking a strong sense of values.

Later they meet a fellow hippie on the road, who initiates them into commune life. Theirs is an idealistic creative community, replete with mimes, dancers, and jugglers. They have forsaken the comforts of the city to subsist on the land. Boundaries are blurred, as common space is shared among adults, children, and animals. But even in this haven of communal space, Hopper becomes hostile when denied admittance to the inner sanctum, so they must move on.

Next they meet George, a straight looking lawyer who bails them out of jail when they irreverently disrupted a parade with their motorcycles. He operates as an intermediary between hippie culture and straight society, and ends up accompanying them on their journey. Unable to find refuge among fearful townspeople, they camp out, during which time George delivers an astounding expose on UFO’s, Venusian culture, and freedom, calling in to question who is the most radical. He notes that their long hair, lack of complicity in the capitalist system, and hence their inability to be controlled inspires fear and rage among others. That night they are attacked by locals, and he is bludgeoned to death in his sleep.

Such a trauma seems to be glibly passed over, as they appear in a New Orleans brothel in the next scene. While Billy is hell-bent upon celebrating, Wyatt retreats deeply into a state of reflection, and has a momentary vision of that anticipates his own demise. In New Orleans, a religious subtext is mixed with the profane. The prostitute’s name is Mary. Their epiphany takes the form of an acid trip in an above ground cemetery.

Throughout the journey, it is clear that Billy has learned very little, intending only to settle down in some paradise with his newfound wealth. In their final encounter, they are slain like wild deer. Locals jeer at the pair, and in typical fashion, Billy flips them off. When the redneck says, "We’d better go back," it’s not to help, but to kill the still standing Wyatt. The futility of their whole endeavor is illustrated by the exploding gas tank. Containing all their wealth, and painted like the American flag, the money that is at the heart of America proves to be ephemeral.

Wyatt final pronouncement, "We blew it," an ambiguous statement, ironically foreshadowing their demise, refers to the fact that they were unable to find the America that they were looking for, or perhaps that We as a nation have blown it.


This page last updated on December 7th, 1997.
Copyright © 1997 Stasia McGehee.

Written for History of Cinema, Susan Tavernetti, F/TV-042.-0IL,  DeAnza College,  Cupertino, CA,   Fall 1997