Easy Rider

 Easy Rider is an film by Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper made in the late about two bikers from and who travel through the South of the , financing their trip with the proceeds from a cocaine deal.

 The is a movement first found in literature which gave birth to books such as On The Road by Jack Kerouac, ancestors to the film Easy Rider. What is more, these authors were seeded in a post-war society and therefore felt the need to illustrate the culture and politics of their time. Youth felt the need to get detached from the mayhem the fountainhead (the parents and the government) had gotten into during the war and that was having heavy repercussions in the whole of the United States. This led to the search for sexual freedom and the experimentation of psychedelic drugs.

Whyatt and Billy decide to break some acid with two prostitutes they payed for and with whom they spent the night. The scene takes place in a cemetery at dawn which makes reference to the death of the characters at the end of the film. Moreover, the drug allows them to open up and adventurate their souls, this makes them uncivilised and they obtain a certain "state of nature" where there is no place for taboos. Furthermore, this scene is typically from the as the cinematography and the music is meant to make us hear, see and feel like the characters, this makes the secne even more distressing but a grandiose work of art.

 

By the same token, various countercultures are formed at that time such as and that choose to live a life away from capitalism and old value. As a result most of them move out of the city, like Whyatt and Billy, to get installed in hippy communes where peace and freedom reigns.

Whyatt: No I mean it. You've got a nice place. It's not every man who can live off the land, you know. You do your own thing in your own time. You should be proud.

This extract from the script refers to the scene where the man from the ranch offers his hospitality to the bikers. It is the first signal that Whyatt receives to stay in such a community but he fails to seize his chance both times.

Jack: We've planted our seeds. We ask that our efforts be worthy to produce simple food for our simple taste. We ask that our efforts be rewarded. And we thank you for the food we eat from other hands-

Baby:(os)(Gurgles.) 

Jack:-that we may share it with our fellow man and be even more generous when it is from our own. Thank you for a place to make a stand.

Group:(os)(in unison.) Amen.

Child:(os) Amen.

Jack: Let's eat.

In this scene we can observe the difficulties that this commune encounters such as hunger. This is due to the lack of rain in the South of the United States and the infertility of the land. They have to harvest in extreme heat to feed a large community and certain passers by that abuse the hospitality of this community by stealing or crashing on people's beds. Furthermore the commune shares everything; their food, their women and their children. They seek a utopian lifestyle far from material and superficial goods. We can also see their search for spirituality as they take weed and perform tai-chi. They want to go back to simple values.

 

  
The two characters qualify as heroes as they posess noble qualities. Therefore this final scene illustrates the image of the noble savage against civilisation. The bikers are represented as abnormal to society, and get shot by two southeners that feel hate for openess and freedom. Billy's long hair is mentioned and criticized as it is a sign of rebellion against tradition. This immoral killing makes us think: who are the real savages? Whyatt and Billy or the killers? This ending sadly shows us that utopias are impossible to live, as society will always put these countercultures in their place.