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Cassandra Eveland
Dr. Froehlich
English 15
November 2, 2010
Easy Rider Film Analysis
The film Easy Rider was directed by Dennis Hopper and debuted in 1969. The
movie is connected with gender issues. It deals with gender issues because of the men
getting beaten up due to being thought that they were gay, and with showing female roles
in a family situation changing from "slave" of the husband to equality to the husband.
This movie was about two men from California who wanted to find happiness.
So they start off by selling drugs for money and begin to ride there motorcycles across
the country to Louisiana for Mardi Gras. Near the end of the film the men realize their
happiness’s were different with one wanting love for happiness and money for the other.
After Mardi Gras they begin to ride their bikes and come across two men in a truck where
they both get shot by the two men and die on the side of the road. (Hopper)
Easy Rider was a low budget film, where the men were actually filmed traveling
from California to Louisiana. The film was produced by Peter Fonda. The director was
Dennis Hopper and also played the main character, Billy. The main characters were
Wyatt played by Peter Fonda, and Billy. The film included many scenes of the men just
riding their motorcycles with sixties famous music playing in the background such as,
"Born to be Wild" by Mars Bonfire, and "If six was nine" by Jimi Hendrix. The film has
won two Oscar awards, a golden globe, and six other awards.
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What film critics mostly said about the film was that it shows to be a low budget
film but also one of the greatest historical films of today. Film critic Deborah H.
Holdstein says this about Easy Rider,
"Easy Rider merges the American past and present, city and country,
gangsters and cowboy through the main characters played by Dennis Hopper and
Peter Fonda. Civilization is personified by small-town bigots and the county
sheriff, and characterized by institutionalized love (a whorehouse), and even
institutionalized death (a very large cemetery). The romantic journey seems less
than it should be; a commune of hip kids from the city acts with as much hostility
towards the easy riders as the "straights" in the towns. Freedom is represented by
the road, but as the ending of the film illustrates, even that cannot last. "
(Holdstein)
The film deals with gender issues with abuse against gays. In one scene of the
movie, Billy and Wyatt are traveling and pick up an alcoholic lawyer and travel into a
small southern town. Once in the town they go into a restaurant where they were not
served food, also at the restaurant the sheriff and some towns’ people were sitting in there
and were not happy with Wyatt and Billy because they thought they were gay traveling
together with 3 men and the way they dressed. Later that night while Billy and Wyatt
and their friend were sleeping the sheriff and some towns’ people beat the men and
caused the lawyer to die because they thought they were gay. In 1964 the civil rights
movement was happening. This movement prohibits discrimination of race, sex,
nationality, and religion. This movement was not very affective with gays and lesbians
yet since there were many cases with gays not being allowed to go into bars or
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restaurants. Also in the sixties an organization called the Boy Scouts of America or BSA
was created. This organization was created so that nobody homosexual was allowed to
fight in the war. Even though the civil rights movement was happening, many people
were not happy with homosexuality, causing many beatings and deaths of gays.1
The American Ideology has changed a significant amount with the acceptance of
gays and lesbians. Gays are allowed to get married now, and are allowed to present their
gay pride unlike in the 1960s.
The movie also deals with gender issues because in one scene Billy and Wyatt
stop at a small farm to fix a flat tire on their bike. They were asked to eat dinner at the
farmer’s house. While eating Wyatt tells the farmer he is lucky to have such a beautiful
house and family. The farmer then goes and tells Wyatt that his wife is the perfect wife
because she is a catholic and then makes her stop eating to go in the house and get him a
different drink. This part of the scene came off as a gender issue to me because the
husband could not get up and get his drink himself, he had to make his wife stop eating
and get him a drink.
Also in the movie, in a scene the men are at a small gathering of hippies and
everyone in the small gathering plays a role in their "small family" with the men and
women both cooking, bathing, and watching the children together. This shows equality
in the gender roles. In the 1960’s many movements were happening, one such movement
was the women’s liberation movement, this movement was changing the society but was
brought upon mostly because of the decline in the “family wage system”(Bailey). Both
of the examples from the movies shows that women are becoming more equal to the
younger generation with the small gathering of hippies and is still male dominated in the
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older generation with the farmer. With the Vietnam War going on during this time
studies say,
"A number of theorists identify the demand for female labor as a central
determinant of gender inequality. The authors construct a measure of the demand
for female labor and test its impact on labor market inequality, educational
attainment, family structure, political representation, and gender role attitudes
across 261 metropolitan areas." (Cotter)
This statement says that with the men out to war there is a greater demand for women in
the work force, which is causing the women to be appreciated more greatly.
American Ideology of family roles has changed since the movie slightly. Many
wives and husbands are separating causing the family roles to differ. Studies show that
about one third of all Americans were divorced already. The divorce causes family roles
to change in the way they raise their children, and also many women or men have to work
to support their family like they would if they were a single parent.
The movie Easy Rider connected with gender issues of the 1960s with the
different cultures with the new culture of hippies who want equality and freedom, and the
older culture with the men still in control of the wife and family. Easy Rider is the
breakthrough of new counterculture of rebels and hippies and equality.
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References
Beth Bailey, and David Farber. "The Histories They are A-Changin': Sources for Teaching about
the Movements of the 1960s. " Magazine of History 20.5 (2006): 8-13. General Interest
Module, ProQuest. Web. 8 Nov. 2010.
David A Cotter, JoAnn DeFiore, Joan M Hermsen, Brenda Marsteller Kowalewski, and Reeve
Vanneman. "The demand for female labor. " The American Journal of Sociology
103.6 (1998): 1673-1712. ABI/INFORM Global, ProQuest. Web. 8 Nov. 2010.
Holdstein, Deborah H. "Easy Rider - Film (Movie) Plot and Review - Publications." Film
Reference. Web. 08 Nov. 2010. <http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Dr-Ex/EasyRider.html>.
Hopper, Dennis, Dir. Easy Rider. Dir. Dennis Hopper.” Perf. Peter Fonda. Sony, Pioneer LDCA
: 1969, Film