Easy Rider was made in 1969 by two amateur film makers, Hopper and Fonda, made the film to show their own opinions on the climate[1]. At this time there was a lot of controversy over many issues which I will refer to throughout this essay.
The narrative is the way a film is told to the audience in this film the narrative is very linear apart from when Wyatt has a premonition of his death in the whore house.
During this time many men were going to war in Vietnam. Many citizens of America disagreed and felt that they'd been brought into this war and this caused riots, burning draft cards and many other forms of protest as men were still expected to fight a war with only 50% chance of survival.
The film shows two men around the age of military duty, free and roaming across America on motorbikes. Billy and Wyatt are seen to being free and living the “American Dream”[2], this concept of freedom and living as a free man was wanted widely, through the film you see the way people who have this dream are treated and the way they dealt with freedom.
Easy Rider is filled with mise-en-scene which means what is put in the scene and what purpose it serves from the French meaning placing on stage. From the key soundtrack,[3] to the clocks[4] spotted throughout the film. Hopper was very conscious on how to set out the film and how to build the atmosphere of the story.
Hopper sets the film on the dusty roads of America's south-west, only using natural light, he was quoted “God is a great gaffer” this was his answer for the lighting. The film is very unusual compared to many other feature films as Hopper uses the effect Lens Flare[5] throughout the film. This effect is usually classed as a mistake, in Easy Rider this effect suggests the idea of being high and the bright hallucinations, commonly associated with drugs.
The film is set in the 1960's and shows use of references to Actors at that time like Yul Brynner, this is also shown with the use of racism, this discrimination is shown in parts of the film, such as when the bikers meet George, he says to them “I imagine that I can (get you out of here) if you haven't killed anyone, at least nobody white.” Later in the café the sheriff is (when deciding whether to arrest them) deciding whether to put them in the women’s jail cells. This shows segregation and racism highlighted the way people from minority backgrounds and women were treated throughout the 1960's.
Easy Rider is bursting with characters, The main characters are the bikers Billy, and Wyatt[6], Billy and Wyatt are polar opposites this is visually shown by the use of a Native American dress against a patriotic flagged dress-codes. Throughout the film, you find that Wyatt is quiet and calm compared to Billy, he is also very open to all the different communities, He is shown as the sex symbol of the film as all the girls seem to draw to him throughout the film like the girls in the café.
Billy is very paranoid, very loud and obnoxious, this is shown in his clothing, he is unwelcome throughout the film, as shown in the hippy community where The Hitch-Hiker[7] has a talk with Wyatt and signals for Billy to wait 5 minutes while they talk, this shows his views on both Billy and Wyatt.
George is the eye of the American storm, his part in the story is to tell Billy and Wyatt of the rules of the south, and the changing times with the new “scissor-happy, beautify America” system going on, where he refers to turning everyone into a Yul Brynner.
The story is central on three key areas of the world in the 1960's, the use of drugs, discrimination and the idea of freedom. Recreational drug use is shown throughout the film and the illegal smuggling of drugs is apparent at the start and is supposedly in the bike throughout the rest of the journey. Discrimination is a key factor of the film and used throughout against women, race and lifestyles, mainly this is shown in the scene of the café where the men talk ill of homosexuals, decide which cell to put the guys in a cell. This racism is also shown throughout the film by the way people interact with Billy as he wears clothes that are associated with Native Americans and people reject him due to his rebellious behaviour and dress-code.
All the characters from the towns wear quite usual and bland clothing like when George is in jail, he wears a suit and all the girls in the town wear bright coloured dresses but it is strict compared to what Billy and Wyatt wear. Billy's Indian clothing against Wyatt leather suit with an American flag on the back, this use of costume design further shows that they are polar opposites[8]. When George is on the road he wears his school sweater[9] showing his maturity.
Hopper also uses a flashing effect in the film, this is used to create a sense of time passing this also is used to make the film quicker and more jumpy, this feeling of lost time is often connected to use of drugs. Hopper also uses a watch throughout the film as in the scene where Wyatt throws his watch away to show his rebellion of anything establishment. Even his sense of time and then later in the scene where Wyatt is walking around before waking up Billy he spots a watch in a drawer in the dessert.
The film is simplistic and was made during the “New Hollywood”[10] of the film industry. This allowed film makers like Hopper to create low budget and simple feature films and get them out to a large audience. The film was simple in design[11], but the messages created by the film were very powerful and made people think about freedom, about life and about the way America was changing this is shown in the scene where George says “this used to be to be a hell of country” suggesting that America has gone down hill and isn't as good as it used to be.
The film ends very abruptly with the use of a Diabolus Ex Machina[12], At the end of the film it seems that our heroes Billy and Wyatt have gone to the Mardi Gras and Billy could have lived happily but Wyatt was left in a state that left him unfulfilled. This is interrupted when they get shot[13]. Easy Rider is a very moving feature film and shows the futility of life and how America has turned into a monster[14] with discrimination and tries to revolutionise the way America is with the use of racism. It also promotes freedom but shows it's not possible yet. Wyatt knows this and says “We blew it”.[15]
References -
Easy rider (no date) Available at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EasyRider (Accessed: 5 October 2010).
Easy rider script - transcript from the screenplay and/or Dennis hopper, Peter Fonda, and Jack Nicholson movie (no date) Available at: http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/e/easy-rider-script-transcript-hopper.html (Accessed: 10 October 2010).
Easy rider (1969) (2016) Available at: http://www.filmsite.org/easy.html (Accessed: 12 October 2010).
[1] The film is very moving and the blunt conversations between Billy, Wyatt and George, which the last talk is referred to in footnote 2. This caused debate although the film was only intended as a way for Hopper and Fonda have their views heard on issues concerning them, mainly Freedom, Racism and the Vietnam war.
[2] This is shown as they roam across America as free men, this is further shown when George explains to Wyatt and Billy that people are scared of them and what they represent by saying “what you represent to them... is freedom.” Also the carefree use of drugs and unique dress code makes them look and come across as rebellious.
[3] All the music relates to freedom and drugs such as “Born to be wild”, the title suggests that they were born and alive to be free or wild, also enhancing the idea of doing what you want and being a free man. The Ballad of Easy Rider by Roger McGuinn uses the line “all they wanted was to be free,and that's the way it turned out to be.” showing that through death Wyatt and Billy were free.
[4] The clocks are spaced out throughout the film and are used to suggest two messages, that they are trying to escape the idea of time and create a feel of timelessness, this is shown when Wyatt throws his watch on the floor when they start the journey and also to show that their time is running out which is referred to by the hitch hiker when he says “Your time is running out” when they are at the hippy community
[5] Lens Flare is usually taken out of films and classed as a mistake as it doesn't look very professional although in this film the effect works well with the colours and the context of the story.
[6] Wyatt is referred to as Captain America throughout the story and Billy in the jail cell refers to himself as Billy the Kid as they were supposedly a double act. Billy says “We have played every fair in this part of the country. For top dollar!” suggesting they were a higher class than first assumptions from the sheriff.
[7] Throughout the hitch hiker screen time he is not referred to by any given name but plays a big part in the film, throughout the article I will refer to t he hitch-hiker as Askew.
[8] Polar opposites is the technical terminology to say that Billy and Wyatt are opposites and could also be shown to say that although we feel sympathy towards them they are classed as rebellious outlaws in the eyes of America.
[9] The point of the suit against the sweater backs up my earlier statement that “George is the eye of the American storm.”
[10] This was a result of the French New Wave, this caused a shake up in the film industry and let young film-makers takeover.
[11]Films were simple due to the constraints of money and the equipment available, as these kind of films were done by small groups which were published by large businesses, Easy Rider was bought by Columbia Tristar motion picture group.
[12] A Diabolus Ex Machina means Devil from the machine and is used a the end of films to create a downer end, the phrase “dropped a bridge” means that their deaths came out of nowhere and there was no reason for their death except to show the futility of life.
[13] Wyatt sees this in a premonition when he is in the Blue Light Whorehouse, which is shown to be in a church, where he reads “Death only closes a man's reputation and determines it as good or bad”.
[14]This is referring to the idea that America had become too discriminative and the citizens of America wanted to rebel against this, and when films like this point blank showed how bad it had gone, this added to the fight to combat this type of thinking and added further pressure to the government to try and make equality a more important area in the laws of the united states of America. This also continued and reinforced what Martin Luther King said in 1963 in his “I have a Dream” speech on equality. It also refers to the fact that America was picking and fighting Vietnam even though it was quite a small country, in a sense being a bully towards a smaller country.
[15]In my personal opinion, I feel that Wyatt is conveying the message that he feels he went off track and lost sight of the main point of life and his religious beliefs as shown in footnote 9 that he has come to the point where he knows he has done wrong, Wyatt may also be showing his final disapproval on drugs and how negative this kind of America was. I feel that his death was the only sense of relief he could of got in such a world with no chance of freedom, as stated by George “It's hard to be free... when your bought and sold in the marketplace. This realization by Wyatt is the biggest difference between him and Billy as Billy never realizes that this whole sense of freedom was never real, he was still under the rules of the world, the could only escape this when they left this world of law and regulations.
The narrative is the way a film is told to the audience in this film the narrative is very linear apart from when Wyatt has a premonition of his death in the whore house.
During this time many men were going to war in Vietnam. Many citizens of America disagreed and felt that they'd been brought into this war and this caused riots, burning draft cards and many other forms of protest as men were still expected to fight a war with only 50% chance of survival.
The film shows two men around the age of military duty, free and roaming across America on motorbikes. Billy and Wyatt are seen to being free and living the “American Dream”[2], this concept of freedom and living as a free man was wanted widely, through the film you see the way people who have this dream are treated and the way they dealt with freedom.
Easy Rider is filled with mise-en-scene which means what is put in the scene and what purpose it serves from the French meaning placing on stage. From the key soundtrack,[3] to the clocks[4] spotted throughout the film. Hopper was very conscious on how to set out the film and how to build the atmosphere of the story.
Hopper sets the film on the dusty roads of America's south-west, only using natural light, he was quoted “God is a great gaffer” this was his answer for the lighting. The film is very unusual compared to many other feature films as Hopper uses the effect Lens Flare[5] throughout the film. This effect is usually classed as a mistake, in Easy Rider this effect suggests the idea of being high and the bright hallucinations, commonly associated with drugs.
The film is set in the 1960's and shows use of references to Actors at that time like Yul Brynner, this is also shown with the use of racism, this discrimination is shown in parts of the film, such as when the bikers meet George, he says to them “I imagine that I can (get you out of here) if you haven't killed anyone, at least nobody white.” Later in the café the sheriff is (when deciding whether to arrest them) deciding whether to put them in the women’s jail cells. This shows segregation and racism highlighted the way people from minority backgrounds and women were treated throughout the 1960's.
Easy Rider is bursting with characters, The main characters are the bikers Billy, and Wyatt[6], Billy and Wyatt are polar opposites this is visually shown by the use of a Native American dress against a patriotic flagged dress-codes. Throughout the film, you find that Wyatt is quiet and calm compared to Billy, he is also very open to all the different communities, He is shown as the sex symbol of the film as all the girls seem to draw to him throughout the film like the girls in the café.
Billy is very paranoid, very loud and obnoxious, this is shown in his clothing, he is unwelcome throughout the film, as shown in the hippy community where The Hitch-Hiker[7] has a talk with Wyatt and signals for Billy to wait 5 minutes while they talk, this shows his views on both Billy and Wyatt.
George is the eye of the American storm, his part in the story is to tell Billy and Wyatt of the rules of the south, and the changing times with the new “scissor-happy, beautify America” system going on, where he refers to turning everyone into a Yul Brynner.
The story is central on three key areas of the world in the 1960's, the use of drugs, discrimination and the idea of freedom. Recreational drug use is shown throughout the film and the illegal smuggling of drugs is apparent at the start and is supposedly in the bike throughout the rest of the journey. Discrimination is a key factor of the film and used throughout against women, race and lifestyles, mainly this is shown in the scene of the café where the men talk ill of homosexuals, decide which cell to put the guys in a cell. This racism is also shown throughout the film by the way people interact with Billy as he wears clothes that are associated with Native Americans and people reject him due to his rebellious behaviour and dress-code.
All the characters from the towns wear quite usual and bland clothing like when George is in jail, he wears a suit and all the girls in the town wear bright coloured dresses but it is strict compared to what Billy and Wyatt wear. Billy's Indian clothing against Wyatt leather suit with an American flag on the back, this use of costume design further shows that they are polar opposites[8]. When George is on the road he wears his school sweater[9] showing his maturity.
Hopper also uses a flashing effect in the film, this is used to create a sense of time passing this also is used to make the film quicker and more jumpy, this feeling of lost time is often connected to use of drugs. Hopper also uses a watch throughout the film as in the scene where Wyatt throws his watch away to show his rebellion of anything establishment. Even his sense of time and then later in the scene where Wyatt is walking around before waking up Billy he spots a watch in a drawer in the dessert.
The film is simplistic and was made during the “New Hollywood”[10] of the film industry. This allowed film makers like Hopper to create low budget and simple feature films and get them out to a large audience. The film was simple in design[11], but the messages created by the film were very powerful and made people think about freedom, about life and about the way America was changing this is shown in the scene where George says “this used to be to be a hell of country” suggesting that America has gone down hill and isn't as good as it used to be.
The film ends very abruptly with the use of a Diabolus Ex Machina[12], At the end of the film it seems that our heroes Billy and Wyatt have gone to the Mardi Gras and Billy could have lived happily but Wyatt was left in a state that left him unfulfilled. This is interrupted when they get shot[13]. Easy Rider is a very moving feature film and shows the futility of life and how America has turned into a monster[14] with discrimination and tries to revolutionise the way America is with the use of racism. It also promotes freedom but shows it's not possible yet. Wyatt knows this and says “We blew it”.[15]
References -
Easy rider (no date) Available at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EasyRider (Accessed: 5 October 2010).
Easy rider script - transcript from the screenplay and/or Dennis hopper, Peter Fonda, and Jack Nicholson movie (no date) Available at: http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/e/easy-rider-script-transcript-hopper.html (Accessed: 10 October 2010).
Easy rider (1969) (2016) Available at: http://www.filmsite.org/easy.html (Accessed: 12 October 2010).
[1] The film is very moving and the blunt conversations between Billy, Wyatt and George, which the last talk is referred to in footnote 2. This caused debate although the film was only intended as a way for Hopper and Fonda have their views heard on issues concerning them, mainly Freedom, Racism and the Vietnam war.
[2] This is shown as they roam across America as free men, this is further shown when George explains to Wyatt and Billy that people are scared of them and what they represent by saying “what you represent to them... is freedom.” Also the carefree use of drugs and unique dress code makes them look and come across as rebellious.
[3] All the music relates to freedom and drugs such as “Born to be wild”, the title suggests that they were born and alive to be free or wild, also enhancing the idea of doing what you want and being a free man. The Ballad of Easy Rider by Roger McGuinn uses the line “all they wanted was to be free,and that's the way it turned out to be.” showing that through death Wyatt and Billy were free.
[4] The clocks are spaced out throughout the film and are used to suggest two messages, that they are trying to escape the idea of time and create a feel of timelessness, this is shown when Wyatt throws his watch on the floor when they start the journey and also to show that their time is running out which is referred to by the hitch hiker when he says “Your time is running out” when they are at the hippy community
[5] Lens Flare is usually taken out of films and classed as a mistake as it doesn't look very professional although in this film the effect works well with the colours and the context of the story.
[6] Wyatt is referred to as Captain America throughout the story and Billy in the jail cell refers to himself as Billy the Kid as they were supposedly a double act. Billy says “We have played every fair in this part of the country. For top dollar!” suggesting they were a higher class than first assumptions from the sheriff.
[7] Throughout the hitch hiker screen time he is not referred to by any given name but plays a big part in the film, throughout the article I will refer to t he hitch-hiker as Askew.
[8] Polar opposites is the technical terminology to say that Billy and Wyatt are opposites and could also be shown to say that although we feel sympathy towards them they are classed as rebellious outlaws in the eyes of America.
[9] The point of the suit against the sweater backs up my earlier statement that “George is the eye of the American storm.”
[10] This was a result of the French New Wave, this caused a shake up in the film industry and let young film-makers takeover.
[11]Films were simple due to the constraints of money and the equipment available, as these kind of films were done by small groups which were published by large businesses, Easy Rider was bought by Columbia Tristar motion picture group.
[12] A Diabolus Ex Machina means Devil from the machine and is used a the end of films to create a downer end, the phrase “dropped a bridge” means that their deaths came out of nowhere and there was no reason for their death except to show the futility of life.
[13] Wyatt sees this in a premonition when he is in the Blue Light Whorehouse, which is shown to be in a church, where he reads “Death only closes a man's reputation and determines it as good or bad”.
[14]This is referring to the idea that America had become too discriminative and the citizens of America wanted to rebel against this, and when films like this point blank showed how bad it had gone, this added to the fight to combat this type of thinking and added further pressure to the government to try and make equality a more important area in the laws of the united states of America. This also continued and reinforced what Martin Luther King said in 1963 in his “I have a Dream” speech on equality. It also refers to the fact that America was picking and fighting Vietnam even though it was quite a small country, in a sense being a bully towards a smaller country.
[15]In my personal opinion, I feel that Wyatt is conveying the message that he feels he went off track and lost sight of the main point of life and his religious beliefs as shown in footnote 9 that he has come to the point where he knows he has done wrong, Wyatt may also be showing his final disapproval on drugs and how negative this kind of America was. I feel that his death was the only sense of relief he could of got in such a world with no chance of freedom, as stated by George “It's hard to be free... when your bought and sold in the marketplace. This realization by Wyatt is the biggest difference between him and Billy as Billy never realizes that this whole sense of freedom was never real, he was still under the rules of the world, the could only escape this when they left this world of law and regulations.
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