Easy Riders - Martine Schroeder
The film "Easy Rider" does portray many aspects of the hippie lifestyle, some of these aspects more than others. One aspect of the counterculture that is specifically and clearly shown in this film is the yearning to quite or drop-out of the establishment society. The film follows two hippie-type guys on a trip to New Orleans. The two men don’t have a job or anything to tie them down – they just go and do what they feel like. They take a long trip through the country. They live off of the land and sleep under the stars. They become very much a part of the environment. They also appear to be quit anti-materialism. Neither character really brings anything other than money and the clothes on their backs.
However, it is ironic that the material things that Wyatt does bring with him (his bike, his leather jacket, and his helmet) all have some kind of American flag on it. His character portrays an anti-society type character, yet he completely decks himself and his bike out in American gear. This really seems to represent that even though the hippies are willing to drop out of the society and do their own thing, they are still very much a part of America. Those who participated in the hippie counterculture had their place and made up a large percentage of Americans. I
It is also ironic that the hippies were so much for peace and anti-violence and two of the main characters, who did represent the hippie counterculture, are shot to death and one is beaten to death. The people that they are killed by seem to be ignorant, unintelligent and uninformed hicks. This seems to represent that the people that disagreed or were judgemental about the hippies ideas, are not as enlightened as the hippies and are willing to just shoot down the more progressive ideas of the counterculture.