Katie Kunik
It is true that Woodstock was able to convey its message through culture rather than dialogue. Costello claims that Woodstock did this through communication “not by mind and words, but by sight and sounds� (187). I agree with this because after watching Woodstock it is apparent that the personal interviews do not bring much to the movie other than by showing a common theme of how hippies acted and how they were influenced by drugs and sexual freedom. It was important to show the counterculture in the movie without spoken words because it was a documentary, and there was no script. It is shown through interviews, footage of drug use and sex, and through the music of the concert.
This is similar to the way the theme of Easy Rider is played out. There is not much dialogue in the movie. The movie uses actions to show symbolism in the movie, such as when Peter Fonda’s character puts all his drugs in the gas tank of his American flag patterned motorcycle. This makes it different from Woodstock in that the symbolism shown is mostly scripted. A good portion of the dialogue in Easy Rider is improvised while the actors were under the influence of drugs, which makes it similar to the images of drug use and the rambling interviews with the concert goers in Woodstock. Costello gives the idea that the themes in Easy Rider were intended to be very symbolic. I agree with this to an extent, but the improvisation while the actors were on drugs probably made the movie more influential after the fact. Another way Easy Rider portrays its message indirectly is by the psychedelic scene when Fonda and Hopper are in New Orleans. This is the most powerful scene in the whole movie, and not much of that is due to character dialogue. The words that are spoken are very genuine and unscripted. There are a lot of unique camera angles and the actors are showing their vulnerable sides making the scene unlike anything coming from Woodstock.