"We Blew It"
The ‘search for America’ undertaken by Captain America and his sidekick Billy is not geographical, it is literally a quest to find out where America’s head is at (Klinger 181).The goal of Captain America (Wyatt) and Billy’s trip was to discover America’s mindset. The initial scenes portrayed the characters hope for an accepting humane society. Wyatt and Billy had their hidden drug money, freedom, the beauty of the open road, and Born to be Wild playing as their anthem.
While on this trip Wyatt and Billy experience the death of a fallen comrade, George, leaving Wyatt to make the statement “we blew it.”
To me the “we” refers to society and Wyatt is discovering that the quest to find out what America’s mindset is has led them to the understanding that society’s culture does not accept societal differences but instead expects everything and everyone to conform to a standard norm. When Wyatt, Billy and George were being released from jail, George informed them that if he hadn’t been there they would have received haircuts. On top of the conformity, people not understanding the differences between themselves and Wyatt and Billy are frightened by them and this emotion is displayed as hate. Wyatt and Billy are turned away from a hotel after the night desk clerk came out and saw the two of them on their motorcycles. Another example of fear fueling hatred would be the night Wyatt, Billy and George spent in the woods only to find themselves being attacked in the middle of the night.
Once Wyatt made the statement about blowing it the mood of the film changed and the feeling that the characters had given up on their society began. George had been killed, Wyatt and Billy were forced to sleep outside and live as outsiders, and the scenery of the road became more gloomy and industrialized.