Free to be free.
“We cannot fix the film any more than we can fix Mona and it is in this de-fetishization of the text as well as the body-female that Varda asserts her own brand of feminist filmmaking practices.” (Hayward 294)
The classification of road films Easy Rider and Vagabond, is one of the few similarities between theses movies. Some of the most obvious, but important reasons that these movies are not similar is because first and foremost, our leading lady is exactly that, a lady. Wyatt and Billy are drastically different characters from Mona by nature, but the gender difference is very prominent. It changes the dynamic of the movie. Another reason this movie is obviously different is means of transportation. Wyatt and Billy are able to choose their paths, turn around and go home, stop when and where they’d like. Mona hitchhikes, campus, walks through various fields. Her means of getting places shows her fluidity much more so than being in control of a vehicle. Mona’s death being presented in the first scene is also a representation of a difference. The delivery of the message is so drastically different; the direction of Vagabond is so unique. The framing of how Mona appears to the audience is indirect in many scenes, yet she is still in our focal point.
One similarity is the seeming desire to find freedom and identity. This common theme is represented very differently though, in respect to the differences. These journeys are not the same, because the journey of each individual is unique. Mona has no true path; in some scenes she doesn’t even have a road. The choppy transitions between scenes and acquaintances is a testimony to who Mona is and her role within the story. She is drifting, drifting through time, through place, through identity; she is fluid, not static. She is a true drifter.