Give me road or give me death.
Rebecca specifically calls her motorcycle “he”: “There he is”. Girl on a Motorcycle presents a story about a woman and her journey, but a story where the men of the plot control all the actions. This woman sets to the road because she is unhappy in her marriage to Raymond, but only to seek refuge in the arms of another man, Daniel. I believe that this is restricting women in their ability to be on their own, to be independent of men. Phallocentrism is central in this the plot of this movie, in which case, I don’t believe that it is liberating to women, much less Rebecca. The police officers at the country borders that she crosses refer to her as merchandise, Rebecca saying “I only come to life when he touches me”, and the view that Rebecca enjoys being Daniel’s sex slave represents the theme of phallocentrism. Rebecca thrives on Daniel’s scopophilia. She enjoys his gaze and his attention.
I believe that this film could have been a monumental film in representing women as liberated and free to drive, free to roam. When she drives down the road, she cruises down the middle, as if she has no borders, no restrictions. This could have been a movie that represented women as independent of men and as women who enjoy their sexually apart from men. It would have been a film that could have been groundbreaking in the road rules for women.