She blew it.

How can the death of Rebecca in "The Girl On A Motorcycle" and the death of Wyatt and Billy in "Easy Rider" be compared or contrasted? What do these deaths say about the genders of the characters?
-It is obvious that Rebecca, Wyatt and Billy are totally different characters, but in their deaths we see the nuances in how our society saw gender in the 1960's. Wyatt and Billy were shot by men that deemed them not masculine enough, because of what they represented in the counterculture. Their long hair and "anything goes" attitude scared the Southern men enough to make them angry, and to commit a hate crime. This would be seen as a more "manly" death because it was a crime against men, by men, and the two guys could not have escaped their fates. In "The Girl On A Motorcycle," Rebecca is killed because she gets tipsy before riding her motorcycle, and once she's driving she doesn't pay attention to the road. She is focused on having fun on the bike and getting to Germany as quick as possible because she is a little drunk. Rebecca ran into a truck when she met her demise. This is much different than Wyatt and Billy's, because her death was her own fault, by her own carelessness and stupidity. In the 1960's, women were usually looked at as being weaker and less intelligent than men, and Rebecca is playing right into this idea. Rebecca shows her femininity by not thinking through her decisions and by being reckless. The film, "The Girl On A Motorcycle" felt like a slap in the face, because at first it was about a woman seeking out her own happiness, but she ended up just being oversexualized and made to look unintelligent in her death. Wyatt and Billy's story made me sad, but Rebecca's made me groan.