I chose to write about the movie Easy Rider (1969), an excellent example that discusses 1960s counter-culture movement and cross-cultural differences and their potential outcomes. The movie starts when two friends get together and decide to take a cross america road trip which the movie discusses their adventure along the way. It all begins when the two friends complete a successful drug trade in which they make enough money in order to perform this trip of theirs. Both being brought up in the city of Los Angeles they haven't seen much of the world and then they come up with the plan of riding their motorcycles from California to moulin rouge festival in Louisiana. The movie discusses two major ideas, the first being what they see and the second is how they are being seen.
As the two friends ride their motorcycles across the country, they come in contact with a world they never experienced before, they see and experience many cultures and live them as well. Of the cultures they come across of is the farming and sustainable culture in arizona which they experience the kindness and hospitality they aren't used to seeing in the big city life this unfolds by one of their bikes having a flat tire and in need of immediate repair so they stop by at a farm where man offers them the opportunity to work on their bikes in a shack of his and even supplied them with the tools needed and after wards offers them lunch with his family members, One of the two proceeds to eat before saying thanks and with his hat on a sign of disrespect he is then scolded and then joins the others with saying thanks with his hat off, this is a cultural norm the city boy was well acquainted with.
The two then proceed to continue their adventure by picking up a hitchhiker who they agreed to drop him off on the way, as they arrived at his residence they come across a hippy community on the side of the mountain they observe simplistic lives with very little reliance to materialistic means. The two enjoy their stay at this hippy community and have hard time leaving, here they learn that happiness cannot be bought and all the money they have doesn't mean much in terms of achieving happiness and n fact could be source of misery and hardship. They both enjoy naturalistic activities such as hiking and swimming and soon realist that this community is going through some hardships do to a drought season but learn from the youth determination and perseverance in planting crops and hoping for the best. As they learn that their stay had become a burden on the hosting community they decide to head on with their journey in aspiration of finding their next adventure.
As they hit the road with intention of continuing the road to the marlin rouge festival, they continue to enter cities spontaneously and come across a parade they decide to join it impermissibly which then puts them in trouble and end up spending a couple days in jail, this is where they meet an important figure who seems to be very influential in the town. As he leaves jail he pulls some strings and manages to get the other two out of jail with him. When they exited the man decides to join them on their trip to louisiana where he aspires to accompany them with the intent to have a good time and go and eat some ribs there. As they all move closer to the south an area known for its conservative culture, the second idea of the movie appears which is how others observe them and see them. They decide to get a room in a hotel but are refused service based on their appearance and loud bikes, so they decide to camp out in the woods. The next morning they all agree to go have breakfast at a nearby restaurant but encounter locals that aren't happy about having them at their town. They all return for another night in the woods but as they fall asleep a group of locals beat them and the influential man is killed instantly. This shown how aggressive others can be to foreign cultures that don't obey the local culture norms and standards. They explain this act of aggression as people are enslaved in society and are made to conform so when they encounter a free man they feel intimidated and that drives other to act aggressively towards them. This also shows what prejudice can lead to even though these men meant no harm but their appearance which can be labeled as non verbal communication said otherwise and prompted different treatment and in the case of the movie it leaded to death.
The two continue on to the festival and once done with it they attempted to head home and call the journey off, as the two rode home from the south heading back o california two “hillbillies” saw them and decided they weren't fit enough to be in their town. So they pulled out a shotgun and shot the first one because he apparently had long hair. so the other went in attempt to help the locals came back to finish the other one and that's how the movie ended. the movie brings up very important issues on stereotyping prejudice and ethnocentrism. Their outside appearances sent out the wrong nonverbal messages to an intolerant conservative community which unfortunately lead to their deaths.
Easy Rider. Pando Company ; Raybert Productions, 1969. Film.
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