Wyatt was a character that you could connect with because he wanted to find something better than what life offered so far. The image that struck out the most to me was this idea of the cities versus the open road and expansive valleys. I noticed that when they were on the open road they were meeting interesting down to earth people that shared similar ideas with them. They come across the farming family that sit down for family meals and live off of the land. Wyatt seemed to admire this idea of living off the land and the willingness to offer them food and a place to sit while most people would turn strangers away. The family did not stereotype them or disrespect them because of the way they looked.
At the point in the movie when they picked up the hitchhiker you could tell the distrust that people had towards each other. Billy did not trust the man even though the man was simply trying to do them a favor. Trust in fellow human beings was something rare during the time and it seemed like kind acts were suspicious acts. Billy was not a trusting person but he was also a little bit paranoid, while Wyatt was willing to believe in the goodness of people and give them a chance before judging them. Wyatt figured that the trust had to start somewhere.
We can tell when the close minded communities are coming in to play because we are leaving the open road and coming to the small enclosed streets. When they run into George he is their saving grace from this small town. George offers a new perspective for Billy and Wyatt because he is a suit that does not judge them but he acknowledges the prejudices against them. He gives them the first straight answer they will receive on the way the world works. George's character was really refreshing and it was interesting that he is the one that gets killed by people that he 'represents.' I thought that the scene when they finally get to New Orleans and are tripping the cemetery is really telling of how religion was viewed by Wyatt and Billy. They are tripping and sitting on statues and graves and the girls start to take their clothes off while they run around and curse their parents and the world in the middle of funeral services. At one point Wyatt looks up at a statue and sees a great ball of fire crashing to the earth. This is an omen of how is life will end and it almost seemed like god was scorning them or something with that flash of fire kind of like the apocalypse.
An aspect of the filming that I found interesting was the transitions that they used to go from scene to scene. The characters would be sitting by the camp fire and then to go to then next scene of them riding off was the three panic-like shots of the incoming scene. I thought that this method went well with the film and the characters because they were always changing scenery in search for something more. They were restless souls with no limits but they do not find clarity in the end. Wyatt felt that their experience in Orleans was not what they had expected and that they had failed but the question of what they had failed at was something that could be many different things. Easy Rider was a shocking film in a good way a film that many youths relate to because of the sense of restlessness and the need to live and be real.
At the point in the movie when they picked up the hitchhiker you could tell the distrust that people had towards each other. Billy did not trust the man even though the man was simply trying to do them a favor. Trust in fellow human beings was something rare during the time and it seemed like kind acts were suspicious acts. Billy was not a trusting person but he was also a little bit paranoid, while Wyatt was willing to believe in the goodness of people and give them a chance before judging them. Wyatt figured that the trust had to start somewhere.
We can tell when the close minded communities are coming in to play because we are leaving the open road and coming to the small enclosed streets. When they run into George he is their saving grace from this small town. George offers a new perspective for Billy and Wyatt because he is a suit that does not judge them but he acknowledges the prejudices against them. He gives them the first straight answer they will receive on the way the world works. George's character was really refreshing and it was interesting that he is the one that gets killed by people that he 'represents.' I thought that the scene when they finally get to New Orleans and are tripping the cemetery is really telling of how religion was viewed by Wyatt and Billy. They are tripping and sitting on statues and graves and the girls start to take their clothes off while they run around and curse their parents and the world in the middle of funeral services. At one point Wyatt looks up at a statue and sees a great ball of fire crashing to the earth. This is an omen of how is life will end and it almost seemed like god was scorning them or something with that flash of fire kind of like the apocalypse.
An aspect of the filming that I found interesting was the transitions that they used to go from scene to scene. The characters would be sitting by the camp fire and then to go to then next scene of them riding off was the three panic-like shots of the incoming scene. I thought that this method went well with the film and the characters because they were always changing scenery in search for something more. They were restless souls with no limits but they do not find clarity in the end. Wyatt felt that their experience in Orleans was not what they had expected and that they had failed but the question of what they had failed at was something that could be many different things. Easy Rider was a shocking film in a good way a film that many youths relate to because of the sense of restlessness and the need to live and be real.