Speaking of American road movies, this 1969 film can be regarded as the originator-level character. It was it that opened the door to the development of new Hollywood, and since then allowed road movies to exist as a film genre. This film magically won a box office of 25 million US dollars and won 7 Oscar nominations with less than 400,000 US dollars of investment. . It has become an indispensable and absolute classic in the history of highway movies.
But why this movie about sex, drugs, rock and road can save the declining Hollywood market? Why has this once-popular film become a masterpiece that only niche audiences and so-called artistic youths can appreciate today?
First of all, in terms of the content of the film, this pure road movie contains almost all the elements of the prevailing life of the "Beat Generation" in society at that time. It can be said to be a panoramic representation of reality and philosophical thinking. Among them, the desperate pursuit of freedom, faith in the American dream, and openness to race and gender undoubtedly catered to the throbbing of young people who were "on the road" or "on the road" at that time. In the film, the charming and open scenery that changes as the two go on the road, the protagonist is introverted and melancholy, and has a simple and happy image, which gives it the potential of a commercial film. However, this film is obviously not a simple commercial film. Its profound thinking about that era and its condemnation of worldly despair made every viewer have to fall into deep contemplation.
Why go on the road? Because you want to escape, because you want to find. What to avoid, what to look for? Escape the numb life, escape the reality that seems to be free but obstructed everywhere, escape the hostile glances of hypocritical "guardians"; seek the true meaning of life, seek the freedom of dreams, and seek an equal and friendly utopia. Although it is a jacket and a Harley motorcycle that represent rebellion, the Stars and Stripes are flying on it. Every "decadent" young man actually carries an "American Dream". Rebelling against depravity with depravity, they are unwilling to the decline of the country, the lack of faith, and the death of heroes, so they want to achieve spiritual nirvana through physical "short-term therapy" such as drugs and sex. This kind of religious meditation about existence and nothingness is full of innocence that is incompatible with society. It is doomed to the tragic fate of every protagonist and the fateful sadness of that generation. So we followed them on the road innocently and happily, accompanied by the brisk western music, as if life were as beautiful and fresh as the wind, but was rejected by second-rate motels, sleeping in the wilderness, and seeing the infinite beauty of the sunset time and time again. The miserable and dilapidated scene of human beings; therefore, we join them in their pious prayers, thinking that faith can really turn sand into grain, that life can really be happy without restraint, and men and women can really be happy without stubbornness; so We followed them behind the parade and reveled in advocacy, but were unreasonably caught in prison; we can even understand that they use cannabis alcohol and psychedelic drugs to release their incomprehension of reality and save hope for life. However, we were shocked to see these harmless and kind people being killed in the name of morality by the so-called "righteous" "gentlemen" in life. This sudden death, whether it was an unprovoked gang fight in the wild at night, or a disapproving gun fire on a truck during the day, made our hearts aching with that flying tire. Don’t ask a thousand why in your heart. "Knights" have already foreseen what the end of this road will be. They flash back again and again in their hearts; "Because you represent what they fear-freedom", They know that "they will use killing and doing evil to prove their freedom to you", their sad "freedom"! So they ended their lives on the road, in the free run, leaving those poor people trembling in fear in front of true freedom, leaving their humble souls to flee in panic under the powerful shell of hypocrisy! Death, here is a kind of final escape and rebirth, and the final relief for these dream-seekers. In this way, the director’s arrangement of the final protagonist’s fate is poetic and gentle. In this fateful sadness, we recalled the last words Waytt said to our partner Billy over and over again. "We blew it." Yes, we messed up everything.
For a movie in the 1960s, the film’s experimental attempt at montage is very advanced. The sudden jump between shots and the rapid switching between near and far scenes give the film a strange and neat personality.化atmosphere. It's like that marginalized youth. Its most distinctive feature, the interaction between real and subjective imagination, and the sudden flashback under normal narratives, creates a surreal atmosphere. Not only fits the "absurd" life and struggling heart of the protagonist of the film, but also casts a layer of philosophical thinking on this fatalistic tragedy. Of course, I have to mention that the two protagonists and the two prostitutes are in the cemetery towards the end of the film. I believe this is a section that all viewers will be impressed and quite incomprehensible. The film uses an almost illogical way to externalize the hearts of the four characters through abstract lenses and stitch them together. It is complemented by harsh industrial punk and the voice of a girl praying for atonement. There is an atmosphere of religious rituals. It's like a supernatural infidel, allowing the audience to truly experience the chaos, pain and struggle in the protagonist's heart. The sacred and filth are entangled, happiness and pain are complicated and difficult to distinguish. Perhaps this is what the director wants the audience to experience. The brain is overloaded and cannot keep up with the repeated impact of vision. Under the pressure of industrial noise, you were on the verge of collapse. You want to wake up this nightmare loudly, and you want to cry and vent your swelling love. You finally feel this fate. Just as powerful as despair! When the protagonists are on the road again, and you finally wake up from this terrible dream, in addition to rejoicing that you don't have to really feel all of this, you are even more convinced by the director's superb skills and extraordinary imagination.
Finally, music plays an indispensable role in the lives of that generation, and this film is no exception. Whether it is folk, country or rock, music is as important as the protagonist in the film. From the relaxed and happy protagonists on the road at the beginning, the bright colors dominated by country music, to the increasingly repressed, large-scale rap, death gothic rock and roll, venting the accusations against the society and the incomprehension of life, There is also the hysterical pursuit of freedom. In addition to the tune, the lyrics of each song are also like the narration or commentary of the film, which is a looming clue. You can tell from the title of the song: "born to be wild", "if you want to be a bird" and "the ballad of easy rider"......
I don't know when, this urge to "go on the road" once again became an unspoken throbbing among the new generation of young people. However, this resurgence of liberalism has obviously lost a kind of hysterical romance and a desperate passion. With material abundance and the flood of rationality, we use a "smart" way to control the way on the ground. Therefore, exile has become tourism, and walking has become sightseeing, erasing the shallow layer of sadness and forgetting the slight bitterness. However, we are still holding "On the Road", we still talk about Dean Moriyat, we look at Peter Fonda's melancholy profile on the DVD cover from time to time, fantasizing that there is a Harley, in the rhythm of rock and roll Drive away without anyone else. Maybe there is a spirit of freedom rooted in people's hearts from beginning to end, maybe there is an instinct that makes us always eager to get on the road. If so, "Easy Rider" is enough to become the road bible for every generation.
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