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Easy Rider: 1969 Film Directed By Dennis Hopper

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Easy Rider, the 1969 film directed by Dennis Hopper, revolves around young free-spirited friends, Wyatt and Billy’s, search for freedom. The pair intend on riding their motorcycles to New Orleans, Louisiana, for the Mardi Gras festival and Easy Rider follows them on their journey. Throughout their expedition Wyatt, “Captain America”, and Billy meet several colorful people with many different backgrounds. Hopper uses these characters to represent different ideas present in America during that time. The late 1960’s were a time of great turmoil in America. The murders of Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, the Vietnam War, and Nixon’s the presidential election combined with the civil rights and gay rights movements of the time made for vast conflicts between generations and caused a severe generation gap. The main characters Billy and Wyatt are interestingly …show more content…

The owner of the motel steps out, takes one look at the duo, and steps back in to change the motel’s sign to “No Vacancy”. This brief encounter with a seemingly unimportant character gives the viewer a glimpse into how many more characters will treat Wyatt and Billy. More of these rude and judgmental characters are met after Wyatt and Billy are thrown into jail for “parading without a permit”. The guards in the jail are quick to deny helping the two until George Hanson, and ACLU lawyer befriends Wyatt and Billy and makes a deal with the guards to let his new friends out for a small fee. George soon becomes a part of Wyatt and Billy’s group and along their trip they stop at a diner. At the diner they are once again met with the ignorance and hatred from older citizens due to their appearances. The people that Wyatt and Billy meet that do not approve of their lifestyle are all part of the older generation who feared the “freedom” that they possessed, as George put it, because they scared those who thought they were

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