At the beginning of the movie Easy Rider the motorcyclists arrive at a motel only to be rudely denied a room. The owner of the motel probably took one look at them, didn’t like what he saw, and vowed to have nothing to do with that “scum”. Unfortunately, this kind of prejudgment and discrimination is still relevant in our day and age. People are prone to judge just about anything that is odd and/or stands out. For example, people who have tattoos/piercings, beggars, and even, certain ethnic groups. Although our society has come a long way in loosening up and broadening our scope of critique (we don’t judge motorcyclists TOO much anymore), we still have much to work on.
Question: The riders clearly represent freedom. While they are “on the road” at the end of the film they are shot and killed by two men who don’t like the look of them. Is this suggesting that even if we do break from it briefly, freedom is impossible to sustain/achieve due to our strict society?
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Discrimination stands out the most to me throughout the movie. It seems that everywhere the riders go in the “normal” society, they are either stared at, ignored, or ridiculed the whole time. Many people are just awed by differences from “what has always been.” They cannot stand these outcasts breaking the rules and so feel the desperate need to single them out and punish them somehow. The few that actually understands these outsiders are the outsiders themselves- those, for instance, in jail. Prisoners understand why they did the “crazy” things they did. I agree with Nadia- discrimination definitely still exists today in society even though we “learned” throughout the decades to not judge others by their appearances. Even if we do not outright hurt others physically or verbally because of their appearances, I am sure most of us still have the tendency to put a label on any stranger who walks by.
ReplyDeleteI was very annoyed by the guy in the truck who shot at Wyatt and Billy. How far can people really go with disliking another’s way of life? Why does another person’s business bother someone so much as to cause a life?
I also found this last scene in this movie when Wyatt and Billy are killed because of their differences from the society they live in to be the most relevant. This scene really represents the suppressive side of society towards anything different than itself. People who follow the normal society rings are often scared by those that don't. Society still tries to wipe things out that is so different from itself because the differences are often the things that society fears the most. This is a common realization through history and will remain to be a fear of society. Differences represent the potential to change society and people are often intimidated by such notions that could possibly mean the altering of their "sound" existence.
ReplyDeleteWhile the same types of fears that were in existence during the time of this movie, do you think the severity of these fears are as strong today?
The end of the movie shocked me- I thought that the two men in the truck were typical characters that we'd already gotten a good sense of in this movie. They wanted to show Wyatt and Billy that they did not belong, just scare them and mess with them. I wonder, is it because even with a gun pointed at his head, Billy was defiant, giving his future murderer the finger that the shooter pulled the trigger?
ReplyDeleteHow can someone purely hate someone else just based on what they look like? Or, like George suggested, was it more about what they represented?
I agree that discrimination is a major part of the movie and is still prevalent in today's society. There are times that it is more discreet than others, yet it still exists. I think many times it happens when something different is brought about, something that we see as weird or not normal. Most of the time, this comes from the first impression we get from someone before we get to know them more. It seems that it's easier to judge then to take the time to understand or get to know them. The diner seen also showed how different generations tend to look at things. The younger girls were more intrigued by the "strangers", though they still did voice what they thought the men were. The older men, who seem to be more set in their beliefs, automatically began to make fun of and criticize them.
ReplyDeleteTo them it was like they were a taboo, and weren't accepted in their little town.
Can we blame these behaviors, like discrimination, on a society's views, or does the responsibility fall on individuals?