Easy Rider
Essay Preview: Easy Rider
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As Vietnam was dubbed by some the “living room war” or the “television war”, so accurately describes civilian understanding on this war. In the time of Vietnam, Americans relied equally on newspapers as they did on television as a news source. When the CBS commentary with Morley Safer aired in 1965 showing the thatched roofs of Cam Ne being lit on fire by Marines with Zippo lighters, all hell broke loose among the American viewers. Americans who envisioned war as something more civil were exposed to the ugly reality of combat, and morale was declining.
The prevalent social climate in 1969 when Easy Rider came out was one of general disgust over the war. People were tired of seeing it on television all the time, and in spite of the claims that the burning of the villages were necessary courses of action, the thread of doubt had begun.
The changing social climate of portraying the war truthfully helped break the ground for movies to become more realistic and honest. After eliminating the Hays code in 1969 and adopting the new CARA system, moviemakers were freed to release a new wave of telling a story, one that depicted the reality of what was once considered taboo.
Peter Fondas iconography in Easy Rider certainly held up as a standard to American counterculture. In the aftermath of the Vietnam war, America had suffered a debilitating blow to its morale through the loss of the war, and the country stood divided socially and economically. The stereotypical norms of the patriarchal family were being challenged, and sexual mores were being tossed aside to the “free love” atmosphere of the 60s. These changes helped usher in an acceptance for the “devil may care” nonchalance of a character such as Peter Fondas in Easy Rider. His blatant disregard for authority, which would have