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the Road Moviethe Road MovieGeoff LealandGeoff Lealand

Screen and Media StudiesScreen and Media Studies

University of WaikatoUniversity of Waikato

NZATE July 2009NZATE July 2009

The Road MovieFrequently referred to as a film genre (as defined in

AS90279 Demonstrate understanding of a media genre), ie the grouping together of similar films, which share elements of:

• character • themes/values

• narrative • settings

• music/soundtrack

and, most specifically • mode of transport(Adapted from Jones & Thompson (2007) NCEA Level 2: Media Studies)

Genre

Genre is what we collectively believe it to Genre is what we collectively believe it to be.be.

Barry K. GrantBarry K. Grant

Genre films essentially ask the audience, Genre films essentially ask the audience, ‘Do you still want to believe this?’‘Do you still want to believe this?’

Leo Braudy

Road movies: characters• Stock (formulaic) characters eg the sullen driver,

the joker in the back seat, the sexy young hitch-hiker

• Little Miss Sunshine (2007)- the angst-ridden teen- uptight father (driver)- the harassed mother- the gay (and depressive) uncle- the grandfather (with a drug habit)- the plump, slightly misplaced daughter

A dysfunctional family, which is redeemed and reunited as a result of tragedy and triumph on the road journey?

Road movies: a boy’s genre?

Generally you can say that the appearance of women in a typical road movie is passive rather than active. They are the objects while men are the subjects…although women are passive, they greatly influence the story’s plot.. .[what] Fenin and Everson (1977) call a ’plot motivator’

[www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/WomanRoads.htm, 24/6/09]

Other characters

• Characters on the run from the law--or from both the law and the lawless eg No Country for Old Men

• Characters on the run from themselves, or their past eg Sideways

• Characters on voyages of discovery (or self-discovery) eg Easy Rider, Japanese Story

• Characters along the way (eg crazed locals; corrupt sheriffs, helpful mechanics etc)

Road movies: NarrativeMost road movies follow the

classic Hollywood narrative structure (or ‘arc’).

Road movies follow a linear narrative and plot trajectory ie characters set out on a journey, complications develop along the way, and a final destination (resolution) is reached.

Narrative theory

It has been suggested that the great majority of Hollywood films are variations on two essential stories:

• The fish out of water

• The odd couple

Both stories are ideal for the road movie

Road movies: settings

Obviously, the Obviously, the roadroad is paramount--usually highways is paramount--usually highways which head towards an unknown horizon, crossing which head towards an unknown horizon, crossing large expanses of unpopulated landscape. Cities are large expanses of unpopulated landscape. Cities are to be avoided, and small towns offer both to be avoided, and small towns offer both temptations and threats.temptations and threats.

The road movie is primarily a continental The road movie is primarily a continental (American?) genre (the lure of the West): (American?) genre (the lure of the West): GrapesGrapes of of WrathWrath, , EasyEasy RiderRider, , Thelma and LouiseThelma and Louise, , Bonny & Bonny & ClydeClyde Australia, another vast continent, also Australia, another vast continent, also generates road movies eg generates road movies eg PriscillaPriscilla, , Travelling Travelling NorthNorth. .

More on settingsIsland cultures --and highly ‘domesticated’ landscapes--produce few road movies.

NZ: Goodbye Pork Pie (1981) and

Snakeskin (2001)

Road movies: An intrinsically American genre?

With few exceptions, the road movie is about American dreams and experiences (life on the run; the open road; escape to a better world (The Wizard of Oz?); the search for romance and adventure.

Even the exceptions (Paris, Texas; Snakeskin; Leningrad Cowboys Go America; Cold Fever; Goodbye Pork Pie) are more about their American referencing than their settings, or about the American road movie

Road movies: music/soundtrack

The road trip is always accompanied by music, as either soundtrack (non-diegetic) or car radio/tape/CD player (diegetic).

Road movies:themes/values

• • the search for freedom or releasethe search for freedom or release• discarding or escaping the pastdiscarding or escaping the past• on the run (eg on the run (eg BadlandsBadlands, , Wild At HeartWild At Heart))• creating a new identitycreating a new identity• finding one’s self or love or familyfinding one’s self or love or family• fantasies of adventure (financial, sexual, fantasies of adventure (financial, sexual,

violent)violent)• the disintegration of the dream (dystopia)the disintegration of the dream (dystopia)

Road movies: mode of transport

Obviously, the car but also occasionally a bus or motor-home (eg About Schmidt) or ride-on mower (The Straight Story)

A sub-genre would be the long-distance motorcycle trip (Easy

Rider, Motorcycle Diaries)

So …

Is the road movie a coherent genre? Is the road movie a coherent genre?

……from the darkest, to the most banal, all from the darkest, to the most banal, all road movies have something in common; a road movies have something in common; a road and socio-economic reason d’etre…road and socio-economic reason d’etre…they reflect the times they are made in and they reflect the times they are made in and the road is the great leveler.the road is the great leveler.Sam North. ‘The Road Movie’, www.hackwriters.com/roadone.htm, 11/6/08Sam North. ‘The Road Movie’, www.hackwriters.com/roadone.htm, 11/6/08

The road has always been a persistent The road has always been a persistent theme of American culture … road theme of American culture … road movies project American Western movies project American Western mythology onto the landscape mythology onto the landscape traversed and bound by the nation’s traversed and bound by the nation’s highways.highways.

S. Cohan & I.R. Hark, (1997) Introduction in S. Cohan & I.R. Hark, (1997) Introduction in The Road The Road Movie BookMovie Book, London: Routledge, 1, London: Routledge, 1

The road defines the space between town and country. It is an empty expanse, a tabula rosa, the last true frontier. M. Dargis,’Roads to Freedom’, Sight and Sound 3 (1991), 14-18

The heyday of the road movie…

was in American cinema in the 1970s, when escape on the road still seemed possible, the roads still seemed to lead to adventure, and there was a yearning for a different life (eg the hippy dreams of Easy Rider or Zabriskie Point).

Songs of the road

The trajectory of the road movie can also be traced in American popular music eg

1970s: Born To Be Wild; Born To Run; On the Road Again2009: songs of loss and regretHeaded across those Colorado plains/As empty as the day/No more chasing shooting stars/Chasing what used to be/No more buffalo/Blue skies or open roads/Take my Cadillac/Park it out in back/Mama’s calling/Put away the toys.

James McMurty “No More Buffalos”

In 2009….. In 2009….. Such dreams have largely disappeared.

The wilderness has been tamed, everything is mapped, the roads are crowded. In most contemporary versions of the road (with some comedic exceptions), we already know what lies at the end of the journey--death, disaster and disappointment. When we set out on the road, we now take our home with us.

One possible exception?

The teen or ‘gross-out’ road movie eg Harold and Kumar Go To the White Castle; Hey, Dude! Where’s My Car?; Almost Famous and Road Trip (“similar in style to American Pie, and ultimately stemmed from the likes of Porkys and Animal House” imdb)