HyperCultura (Oct 2013)
Hippies and Hell’s Angels: Two Sides of a Coin-terculture
Abstract
Abstract The decade of the 60s in America was a period when long-held values and forms decided to abandon an identity based on tradition and separate themselves from mainstream culture through their appearance and lifestyle. This bizarre choice resulted not only in a new self-identity, but also in a new social one. It is in this panorama where a plethora of different groups were participating in what was called the ‘counterculture’ and crafting an authentic oppositional identity, where the Hippies movement had a priviledged position. However, the Hippies were not the only group of people opposed to the ideas of the society they lived in. Another group apparently opposed to the ethos of the America of the moment, and to the Hippies, starts gaining publicity during the same decade. This group is the motorcyclists gang Hell’s Angels, not as different from the Hippies as they might seem. In the following lines, attitudes towards community, sexuality and drugs on the part of both groups will be taken into account in order to draw a parallel between them and demonstrate that they actually were two sides of the same coin.
