Aniki: Revista Portuguesa da Imagem em Movimento (Jul 2014)
The Road Movies' Space Dynamics in the 70s: Richard C. Sarafian, Monte Hellman and Terrence Malick
Abstract
Vanishing Point (Richard C. Sarafian, 1971), Two-lane Blacktop (Monte Hellmann, 1971) and Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973) are road movies that incorporate distinctive journeys, which, at a certain moment, become similar. Their heroes act as non-mystical pilgrims to whom the trip is a journey in itself, even if they come up as a chase, a car race or an escape from the police.In a filmic genre built from the spatial element, the road life structures each narrative in each film. In this way, the moment when the journey looses its teleological sense acquires even more relevance, allowing us to understand the genre’s space dynamics with a different depth.In this essay, I will analyse comparatively the ways through which characters and directors relate to the scenery/landscape, in order to identify ideological constraints related to space, i.e., those symbolic limitations the road movie seems to conceal. Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969) will be a constant presence since, as the inaugural road movie, it has determined the genre’s underlying forces.
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