HippieCulureinAmericanFilms_开题报告

Literature Review

Young people, who had anarchistic ideals and were spectacularly rebelling against society were called hippies. They did not want to fit in and work. The hippie name was first used in the American television on 22 April 1964, on WNBC TV Channel 4, in New York City, at the opening of the New York World Fair. Then a group of young people was protesting against the Vietnam War.

The common features of the members of the  hippie group are that they grew the hair long, they wore a T-shirt and jeans and loved The Beatles. They were called hippies by the NYPD (New York Police Department, New York Police) officers and the reporters.

The Hippie Movement changed the politics and the culture in America in the 1960s. When the nineteen fifties turned into the nineteen sixties, not much had changed, people were still extremely patriotic, the society of America seemed to work together, and the youth of America did not have much to worry about, except for how fast their car went or what kind of outfit they should wear to the Prom. After 1963, things started to slowly change in how America viewed its politics, culture, and social beliefs, and the group that was in charge of this change seemed to be the youth of America. The Civil Rights Movement, President Kennedy’s death, new music, the birth control pill, the growing illegal drug market, and the Vietnam War seemed to blend together to form a new counterculture in America, the hippie.      Unlike the society before this movement, the hippie did not try to change America through violence, the hippie tried to change things through peace and love. The Hippie Movement was a moment during the mid 1960s through the early 1070s where sex, drugs and Rock-n-Roll, was at the forefront of mainstream society. No one really knows the true definition of a Hippie, but a formal definition describes the hippie as one who does not conform to social standards, advocating a liberal attitude and lifestyle. Phoebe Thompson wrote, “Being a hippie is a choice of philosophy. Hippies are generally antithetical to structured hierarchies, such as church, government, and social castes. The ultimate goal of the hippie movement is peace, attainable only through love and toleration of the earth and each other. Finally, a hippie needs freedom, both physical freedom to experience life and mental freeness to remain open-minded” (Thompson12-13).

The nineteen fifties was a decade of prosperous times in America, but the average lifestyle of an American seemed extremely dull. The average American conformed to social norms, most Americans in the nineteen fifties dressed alike, talked the same way, and seemed to have the same types of personality. Music is what started to change the conformist lifestyle in America. Teenagers started to rebellion against their families by listening to Rock-n-Roll, and watching Elvis Presley’s sexy dance moves. “The music of Elvis and other rock bands caused the rebellion; all the teens needed was a cause” (Manning 32-34). The Rock-n-Roll movement in the nineteen fifties planted the seeds of the Hippie Movement, but Kennedy’s assassination, and the Vietnam War really is what sparked this social change in America. 

President Kennedy saw the Vietnam situation as America’s fight to stop the spread of communism. Kennedy, who was young and well liked by the American people, did not really see much protest from the American people. He wanted equality in America, and supported open-mindedness in his country; at his assassination in 1963 only 15,000 troops were in Vietnam. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson greatly increased the number of troops that went to Vietnam, reaching 500,000 in 1966. Television allowed the American public to see what these soldiers were facing and that this was a senseless war. Too many men were coming home in American flag draped coffins, causing many Americans to rebel and move to the new hippie counterculture. 

‘The hippie movement germinated in San Francisco, with the Vietnam War at its core. The movement eventually spread to the East Coast as well, centralized in New York's East Village in addition to the Haight-Asbury district of San Francisco and Sunset Strip of Los Angeles” (Buchholz 858). Many hippies were angry over the conformist lifestyle that Americans were living in, and wanted to live how they wanted to live not how their employer or television wanted them to live. Hippies also took a political stance against the Vietnam War. “The Vietnam War conflicted directly with the hippie belief in peace and love, so the counterculture protested the war throughout the nation. The flower children held love-ins to celebrate their rights, spoke out publicly, formed protest groups with the slogan: Hell no, we won't go!, burned flags, and tore up draft slips” (Buchholz 858). Many hippies tried to avoid the draft; they did not believe that they should be forced to fight in a war that they did not believe in. Many said that they were gay, or claimed that they were insane just to stay away from Vietnam. Even though many members of the hippie’s families were being drafted they continued to protest, and many of these protests were at America’s colleges. “Protests began in Columbia University and Berkley University, California. A demonstration against Nixon's decision to invade Cambodia led to violence at Kent State University; the National Guard killed four students. Finally, the University of Virginia, founded by America's forefather of freedom Thomas Jefferson, was raided by two hundred baton-waving policemen who arrested sixty-eight students” (Thompson 66-8). The greatest voice of the Hippie Movement was their music.

The prevalence of the hippie culture was born with profound social reasons. Although it appeared in a non-mainstream manner, it has already entered the mainstream movie dominated by the market because of its many problems and strong sense of the times. in. There are a large number of movies in the United States that reflect hippie culture. In these films with different emphasis on hippie culture, you can see the social scene of the turbulent era and the alternative thoughts and behaviors of rebellious hippies.

The rich hippie elements in the research film help to dig deep into the theme of the film. This paper intends to explore the connotation and value of the film's mainstream cultural value system in contemporary America from three aspects of hippie culture, namely Drugs, Sex and Rock&Roll.

二、Outline

1.Introduction

1.1.Definition

1.2.Hippie Culture’s Background

2. American Hippie Culture Film’s Background

3. American Films Analysis

3.1.Easy Rider  

3.2.Forrest Gump 

3.3. Taking Woodstock 

4. How hippie culture is expressed in American movies

4.1. Rock&Roll Music

4.2. Drugs

4.3. Sex

5.Conclusion

三、References

王恩铭：《美国反正统文化运动—嬉皮士文化研究》，北京：北京大学出版社，2008年

陈旭光.英国电影文化：文学传统、绅士与嬉皮、种族、身份和意识形态［Ｊ］.杭州师范学院学报（社会科学版），２００７（０４）

董艳.美国嬉皮士反正统文化运动研究［Ｊ］.长春工业大学学报（社会科学版），２０１０（０１）

任峥.英美电影中的嬉皮文化。

 Thompson, Phoebe. The Flower Childern. New York, Prentice Hall: 1989

 Buchholz, Ted, ed. The National Experience: A History of the United States. New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers: 1993

Manning, Robert. The Vietnam Experience: A Nation Divided. Boston, Boston Publishing Company: 1984.

电影《Easy Rider》1969

电影《Forrest Gump》1994

电影《Taking Woodstock》2009