Human beings have made journeys since the beginning of history. The need to find a place that will satisfy our needs and wants defines our nomadic nature. Even as we became sedentary and settled down, the need to move around continued to be imminent. Winds up that once our basic needs were satisfied by the places we lived in we realized there were deeper needs and wants that needed to be fulfilled. The need for belongingness and immortality propelled us to leave our roots, whether temporarily or permanently, in the search of a yet unknown realization: The kind of realization that can only be achieved by the inextricable transformation that accompanies journeys. These journeys have been portrayed in all formats of art created by man since the beginning of creative expression. From cave paintings to literature, music, sculpture, theatre and ultimately film, man has shared the stories of his journeys. This practice gives way to an often overlooked, yet quite popular, film genre: The Road Movie. In strict sense a road movie tells the story of one or more characters getting from point A to point Z with stops along B, C, D, and so on. In each one of these stops many things happen to the characters. It is important to note, as TV Tropes (2004) emphasizes, that in a road movie the story revolves around the journey and the transformation of the characters and not around the specific locations along the way. Supporting this, Collins English Dictionary (2012) defines the road movie as “a genre of film in which the chief character is on the run or travelling in search of, or to escape from, himself.” This definition allows us to glimpse the sentimental existentialism that all road movies share. But not only is a road movie a depiction of the characters’ transformation but also a reflection of the “tensions and crises of the historical moment during which it is produced.” (Cohan, 2001) In other words, “the most interesting road movies are those in which the identity crisis of the protagonist mirrors the identity crisis of the culture itself.” (Salles, 2007)

 

            It would be hard to say with accuracy when this genre started officially, yet there is a technological referent that differentiates the road movie to its predecessors and influencers. Unlike the Western, which is the American genre per excellence and in many instances a possible road movie, for example John Ford’s The Searchers, the actual road movie cannot exist without roads and mechanized transportation; say an automobile, a bike or a motorcycle. Therefore, “the road movie is very much a postwar phenomenon” (Corrigan, 1991) that reflects the increase of car production and the growth of youth culture. As said by Norton on Taste of Cinema “road films are about individuals and an inner metamorphosis that takes place en route, but they are also about a culture and society in a particular time and place. […] They often become signifiers of social upheaval and economic catastrophe, most notably The Great Depression and the turbulent era of the 1960s.” (2015) Laderman (2002) says the Spanish picaresque novel and the Hollywood western influenced and shaped the road movie genre in its beginning. The road movie doesn’t only reflect the technological and historical context in which the genre developed; it also serves as an expression of the search of identity –individual and collective- that the characters undertake through these journeys. Regarding its themes, a road movie can be compared to the literature genre bildungsroman, in which “the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood” (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013) is the main subject. Many road movies have been based on books that tell the story of a journey, some as classic as the Odyssey and others more contemporary as On The Road. Even though the origins of the road movie trace back to the United States, the road movie has no nationality. It is possible to encounter at least one road movie from any country that has a film industry. “The road movie is in this regard, like the musical or the Western, a Hollywood genre that catches peculiarly American dreams, tensions, and anxieties, even when imported by the motion picture industries of other nations.” (Cohan, 1997) Nonetheless, road movies are not typically a box office hit nowadays. Unlike most commercial movies, the road movie tends to be slow-paced, providing the audience with a space for observation. Also, in road movies, the characters’ conflict is more internal than external, which may seem as lacking action for some audiences. Still, the road movie genre continues to be valid and popular in modern day because the need for discovering the unknown is timeless and widespread, which makes road movies a genre to which anyone can relate to.

 

            Even though some films such as The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Genevieve (1953) and La Strada (1954) could be considered primitive road movies, one of the first films deliberately created to be a road movie was Easy Rider (1969). This film directed by Dennis Hopper, features Fonda and Hopper as two hippie bikers who travel through the South of the United States. The movie depicts the American reality of the 1960’s and the counterculture movements of the time. Its tagline sums up the idea of looking for a national identity: “A man went looking for America and couldn't find it anywhere.” One particularity of the road movie genre is that it can belong to any wider genre. Examples of this are Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Getaway (1972) and Thelma & Louise (1991) all crime thrillers and also road movies that attained critical and commercial success. It is common that the road movie is part of crime films because when people are on the run, it’s easy to have them on the road as well. As mentioned previously, the road movie had its origin in the United States; yet it is possible to find early similarities to a road movie in the French film Pierrot Le Fou (1965), which also shares characteristics of the crime genre. The road movie genre has evolved from crime thrillers to dysfunctional family dramas, such as Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and Nebraska (2013), and coming of age comedies such as the multiple award-winning Mexican films Y Tu Mamá También (2001) and Güeros (2014). Some biopics can also be road movies. An example of this is The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) which depicts the journey of Ernesto Guevara though South America before he became the revolutionary Ché. Other worthwhile movies belonging to the road movie genre are Midnight Run (1988), Natural Born Killers (1994) O Brother Where are Thou? (2000), and perhaps, Into the Wild (2007). Even though it is debatable whether some films belong or not to the road movie genre, mainly because many movies share themes and characteristics with this genre, the idea of the road as a metaphor and the transformation of the main characters are a must-have in films belonging to this genre.

 

            When it comes to techniques and styles, the road movie genre required many innovations. As most of the action is confined to the inside of a moving vehicle, cameras must be small, or cars modified in order to allow camera movement. Also, sound experiences several challenges because of the turbulence present in vehicles. Some filmmakers opt to dub all the dialogues because of this. Other filmmakers decide to use different aspect ratios in order to take advantage of what they allow the audience to see. Some may employ 1:1 or 21:9 aspect ratios, instead of the more common 16:9. Special attention to details in production design and the selection of locations also become of great relevance. Montage also faces changes as it determines the pace of the film and intervenes the action through the juxtaposition of actions and images in a confined space. The soundtrack also plays a vital role in road films. The music that accompanies road trips tells a lot about the historical and cultural context of the film as well as being extremely revealing of the characters’ nature. Anyone who’s ever taken a road trip knows this. Narratively, the plot structure of road movies can be quite unusual, having open endings, many intentional loopholes or seeming as a film where not much happens. The main characters often are alienated subjects or even antiheroes.

 

            It’s not difficult to see why the road movie genre is still prevalent and appealing as it offers a “one-way-ticket to nowhere” (Atkinson, 1994) and “directly challenge(s) this culture of conformity.” (Salles, 2007). In this way, road films can also be a form of resistance and transgression as well as a depiction of the overall context surrounding them. Even though the genre has evolved and widened, the core of the genre remains the same. Road movies invite the viewer to experience a journey of learning from others and discovering oneself.

 

 

 

 

References:

Atkinson, M. (1994, January). Crossing the frontiers: Road movies. Sight and Sound.

Cohan, S. (1997). The road movie book. London: Routledge.

Laderman, D. (2002). Driving visions: Exploring the road movie. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

Norton, D. (2015, March 5). The 25 Best Road Movies of All Time. Retrieved November 23, 2015, from http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2015/the-25-best-road-movies-of-all-time/

Road Trip Plot - TV Tropes. (2015). Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RoadTripPlot

Salles, W. (2007, November 10). Notes for a Theory of the Road Movie. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/magazine/11roadtrip-t.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp&