HNC Enrolment Task - Easy Rider

HNC Enrolment task clip from 'Easy Rider'

Conduct textual analysis on the following scene from Easy Rider (1969):

Explain how the text has been constructed to create meaning:

clip link : https://youtu.be/SDAdzb9IeGU

The film plot line entrails two hippies travelling America on motorbikes, they constantly have an intake of drugs within the movie(and supposedly the actors were using real drugs at the time). Earlier on in the film someone they travelled with gave them the LSD(acid) and told them to take it when they were at 'the right place', so they decided that that was the perfect time to trip. Initially the opening shot to the first clip I would say is a mid shot as they are all sitting down, the first take is 56 seconds before the first jump cut which is extremely long for a shot but helps to take the viewers on to the story which makes the scene seem much more powerful as they are experiencing the entire story from one perspective. The first jump cut inserted is a quick second interval of the rundown cemetery building they are in front of which is the start of where their minds start to drift from taking the mysterious drug. They are each shown in different clothes, the two boys wearing typical 'hippie' type clothing and the two women dressed what would of been named as scandalous back in the 60's. All four of them however are shown to be easily influenced and all enjoy the use of recreational drug and alcohol abuse shown in the clip as they pass a bottle of it round and one man pictured to be smoking. There wasn't a major proposition for health back in the 60's as everyone smoked and drank as if it were the norm back then hippies smoked marijuana, kids in ghettos pushed heroin, and Timothy Leary(Harvard professor), urged the world to try LSD. Hence in popular imagination, the 1960's were the heyday of illegal drug use - however historical data indicate they probably weren't.
As Peter offers out the LSD the women question 'what is that?' and 'what do you do with it?' suggesting their lack of education in drugs but also suggesting the fact that it tustve been a new wave drug or just in that area people wee unknown to its recreational use.
The ambient diegetic sound in the background being a continuous monotonous sound like a train chugging along on a track, the sound could signify a heartbeat as it is consistent and uninterrupted up until 1.46s where the beat comes to a sudden stop.
The montage begins with a gradual jump cut, a voice of god type voiceover and things are said such as 'creator of heaven and earth, was crucified, died and was buried, he descended into hell' which makes these biblical connotations seem very eerie and sinister when confronted with the meaning of them for this scene as they are in a graveyard filming.
then as the LSD is slowly immersed into their systems the editing mimics this by increasing in pace while its getting faster and faster the montage becomes more daunting as we start to see them naked sprawled in the graveyard and other varied shot types which try to make the audience feel uneasy as the producers are trying to imitate their visions and trips to the audience. The varied shot types, and the fast pace of it creates a very hallucinogenic view for the audience to almost see it through their eyes the randomised shots and quite dark meanings.

The statue Peter is filmed holding onto while he implores 'shut up' proposes to the audience he is hallucinating/having a bad trip he is pictured at around 1:58 in five different shots all exactly the same length and focus, just changing his position showing his demise. I also read somewhere that when Peter is holding the statue, that director Dennis Hopper had asked Peter to talk to the statue as if he were talking to his mother who had committed suicide at ten years old, Peter had refused to do it as he had never formally confronted his feelings about his mother's death. However Hopper had insisted on it which is why you hear Peter call the statue 'Mother', and he states that he both loves her and hates her, which expressed his conflicted emotions. This scene in fact persuaded Bob Dylan to allow the use of his song "It's Alright Ma" in one of the final scenes, which contains lyrics referencing suicide, Peter told Dylan, "I need to hear those words" as Dylan has agreed to its use.
Which entrails that it wasn't in fact acting and that he had actually had an emotional breakdown in the scene thinking about how his mothers suicide affected him which now knowing that information creates much more significance and desolation. Some of the weird lighting effects in the LSD scene also came about because a can of film was accidentally exposed when it was opened before being developed.