Such an esoteric, minimalist statement could be one of many open-to-interpretation themes found in the 1971 road movie cult classic Two-Lane Blacktop. Two-Lane Blacktop is so narratively thin, viewers are able to infuse any theme they wish. Fans and critics have been doing so since the film was first released, although the box office failure gained most of its acclaim decades after its original release.
The Road Movie/Faux Documentary
The plot of Two-Lane Blacktop is fairly simple. A long-distance race takes place between a crew of young persons named The Driver (James Taylor), The Mechanic (Dennis Wilson), and The Girl (Laurie Bird) and their 1955 Chevy and a middle-aged man dubbed GTO (Warren Oates), the driver of a 1970 GTO.
The Easy Rider inspirations in the film are obvious. The alienation in the often dialogue-sparse feature is even more pronounced and the characters are decidedly less charming, humorous, and likeable. We always hear the noise of engines and the road with clear distinction. The characters only seem to speak sporadically and rarely with distinction.
The minimalism in the film seeks allows events to unfold in a slice of life manner as opposed to adhering to a more generic dramatic structure. That is why the film flopped when it was first released and why it has risen to classic status these days.
Two-Lane Blacktop is a documentary-like film that captures the proceedings in a fly-on-the-wall manner. The road movie captures slices of life created by drifters who simply want to race their cars. The races are sometimes against other cars and always an attempt to get as far away from society as fast as possible.
Flies on the Wall, Flies in the Movie
The viewer is traditionally disconnected from the events of a film. Audiences watch what unfolds on the screen. They are "there" in the movie theater, but they are not "there" on the screen. The characters in Two-Lane Blacktop aren't there either. They have been divorced from the world and only seem to be peripherally part of things. (The audience is not comprised of the only flies on the wall) Drifting from place to place, new environment to new environment, allowing Route 66 to be their simple guide. Just follow the road to a new location.
As the song goes, the road goes on forever. No matter where the characters travel, they find no home. As in Easy Rider, there is a rejections of society and a desire for a more anarchistic existence.
Emotional Disconnects and Attempts to Connect
Two-Lane Blacktop differentiates itself further from Easy Rider because their is no bonding between characters in Two-Lane Blacktop. Instead, there is constant friction and everyone keeps everyone else emotionally at arm's length. The rare extended scenes of dialogue highlight this notion.
DRIVER
You hear the cicadas?
(Long, long, uncomfortable pause)
GIRL
Yeah.
DRIVER
......You talk about survival those are some freaky
bugs. The come out of the ground every seven years...
{to mate and die}.
GIRL
You bore me.
The sound of the cicadas is much louder and clearer to hear and understand than the characters speaking the likely improvised dialogue. The characters and their dialogue are cast adrift in the events of the film. From a dialogue perspective, he cicadas chirping in the background are just as important at The Driver's musings. That is to say, his dialogue is not all that important. The action of the race and the dynamics of the scenery are important.
The motif repeats itself in the next scene in which the song "Me and Bobby McGee" drowns out most dialogue....until the dialogue switches to a wager for ownership of the loser's car in a race.
Old Again, Young Again, What's The Difference?
The characters are a byproduct of traveling and racing. Both actions help establish who the characters are. In some ways, the constant travel keeps the characters from being who they are as much as it allows them to become nameless, identity-less creatures who are byproducts of their road excursions.
The race between The Drive, The Girl, and The Mechanic vs. GTO appears, superficially, to be symbolic of a youth vs. elders theme. It really isn't. GTO shares virtually everything in common with the other three. He has the same interests, ethics, and lives the same life. GTO simply reflects the direction the others are headed. Since GTO has not arrived anywhere, he becomes the personification of the road never ending.
This is not to say there is no tension or conflict. The two parties are competing against one another. Neither are heroes or villains, although some do have their nefarious moments.
To defeat GTO in the race, The Driver lies to the police claiming he was brutally reckless on the road. Eventually, GTO catches up with The Driver.
DRIVER
We just wanted to let you know were right along with you
on the road. Were all in this together, right?
GTO is not amused at being played and blows up. Was he really being played though? He loosens up and tries to give some experienced advice to The Driver.
GTO
I been scouting locations for a down home movie on fast cars,
but the real race is more interesting.
At first, this seems as if GTO is trying to bond with his young friend/foe. In a way, it is. There is a warning present as well.
GTO
You can't be a nomad forever unless you can flow
with it like me.
The statement still seems like an endorsement of life on the road. Although he is extolling the virtues of living the nomadic way, GTO's life is not exactly one of glib grandeur.
GTO
Everything fell apart on me. My job, my family, everything.
DRIVER
I don't want to hear about it.
GTO, we learn, has issues with alcohol. His life of adventure, of "bouncing from coast to coast like a rubber ball" is an attempt at escaping reality. And he really has nowhere to go.
We don't know what the younger ones are escaping from. Perhaps they are lost in a general sense of rebellion common with the youth at the time. In an era before social media and virtual, simulated lives and personas, the existence of an outlaw was attractive. The life was doubly attractive for those interested in escaping. Driver, Mechanic, and The Girl are looking to escape abstracts like "the system". GTO wishes to escape a failed family life and career.
Regardless, they are both seeking escape and the idea has its dire faults. Running away from a problem has a tendency to leave the problem unsolved.
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