Blue Jeans, Black Leather Jackets,
...Abroad
In 2004, The Wild One turned fifty. In 1954, Brando and his band of outlaw motorcycle riders stormed across the screen and into the popular imagination. The anniversary marked fifty years of “What have you got?” quotes, fifty years of parental fear, and fifty years of adolescent longing for Brando’s particular brand of cool (see Figure 1) The image of the biker that the film popularized has since become one of the classic representations of American youthful rebellion, both within the United States and abroad. How did such a dangerous figure become so embraced? Emerging in an era charged with political and social suspicion, and showcasing rebellion and nonconformity, the biker seems an odd choice to represent the United States in any way. Yet, the blue-jeaned, black-leather clad biker that is the movie’s hero is undeniably an American icon. Johnny Strabler would likely have been appalled.
So, how did it happen? I will explore the question by looking at popular representations of bikers in the initial period of the Cold War, that is, from 1947 to 1969. During that period, the transformation of biker from villain to hero began. This transformation is significant because it directly mirrors the change in overall attitudes toward juvenile delinquency during this period, a change that itself characterizes the seismic shift in the cultural status of youthful rebellion. The biker as iconic figure provides us with a focal point for studying this larger cultural process, which was key to the development of the Counterculture so central to the next decade.
It is my contention that what we can see in the representations of bikers, and responses to them, is a consequence of the Cold War. As against traditional formulations of this process that stress the role of domestic subversion and generational conflict, I will show the importance of...
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