I remember seeing this film in the 4th grade, circa 1984. We were horrified by the hippies; we saw them as hideous animals. It was also the first year of any drug education in public schools in the area, so we obviously tied the horrors of drugs in with dudes in an old car, because all the propaganda involved weird looking dudes, an old car, and the deadly consequences of smoking marihuana. Plus, Texas people in the 80s were down on people from the 60s and 70s, and many still bear huge resentments toward the era.
As a 4th grader, I never got the Wal-Mart/corporate America metaphor, nor the “horrors of government regulation metaphor.” I would argue that this film is prescient of what became of business in America in the 1990s: Corporate America with government on its side made entrepreneurship too risky to attempt. So put down your golf balls — self-employment just isn’t worth it anymore.
I remember seeing this film in the 4th grade, circa 1984. We were horrified by the hippies; we saw them as hideous animals. It was also the first year of any drug education in public schools in the area, so we obviously tied the horrors of drugs in with dudes in an old car, because all the propaganda involved weird looking dudes, an old car, and the deadly consequences of smoking marihuana. Plus, Texas people in the 80s were down on people from the 60s and 70s, and many still bear huge resentments toward the era.
As a 4th grader, I never got the Wal-Mart/corporate America metaphor, nor the “horrors of government regulation metaphor.” I would argue that this film is prescient of what became of business in America in the 1990s: Corporate America with government on its side made entrepreneurship too risky to attempt. So put down your golf balls — self-employment just isn’t worth it anymore.