Joe is very much a film defined by the era in which it was made. The characters, music, plot and themes are all issues concerning the counterculture movement of the late 1960s. The film centers on the generation gap between the hippie culture and their parents, but manages to be sympathetic to both sides. In the film Bill Compton accidentally kills the drug dealer boyfriend of his daughter, and he teams up with Joe Curran to search New York to find his runaway daughter.
The pair meets at the American Bar & Grill, where Bill is drawn to Joe because of the anti-hippie tirade he is giving. This scene illustrates the types of beliefs the older generation in the 1960s held. While it is easy to dismiss Joe and Bill as closed-minded racists, this type of thinking was actually fairly common during the time period, and the film does not try to paint them as bad guys, despite their actions.
The pair meets at the American Bar & Grill, where Bill is drawn to Joe because of the anti-hippie tirade he is giving. This scene illustrates the types of beliefs the older generation in the 1960s held. While it is easy to dismiss Joe and Bill as closed-minded racists, this type of thinking was actually fairly common during the time period, and the film does not try to paint them as bad guys, despite their actions.
Both Joe and Bill believe in the old American adage of working hard, though their manifestations vary – Joe has the gritty, laborious, dangerous factory job whereas Bill has the intellectual, professional, demure advertising executive position. Both are associated with American imagery, whether it’s the bar, the picture of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima inside the bar (which is framed with both men during the scene) or Joe’s “Honor America” bumper sticker in his basement next to his guns. Some of this imagery may be ironic or counterpoint, since the political and social thinking of the time was moving towards equality and peace, but the film does show Joe and Bill changing with their environment.
Whether its Joe’s continued attraction to young, hippie girls or the penultimate “org-ie” sequence, both Bill and Joe end up experimenting with their lifestyle just like the younger generation. But I think an earlier scene does a much better job of trying to make the two men understood or at least sympathetic. After seeing hippie clothes in the window of a store, Joe makes a “cowboys and Indians” remark in reference to the animal skin and frills of the fashion. To this Bill responds, “They grew up on TV.” While this suggests the beginning of a society highly influenced by marketing and popular culture, it also relates to the generation gap in a more subdued way. The children of Joe and Bill “grew up on TV” because they grew up in a time of peace where they were not occupied by a world war. Consequently, they were able to go to school longer (allowing for more intellectual and political opinions) and developed more varied recreational activities (drugs and free sex).
The Graduate also deals with the generation gap, but is less serious in tone and more critical of the older generation. Most of the adults in The Graduate are flat and insipid embodying the “plastic” image for which they are famed. The adults in Joe are developed more because Joe is from the adult perspective (whereas The Graduate is from the youth’s). The film also recalls Easy Rider for its contemporary soundtrack and depiction of drugs and violence. I personally found the film to be enjoyable more on an intellectual level rather than an entertainment level. Joe lacks much of the re-watch value that The Graduate contains (the editing, powerful soundtrack, humor), and the main characters are sort of hard to identify with as a 21-year old. But as an exploration of the older generation’s isolation from the younger generation (including the subsequent attempts at understanding that generation) make the film quite fascinating from a social sociological perspective.
Whether its Joe’s continued attraction to young, hippie girls or the penultimate “org-ie” sequence, both Bill and Joe end up experimenting with their lifestyle just like the younger generation. But I think an earlier scene does a much better job of trying to make the two men understood or at least sympathetic. After seeing hippie clothes in the window of a store, Joe makes a “cowboys and Indians” remark in reference to the animal skin and frills of the fashion. To this Bill responds, “They grew up on TV.” While this suggests the beginning of a society highly influenced by marketing and popular culture, it also relates to the generation gap in a more subdued way. The children of Joe and Bill “grew up on TV” because they grew up in a time of peace where they were not occupied by a world war. Consequently, they were able to go to school longer (allowing for more intellectual and political opinions) and developed more varied recreational activities (drugs and free sex).
The Graduate also deals with the generation gap, but is less serious in tone and more critical of the older generation. Most of the adults in The Graduate are flat and insipid embodying the “plastic” image for which they are famed. The adults in Joe are developed more because Joe is from the adult perspective (whereas The Graduate is from the youth’s). The film also recalls Easy Rider for its contemporary soundtrack and depiction of drugs and violence. I personally found the film to be enjoyable more on an intellectual level rather than an entertainment level. Joe lacks much of the re-watch value that The Graduate contains (the editing, powerful soundtrack, humor), and the main characters are sort of hard to identify with as a 21-year old. But as an exploration of the older generation’s isolation from the younger generation (including the subsequent attempts at understanding that generation) make the film quite fascinating from a social sociological perspective.
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