THE PLOT AND ITS CHARACTERS
The film Hair tells the story of Claude Hooper Bukowski, who was a naïve farm man from Oklahoma that goes to New York in order to serve in Vietnam War. Once he still has some days before enlisting in the Army, he meets a group of hippies (Berger, Woof, La Fayette and Jeannie) with whom he spent his days using drugs. He also gets to know Sheila Franklin, a rich girl that he fell in love with.
Claude had to go to a camp in Nevada, where his new friends (the hippies and Sheila) try to make him quit from his duty tour in Vietnam. Berger changes place with him so he can see Sheila and the others who were outside the camp, but while Claude is driving back, Berger is sent to Vietnam. Unfortunately, his friend dies during the war.
This plot is a very important one because it stands as an example of the counterculture movement that was happening in the U.S.A during the 1960’s and early 1970’s. The hippies in the film, who endlessly attempt to make Claude give up of serving the army, are symbolizing the youth and hippies that rejected the Vietnam war, the segregation and the social norms. It can be clearly seem the sexual freedom with the character of Jeannie, who is pregnant and does not know who the father is, the presence of Sheila, the rich girl, and Lafayette, the black man, in the same group of friends show their position towards segregation.
Well, it is a must see!
XOXO,
Bruna
