Julia LambTHTR 301117 October 2013Hair!In the 1979 production of the 1960s-based musical, Hair!, Jon Savage encompasses his role as a quintessential farm boy from Oklahoma who is drafted into the Vietnam War in the middle of the 1960s. Although this film adaptation changed drastically from its original stage form, its progressive and racy style allows viewers to reflect on this time period and truly understand what it was all about. Audiences who lived during the 60s and 70s as well as fans of this type of rock music would most likely relate to not only the hippie lifestyle during this era, but also the struggles within the country during the Vietnam War. Even though a film adaptation has not been produced since this one in 1979, Diane Paulus directed a 2009 musical revival, which received mostly positive reviews as well as a Tony Award. Viewers of the early 21st century wouldcontinue to respond well to Hair because it represents a constantly changing society in which people stand up for their rights, and would resonate well with the actions of today. By displaying explicit content and carefree behavior, Hair immerses viewers into the rebellious lifestyle of the 1960s in order to demonstrate American society’s attitude toward the government in this era.Unlike many other musicals, Hair provides a psychedelic perspective of how people successfully challenged authority in 1960s American society. Hair is the first musical to push the limits regarding explicit content by showing frequent nudity and druguse. However, it is consistent with other rock musicals in the way that it portrays many elements of counterculture, like anti-war, anti-establishment, and an obvious generationgap. For example, in the beginning of the music festival scene in which Claude daydreams (or hallucinates) about marrying Jeanie, a man gets up in front of the crowd and announces, “The draft is white people sending black people to make war on the yellow people to defend land they stole from the red people,” on the microphone. This is a raw example of how people in this time period viewed hypocrisy in the government anddid not want to succumb to the draft into the Vietnam War. When police force Claude to strip down in front of them before he goes to Army training camp, the policemen tease him and sing about how “white boys are so pretty” in the song “White Boys.” This is a satirical example, making fun of the incompetence of police and undermines their authority. In addition, Hair is the first rock musical, so this eccentric music mixed in with all the explicit behavior marks the beginning of rock musicals and their association with counterculture in American musical theatre. There are various themes in both the musical and the 1979 film production of Hair that viewers of this time period can relate to, such as the anti-war rebellion and this “free love” lifestyle. Many people did not expect the film adaptation to be successful because it premiered more than a decade after these themes “became outdated,” but director Milos Forman contributed a different “outsider perspective” that surprised and challenged the thoughts of American viewers of the time (Antulov). For example, the character Lafayette has a dramatic scene with former girlfriend and son right before the “tribe” travels to Nevada to rescue Claude. Lafayette’s character is very easygoing and kind, but this scene in which he abandons his child shows a lot of irony for his character. Then, the scene abruptly switches to Jeanie talking to the mother of Lafayette’s child about how she thinks, “everybody should be happy about it,” referring to her pregnancy.This sequence of events is extremely bizarre and doesn’t seem pragmatically appropriate, but it is somehow acceptable in relation to the themes of this film. People watching this in the 60s and 70s most likely thought that the film exaggerated moments like this, but this exaggeration is what made Hair so successful. It continuously challenges and evokesnostalgia in the audience, scene after scene, by providing ironic and carefree moments in history that portray what this time was all about (Antulov). In addition to the 1979 film adaptation, the 2009 musical revival deemed very successful across the country. Because Hair so accurately demonstrates a constantly changing society that challenges all authority and promotes individual freedom, it resonates well with many people of the 21st century. In the last decade, American society has confronted huge issues such as gay rights, abortion, and legalizing marijuana, and hastried to overcome the racial issues in this country by electing a black president in 2008. People responded well to this revival because we have become familiar with continuous change and taking pride in human rights, so people were not surprised by the unusual sequence of events in this musical. Also, there seems to be quite a fascination with the 60s and 70s lifestyle, at least among young people in their 20s and 30s, so that definitely contributed to Hair’s positive reviews as well. The constant themes of counterculture andchallenging authority may have peaked during the time of production of Hair, but they have never truly diminished in this country and many people are still fascinated with the “peace, love, and drugs” kind-of life. Without musicals like Hair, the rock musical genre with all its contradictory themes may have never been revealed in such a fascinating and artistic way. This film adaptation directed from a non-American perspective challenges viewers to think more indepth about common themes of this era such as counterculture, anti-war establishment, and opposition to the Vietnam War. It addresses historical issues and uses explicit content like nudity and drugs to analyze the attitudes of this country in the 60s. Anybody who has any interest in the rebellious movements of the time or in the unconventional sequence of events would find Hair both unique and entertaining. Most of all, this musical marks an important transition in this country’s history and uses explicit content in order to demonstrate its progression and impact it had on American musical theater.ReferencesAntulov, Dragan. (2000). Hair, A Film Review. Retrieved on October 15, 2013, from