His Romantic Movement

“His Romantic Movement” presents images of a trip to the Florida Keys. It reenacts the drama of going on the road, Kerouac style; but what it really depicts is the dream of freedom turning sour. “His Romantic Movement” re-presents the male-band on the road living it up, taking drugs, drinking in the sights, and just travelling, significantly, to the Florida Keys. But it does not simply depict these activities, and in doing so reproduce that myth. By depicting members of the band as ugly and vicious, it deconstructs the myths of the male-band and conveys an uneasiness with that celebration of manliness that was so much part of the ethos of Beat literature.