Maya Sasaki-George ’28
Arts & Entertainment Editor
On Sept. 23, 2025, Cinestudio showed a documentary on the literary icon, controversial figure and American novelist Jack Kerouac, entitled “Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation.” The film sought to portray all sides of this complex individual and titan of the American zeitgeist, particularly the impact and dimensions of his 1957 novel “On the Road,” a fictionalized version of Kerouac and his friends’ travels across the country during the late 1940s. As the story goes, though perhaps a bit exaggerated for dramatic effect, Kerouac wrote the novel spontaneously in just three short weeks. Beyond the author’s biography, “Kerouac’s Road” explores three unassociated stories of travel, growth and life on the road, creating a new narrative of American reality, this one centered on the marginalized voices missing from Kerouac’s work. While extremely ambitious and missing the mark at times, “Kerouac’s Road” was an emotionally complex, engaging and poignant tale which broadened understanding of the writer even for this long-time enthusiast.
The film begins with an idealized, hopelessly patriotic collection of photos and videos thought to represent “Kerouac’s America”: great rolling hills, beat-up RVs, page after page of typewritten text, Kerouac’s handsome, unsmiling face and all the glamor of being out west. I was immediately jarred by what appeared to be a vastly different interpretation of the novel than the one that had so captivated me at 16. To me, “On the Road” is the search for a lost, nonexistent America, the dogged pursuit of an imagined utopia and the meaning found in the cavern between idealism and reality. It’s undeniably problematic for its portrayal, or rather lack of portrayal, of women and people of color on this journey to find the heart of the country, yet contains universal truths that have cemented it indefinitely as a literary classic. “On the Road” is more an obsession with a myth than an advertisement for a lifestyle, so how could this film reinforce and laud the same fictitious ideals Kerouac himself never found on his journeys?
Over the course of the film’s 89-minute runtime, this idealized facade of America is carefully broken down, dissected, examined and reconstructed for a modern audience. Biographical information and voiceover excerpts from the novel are juxtaposed with three distinct journeys of discovery in modern-day America: a young man on the verge of moving away to college, an older woman looking to reconcile with her abusive father and a couple exploring the strengths and pitfalls of their marital relationship. Each has their own story to tell and connection to life on the road. The young man, Amir, grapples with racism and violence in his hometown, looking ahead towards his bright future in college yet reluctant to leave his loving family behind. He feels guilty and conflicted about his decision to leave Philadelphia for Atlanta, trying to place himself in the context of what it means to be a black man in Northern versus Southern America. The couple, Tenaj and Tino, are only able to fund their travels using benefits from a Purple Heart medal Tino won in Iraq, referencing this medal and his time in the army as the foundation for their “American Dream.” The two express differing political viewpoints and seem to struggle to communicate, only bonding through their mutual love of life on the road. The film does an admirable job of holding conflicting truths side by side and reveling in their contradictions, not forcing any concrete judgments or divisions. This easily ties into its nuanced portrayal of Jack Kerouac himself, forged through interviews featuring friends, biographers and the fellow artists he inspired.
An idea the film repeatedly returned to was that of Kerouac as a perpetual outsider in America for his French-Canadian parentage. Though Kerouac himself grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts, French was his first language and he always felt somewhat ostracized from his peers because of this. He was extremely close to his mother, Gabrielle-Ange, and was deeply affected by the loss of his older brother Gerard, who passed away when Jack was four. This grief haunted Jack for the rest of his life, with the specter of his brother appearing in many of his works. Kerouac was desperately in love with America and the west in particular, but his outsider mentality drove him to be constantly on the move and searching for somewhere to belong. He at last seemed to find community with the other poets and novelists of the Beat Generation, figures like Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady and William S. Burroughs, publishing his first novel in 1950. It wasn’t until “On the Road” was published in 1957 that Kerouac gained prominence, a celebrity which quickly spiraled out of control; despite continuing to write and publish novels, he grew depressed and fell into alcoholism in the following decade, dying of liver failure in 1969 at the age of 47.
One of the most interesting interviewees featured in the film was Natalie Merchant, a musician whose band, 10,000 Maniacs, released a song in 1981 entitled “Hey Jack Kerouac.” The song served as an homage to the writer as well as an indictment of the rabid alcoholism that led to the end of his life. Merchant consistently refused to shy away from the darker aspects of Kerouac’s life and legacy, one of the first to criticize his treatment of women in his novels and point out why “On the Road” might not resonate with non-white or non-male audiences. The film makes no effort to hide this. At the same time, it holds space for the perspective that Kerouac did his best to give a platform to the voiceless, once writing that “60% or 70% of our best writers (if not 90%) are queers,” and proudly associating with openly gay figures like Allen Ginsberg. Kerouac wrote what he knew and depicted the lives of the people he cared about. There is not one single narrative to be told about Jack Kerouac, and “Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation” artfully demonstrates how this inherently contradictory nature was his strength rather than a failing.
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