Wilker Theme Of Freedom

One of the most important themes Wilker displays throughout the book is freedom. He repetitively mentions the road, the van, and back in his own childhood, the bus he used to get from his mother's place to his father's in New York during summer vacation. He even lists all of the methods of transportation in the order of there appearance in the film, including the Shark skateboards, which he finally reveals why when he writes, "I often get this feeling: deep life is elsewhere" (Wilker 19). In his efforts to describe the deep focus of the film, Wilker includes his own life, which also provides his point of view. These methods of transportation leads to freedom when Kelly, who Wilker describes as "the psychedelic hippie adventurer" (36), first eliminates the adult coach that the team is not fond of with his motorcycle, then steals a van, in order to get from California to the Astrodome in Texas where their game is. The road symbolizes freedom because the team is out on the road alone, no adult supervision, which means they are free to go wherever and whenever they desired.