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Although the motorcycle-as-nipple-ring is a fairly recent development, bikes have always had a strong influence on popular culture. In turn, popular culture has played a strong role in developing the motorcycle community. The appeal of motorcycles to actors is no coincidence. Because riding a bike is a high-profile activity, motorcycles have always been an excellent method for studios to showcase and draw attention to their stars. The history of motorcycles in film is as old as the history of motion pictures itself. Motorcycles appeared in some of the earliest silent films, including Mabel at the Wheel (1914), in which Charlie Chaplin drops Mabel off the back of his motorcycle and into a mud puddle. Films about motorcycle riders appeared early on, including in No Limit (1935), in which English actor George Formby played a motorcycle-riding hero battling a gang of biker toughs. While motorcycles played many roles in Hollywood films, the medium of film played an even more influential role in shaping motorcycle culture. As motorcycle films became more popular, increasing numbers of riders tried to emulate their screen heroes. When Marlon Brando portrayed Johnny in The Wild One, he portrayed a very atypical motorcyclist. After a generation of bikers grew up with Brando's Johnny as a role model, though, the image of the leather-clad motorcycle-riding hood, while still an aberration, became much more common. Because of the influence of films, portrayals of motorcyclists became self-fulfilling prophesies. The myriad outlaw biker B-movies Hollywood cranked out during the 1960s and 1970s spawned a subculture of motorcyclists who modeled themselves on the bikers in those films. When Peter Fonda portrayed the philosophical Wyatt in Easy Rider, he gave birth to the real-life hippie poet-biker stereotype. When Arnold Schwarzenegger came back as promised in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, he did so on a Harley Fat Boy. Soon a Harley and a cigar were the fashion accessories of the 1990s.
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