The aim of this thesis is to prove that the hippie culture emerged because the Vietnam War served as the ultimate embodiment of the United States’ flaws and the movement’s members became the forerunners of the entire American society with their awakening to social pretense and certain myths’ unreality. Since the latter two aspects are portrayed in the film Hair from 1979, directed by Miloš Forman, the goal is also to establish that this cinematographic work is not only an anti-war and a counterculture film but a social critique as well. It is thus explored how the Vietnam War shattered three American myths: the frontier of the Westward Expansion, exceptionalism and individualism. I intend to provide a thorough understanding of the atmosphere of the 1960s, the hippie phenomenon, and the changes in the national mind, proving that the Vietnam War set off a chain reaction of disillusionment with this counterculture being the first link.