This chapter examines shifts in surfing culture through the histories and aesthetics of surf films and music during a transformative epoch marked by post-Vietnam disillusionment, civil rights activism, and the nascent corporatization of surf culture. Reflecting the book’s interdisciplinary approach, this chapter synthesizes aesthetic and sociological analyses to explore surfing’s cultural representation. Di Donato describes the “long 1970s” as a period of transition from late modernist experimentalism to the burgeoning commodification of “lifestyle.” Using surfing as a vehicular example, this chapter considers three films and their soundtracks: Endless Summer (1966), Morning of the Earth (1972), and Free Ride (1977). Where Endless Summer offered the utopian allure of eternal travel and a continuation of colonial narratives through surf tourism, Morning of the Earth presented a counternarrative romanticizing eco-conscious lifestyles. By Free Ride, an emergent professional surfing scene linked branded high-performance culture to an economy prefiguring the growth of creative industries. These case studies reveal how surf films and music oscillated between reinforcing commercial beach cultures and offering subversive critiques, mirroring broader societal shifts. The chapter explores how surfing as a performative act has continually redefined its representation, intersecting political and aesthetic dimensions, countercultural contestations, and complicity with colonial and corporate forces.