The ‘buzz’ decade in Hollywood
‘Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By’, ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn’ and ‘Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore’ would not have had the same impact, nor would they have remained stuck in the cinephiles’ minds if they were only some lines displayed on a screen. The emergence of sound in movies changed the film industry forever and brought along with it a new age in Hollywood: The Golden Age. Spanning from the mid 1920s to the early 1960s, The Golden Age brought to the audiences many timeless masterpieces, stars who are fondly remembered today and genres that are still popular, such as horror and musicals. During this time a series of color film processes started being used, which gave the audiences the pleasure of staring straight into James Dean’s dreamy blue eyes in ‘Rebel without a cause’ and the directors and producers the opportunity to experiment with different color palettes. Behind some of our most beloved productions were five major studios, often referred to as the ‘Big 5’. The studios were vertically integrated and controlled every aspect of every movie, from pre-production to distribution. Because the industry had become an oligarchy, the Supreme Court had ruled an antitrust legislation against the Big 5. With this, the Golden Age of Hollywood left the stage, and The New Era began.
The New Hollywood era was a movement that empowered the new generation of filmmakers. The film director was the one that had the power, not the studio. The filmmakers influenced everything from the production to the marketing of a movie and changed the way studios approached filmmaking.
Spanning from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s, the New Era is home to, in my opinion, the best decade ever in Hollywood: the 1970s. After the Golden Age, Hollywood was starting to lose its younger audience. Slow-burn romances and movies with a very clear narrative – with a beginning, a middle and an end, were not intriguing enough for the youngsters. As is often the case with all forms of art, each era comes as a revolution against the previous one. So was the case with the movies made in the ‘70s. As people were experimenting more with drugs and sex, and younger directors had more creative freedom, their movies deviated strongly from the classical norms.
What makes 70s movies stand out, in my opinion, is the moral irresolution. Up until the ‘70s, the approach to movie villains was very orthodox: they had to be defeated and eventually change their ways, pioneering the idea that good always wins. The ‘70s, however, brought the audiences some of the best antiheroes in cinema history and let them conquer. In movies such as Chinatown, A Clockwork Orange, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and Taxi Driver, the heroes put out tireless fights, but still can’t defeat the wrongdoers.
A Clockwork Orange and Taxi Driver are particularly important because the main character is an antihero that audiences grow to like, some even idolize. There is constant debate whether the main character in Taxi Driver, Travis Bickle, is a villain or a hero. Although in the end of the movie he saves a young girl from prostitution, during the process he kills a number of people and ends up saving her because his initial plan of assasinating the senator fails. Although his heroic act in the end redeems his initial plan, the nature of Travis’ behavior is villainous. He falls somewhere in the gray area between a hero and an antihero and this very uncertainty about his character is what makes him so real and so great. The audience never ends up understanding why Travis is the way he is, as it is never explained, but left to the latitude of the watchers to piece the pieces together. Same thing happens with the antihero of A Clockwork Orange, Alex. He is undoubtedly an evil person, but we don't really know why. It appears as if he is inherently bad, if there is such a thing. In the end of the movie he behaves as a good member of society, not because he wants to, but because he was forced to undergo a therapy to make him so. The reason why many people love these two characters is because they are humanized. This is what previous movies have failed to show: that villains are humans after all, and people are complex creatures. In Travis’ case, he is a war veteran with PTSD who goes through an existential crisis and a pathological liar, but at times can be extremely friendly. Alex is an evil person, but he has a contagious love for life and for the things he enjoys. Their lives are not governed solely by their desire to harm others and their evilness does not entirely define them.
The complexity and depth of human beings was not the only subject tackled by the 70s’ movies. Other subjects considered ‘taboo’ were also explored, such as domestic abuse, drug addiction, divorce, rape, criminal activity, mental illness, homosexuality, Watergate and corruption within police forces, to name a few. Society had never been so honestly and candidly explored in film. Under the category of ‘taboos’ which were now freely depicted in film are also foul language and nudity. Sex was explored freely and the actors were now dropping F bombs, something which would have never happened during the Golden Age. I mean, imagine Clark Gable as Rhett Butler saying ‘Frankly, my dear, i don’t give a fuck’.
With its gory violence, complex characters, societal issues exploration, foul language and nudity, the ‘70s made Hollywood a safe space for creative expression and brought the young audiences back into the cinemas. But were the graphic scenes and lovable villains really the key to success? No. Truth was. The ‘70s put on screen the world and life as it was: flawed, but so much to love about it. Oh, and not to mention the fact that we have to thank the 70s for kicking-off the best franchise of all time: Star Wars, but I wouldn’t do it justice by trying to sum up its influence in just one silly paragraph.
Sources:
Trust me, bro. All the information I put into this article comes from hours spent in the cinema or from reading/listening to sources tackling the history of Hollywood.. Worthy to credit here would be IndieWire, ScreenRant and Karina Longworth’s ‘You must remember this’ podcast.