Hollywood's Last Golden Age: Politics, Society, and the Seventies Film in America
2013; Oxford University Press; Volume: 100; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/jahist/jat377
ISSN1945-2314
Autores Tópico(s)Literature: history, themes, analysis
ResumoFilm scholars have long been aware that the decade following the collapse of the Motion Picture Production Code in 1967–1968 witnessed a dramatic shift in both the style and content of American movies. The end of that system of studio censorship freed directors, writers, and the industry's other creative talent to move beyond the restrictive morality of the code era toward the production of a more mature cinema. Jonathan Kirshner, a Cornell University political scientist with a compelling interest in film, argues that this decade (1967–1976) was Hollywood's last golden age. He bases this thesis on his reading of one hundred motion pictures in which he finds common themes and characteristics, including a “moral ambiguity,” a much more frank sexuality, a dark and murky visual tone, and character-driven plots (p. 5). Most of the one hundred are simply listed in the appendix. Twenty, however, including such classics as The Graduate (1967), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Klute (1971), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Chinatown (1974), and Shampoo (1975) are subjected to intensive examination. These “close readings” are both the core and the strength of Kirshner's book (p. 2). They afford readers new ways of looking at these films, new insights into the conscious and unconscious motives of the filmmakers, and new frameworks for grasping the meanings and actions of the characters.
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