American Cinema of the 1970s: Themes and Variations / Edition 1

by Lester D. Friedman, Paula J. Massood, Michael DeAngelis, Mimi White, David Cook

Overview

A smug glance at the seventies—he so-called "Me Decade"—unveils a kaleidoscope of big hair, blaring music, and broken politics—all easy targets for satire, cynicism, and ultimately even nostalgia. American Cinema of the 1970s, however, looks beyond the strobe lights to reveal how profoundly the seventies have influenced American life and how the films of that decade represent a peak moment in cinema history.

Far from a placid era, the seventies was a decade of social upheavals. Events such as the killing of students at Kent State and Jackson State universities, the Watergate investigations, the legalization of abortion, and the end of the American involvement in Vietnam are only a few among the many landmark occurrences that challenged the foundations of American culture. The director-driven movies of this era reflect this turmoil, experimenting with narrative structures, offering a gallery of scruffy antiheroes, and revising traditional genre conventions.

Bringing together ten original essays, American Cinema of the 1970s examines the range of films that marked the decade, including Jaws, Rocky, Love Story, Shaft, Dirty Harry, The Godfather, Deliverance, The Exorcist, Shampoo, Taxi Driver, Star Wars, Saturday Night Fever, Kramer vs. Kramer,and Apocalypse Now .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813540238
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	02/20/2007
Series:	Screen Decades: American Culture/American Cinema
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	736,414
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

LESTER D. FRIEDMAN is the Senior Scholar-in-Residence in the Media and Society Program at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and the author of numerous books on film.

Table of Contents

1970 : Movies and the movement / Mimi White
1971 : Movies and the exploitation of excess / Mia Mask
1972 : Movies and confession / Michael DeAngelis
1973 : Movies and the legacies of war and corruption / Frances Gateward
1974 : Movies and political trauma / David Cook
1975 : Movies and conflicting ideologies / Glenn Man
1976 : Movies and cultural contradictions / Frank P. Tomasulo
1977 : Movies and a nation in transformation / Paula J. Massood
1978 : Movies and changing times / Charles J. Maland
1979 : Movies and the end of an era / Peter Lev
Select Academy Awards, 1970-1979

Editorial Reviews

There is nothing like this series. Screen Decades firmly situates American cinema in the realms of material culture, popular culture, cultural narrative, reception analysis, and industrial history.”

American Quarterly