The pseudo-change of power in 60's Hollywood

There is a common assertion among analysts that during the 1960's, power in Hollywood was given to a newer collection of directors bent on churning out mediocre movies as quickly as possible. However, Manhola Dargis's essay "60's Hollywood: Power Shifted (or did it?)" debates the exact opposite; though there was a change in management for each of the major film studios, the agenda was, and always had been, to imitate the style and ideals of the popular foreign movie studios. This agenda, despite proving useful for the earlier years, began to fail in the 1960's just as the change of directors took place in Hollywood due to the foreign obsession with concepts that were unpopular in America.

The bulk of this argument is held by explaining cultural phenomena, such as the Monkees, and how it was poorly emulated by 60's directors in Hollywood to create atrocious movies like "Head." The careful explanation of how these popular brands were picked up by popular Hollywood figures such as Jack Nicholson and mutated into something that American audiences would like certainly holds water; considering the stable popularity of many foreign films in America, directors naturally flocked to their ideas in order to become equally successful.

Despite the attempts of the directors, this attempt to copy the style of foreign directors ended in failure. Most notable to the author are the attempts by Bert Schnieder, Bob Rafelson, and Steve Blauner to create a series of movies heavily influenced by the nature of other successful foreign films. These films, which included titles such as "Drive, He Said" and "Five Easy Pieces," were obviously poor attempts at attempting to use the style of more successful directors outside of America in an American movie, and were generally considered inferior by critics. This failure to replicate the feel of the popular foreign film, Dargis argues, is the major reason that the 60's lacked the luster of previous decades.

source:

Dargis, Manhola. "'60s Hollywood: Power Shifted (Or Did It?)." New York Times (2010): n. pag. Web. 28 Nov 2010. .

From Pulpstyle to Innerspace: The Stylistics of American New Wave

I need to start off by noting that this article is the most usefull description of 1970's Hollywood I have found so far. It begins by giving the time period a new name that I had not yet come across in my research: American New Wave. The 70's were thus named this because, "it was characterized by an emphasis on style and experimentation." I felt like i needed to include the following quote verbatum because it says exactly what the author mean with the word style:
"Style--it implies a degree of self-consciousness which wasn't there before, an element of outrageous showmanship, defiance, detachment, and just a touch of narcissism. Style--it is the heart of the science fiction controversy in the sixties."
Obviously this "style" was prominent in 60's and 70's movies. Apparently the term "New Wave" more specifically refers to these science fiction movies between 1963 and 1975 because these movies define the era. The author speaks of a new use of "stylistic devices" in movies that reacted against movies of the classical era. The writers used a large amount of, "psycologically salient adverbs" and, "excessive anaphora." The writers also used highly "kinky" and "inapropriate" images to shock the audiences.
All of this aspects of "New Wave" literature and movies are what set it apart from the classical period. Writers were looking for an edge, something shocking to take their work to the next level. They wanted their audiences to be taken aback by the things they read and have to stop and think. I think this is highly thematic for late 60's and early 70's film.

Taylor, John W. "From pulpstyle to innerspace: The stylistics of American new-wave SF." Style 24.4 (1990): 611. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 Nov. 2010.

Saturday Night Fever

Saturday Night Fever is John Badham's film similar to the time. It defines the dance, atmosphere, clothing choices and feel of the time. This article tells us about the time after the 1960's and shows us what the 60's influence was on the new decade.

Online database. "moral growth and personal narrative in saturday night fever" by Joseph Kupfer

Interpreting 2001: A Space Odyssey

In this article on the movie of the same name, the author is attempting to decipher the meaning of 2001 based on his reflections on the year it was released. by examining the initial criticisms of the movie and the opinions of the era, the author hopes to understand the elusive meaning behind Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece. By examining the movie, the author eventually comes to the conclusion that Kubrick was arguing for the evolution of man through the course of instantaneous changes (called the jump theory of evolution) and that this change will allow us to transcend the need for worldly objects.

The author's bold conclusions are certainly ones that are convincing to the reader. The ideas that he suggests, especially Kubrick's subtle promotion of the theory of evolution, certainly make sense even if the reader has his own understandings of the movie. Furthermore, this hypothesis fits perfectly with the sentiments against humanity that were so popular among the younger audience at the time. Given the convincing nature of the article, there certainly must be some truth to the idea that Kubrick wants everyone to stop being human and evolve to the next stage of humanity.

Doctor Zhivago

The movie Doctor Zhivago is based off a Russian novel. According to the article the goal of the narrator in the movie is to, " seek throughout to express history's horrors in the written word." The article speaks of how the movie is able to take history and draw from it. It doesn't just lay down the facts, it creates something more.
The article also speaks a lot about the metaphors the movie presents. It says, "the characters of Doctor Zhivago do their best to find meaning in the historical self-destruction of metaphors." Metaphors were a integral part of this movie.
Although this is a Russian movie I think this article helps explain a lot about the tone of movies at this time. It is obviously a very deep movie that presents a complex mix of metaphors to recall a tragic history. It is based on real events but is more than a documentary.

Etkind, Aleksandr. "Doctor Zhivago." n. pag. Web. 7 Nov 2010.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

In this review of the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde it discuses how the film by Warner Brothers intertainment was a "slapstick comedy" and that it was not a real representation of the actual film. It also goes on to say that "Arthur Penn, the agressive director, has evidently gone out of his way to splash the comedy holdups with smears of vivid blood as astonished people are machine-guned." This movie review is bashing the film for its contents and not what it is good for, saying that this film is a slapstick comedy is like saying the godfather is funny. But then at the end of the article the author goes on to say that "This is the film that opened the Montreal Film Festival!" So what is he really saying? I believe the author is torn from this film because of its vast differences of any other film in the late 1960's. Movies back then were not as graphic or grusome but if they were they were nothing like some mid west bank robbers. Non the less this film has changed the way critics think and the way movies have been made ever since that time on. It should be one of the most recognized films in the world.

Sources:
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF173CE361BC4C52DFB266838C679EDE

The history of Hollywood

In "History of Hollywood: 1895-1960's," the author discusses the history of Hollywood cinema and the dawn of film making. Beginning at the end of the nineteenth century, the year that inventor Louis Lumiere gave the world the first motion picture camera, the author discusses each of the decades in Hollywood history that had the most impact on film making, from the end of silent movies to the creation of the major motion studios such as 20th Century Fox and Paramount. Though the article is a brief one, it certainly does a good job of mapping the progression of Hollywood cinema from the very beginning.

In regards to the 60's, this article summarizes the decade as owing to Hollywood's bias toward more "melodramatic, sentimental, celebrated inspirational religious and spiritual," movies. Naturally, this over-the-top style of movies lends itself naturally to movies that are highly unrealistic and have little truth to them. This idea is certainly enforced by the advent of science fiction movies, such as 2001: a Space Odyssey, which became popular in the 60's. Given the advent of such styles of film, when compared to the silent, simple types of movies that were so popular in earlier decades, many people viewed the movies of the 60's as ridiculous and absurd. It is this absurdness that Bob Dylan expressed his anger against when he accused Hollywood of being fake and silly in his interviews.

"History of Hollywood: 1895-1960's."library.thinkquest.org. Thinkquest, n.d. Web. 31 Oct 2010.