In the 50's and 60's, we had horror-sci-fi to chill our bones and frighten us of 'those damn Commie bastards'.
You're on the money here - the sci-fi and horror movies (and to some degree even the westerns) played on our fear of the unknown, the Iron Curtain closing all around us. The Xenophobic nature of America at that time led to us viewing aliens as invading and taking over like we were afraid of the Communists doing.
In the 70's, we had misery and tragedy as far as the eye could see.
In the 70s we also had the breaking down of norms that had come before. Movies of the 40s-60s were hampered by what was called the Hayes Code. It was a set of rules where the film industry kind of regulated itself. It was a panel that would not release movies for wide viewing unless it fell into certain perameters - good guys always win, bad guys are always punished, bad guys are distinguished by dark clothing, women couldn't enjoy or seek out sexual gratification, certain words and phrases could never be uttered, particularly the Seven Worst words of George Carlin fame. In these movies, filmmakers often had to be sly and write with inuendo and subtext if they wanted to get away with anything. In some ways it forced them to make better movies, but it really did hold people back creatively.
Then around the end of the 60s and beginning of the 70s we started to see a lot more independent movies, filmmakers either self-financing or gaining financial backing from parties other than the Big 5 (or 6?) film companies. The Hayes Code started to be loosened and the emergence of the anti-hero came into play. Along with the Cold War fears of the previous decades, the anti-hero character also made dystopian sci-fi fashionable, as, if the main character could be hard-as-nails and kill without compunction or act out in other ways, then the society around him should reflect that. As we started to edge closer and closer to the brink of destruction (helped I'm sure by the escalating and never-ending war in Vienam) I think many people started to envision a future after the inevitable nuclear cataclysm.
If you look at the 80s too, a lot of that was very grim as well. Most of Carpenter's horror movies either reflected the class disparity felt during the "Regeanomics" era or a classic sense of wrongness within society. There was the Terminator franchise which also foresaw a nuclear-ravaged future. In fact, the 80s was a very transitional period as far as the tone of many sci-fi/horror movies went - you had slasher films which were nihilistic escapism, and for every "bright" future sci-fi, there was also a "dark" one (an "Enemy Mine" for every "Last Starfighter" if you will). In fact it would seem to me that since the loosening of the Hayes Code and the grim dystopian sci-fi of the 70s there has always been equal providence given to dystopian and utopian sci-fi tales. In fact, many like The Matrix, Cloud Atlas or the recent Star Trek reboots are a mix of both.
I don't know if you're aware of this but I've already changed things. I killed Ben Linus.
--Sayid
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twofacetoo
11 years ago
Yeah, I get what you're saying, but to quote Jonah Hex
'Why does everything always have to be so darned sad?'
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spookyrat1
9 years ago
'Why does everything always have to be so darned sad?
Yes, "everything" is the key word. It wasn't just science fiction films. The same applied to lots of mainstream films released during this period. Consider: Easy Rider, Vanishing Point, Zabriskie Point, The Parallax View, The Wild Bunch etc. The widespread younger generational call for change in social, political and economic established institutions was generally accepted as stalled and not succeeding and the films of this period reflected a negatively perceived future.
It really did take the far more positive spin of the work of people such as Lucas, Spielberg and Gene Roddenberry that helped arguably redress the balance between depression and optimism for the future.🐭
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davidcl19
9 years ago
This is why I love the 70's films. I really get sick of the all happy endings all the time.
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steve112547
8 years ago
Don't forget "A Boy and his Dog" - Don Johnson's big break of 1975!
*Everything happens to me! Now Im shot by a child! (T.Chaney)
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