The 1960s: The Counterculture
Strikes Back
Article By: John Belton
Presentation by: Anne Potteiger
Aims of Discussion
• To be familiar with the social and political
events of the 1960s and how they influenced
film
• To identify how film portrayed women, youth,
and race in the 1960s
• To explain how the morality of film changed in
the mid-1960s
• To distinguish between the “two 1960s” and
identify the products of them
Outline of Discussion
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Discussion of Aims/Introduction (1 minute)
The Kennedy Era (3 minutes)
Portrayal of Women, Youth, Race (5 minutes)
Film Clip: The Graduate (2 minutes)
Changing Morality (5 minutes)
“Blaxploitation” (5 minutes)
The Two 1960s (2 minutes)
Wrap-Up/Review (2 minutes)
Introduction: Youth and Challenge
• During the 1960s, there was an
ideological battle between “youth”
(those under 30) and “age” (the older
generation).
• They differed with each other over the
Vietnam War, sexual issues, race
relations, and lifestyle.
• The two generations formed two
different cultures.
The Kennedy Era
• As the youngest President in
U.S. history, JFK created a
“New Frontier” in American
political life.
• He stated in his inaugural
speech that “the torch has
been passed to a new
generation of Americans.”
• An emphasis on
sophistication and style
entered national politics;
with Kennedy, the style of
government changed.
Events During the Kennedy Era
• The Civil Rights Movement
– Focus of Kennedy’s domestic
policy
– Became the cornerstone of
1960s activism
• Student Protests
• The Women’s Movement
– The Feminine Mystique,
NOW, more women in
college/workplace
Projections: Women on Screen
• 1960s films turned the
women’s movement into a
sexual revolution.
– Class Activity: Barbarella
• Also in many films the
female characters were
stereotyped.
– “madonnas” vs. “whores”
– governesses vs. prostitutes
• For the most part, whiteand blue-collar working
women didn’t make it back
to the screen until the late
70s/early 80s.
Youth Films: Activism as Lifestyle
• Many films portrayed the youth’s
war resistance as angst.
• The student movement was often
reduced to just “confused college
kids” who are only attracted to the
idea of political activism and
protests for “sex and cheap thrills.”
• Serious independent films such as
Black Panther (1968) and Medium
Cool (1969) attempted to show
the perspectives of minority
groups and student radicals.
• Youth cult films: The Graduate
and Easy Rider (towards the end
of the decade).
“The Graduate” As a Youth Cult Film
• Became an influential film for the “under-30
market” because they felt they could relate to
Dustin Hoffman’s character (“Benjamin”) and
his situation.
• Benjamin feels confused and alienated, which
the adults in the film cannot understand or
identify with.
• The adults try to manipulate him and shape
his future.
• Video Clip
“Solving” the Race Problem
• 1960s films exposed racism, but did so
without exposing the sources of it;
ignored the “politics” of racism.
• They viewed racism as a human problem,
so it could be solved through dramatic
means.
• Problem-solvers:
– Mere acknowledgement of the
problem (example: Guess Who’s
Coming to Dinner)
– White paternalism
– Both blacks and whites working
together onscreen against a common
enemy
Changing Morality
• In the 1960s, the film industry was
still making films for a general
audience and was reluctant to tackle
politically controversial subject
matter; they were economically
driven to play it safe.
• Big money-makers of the ‘60s:
– War films (The Longest Day1962)
– Widescreen historical epics
(Lawrence of Arabia-1962)
– Disney family films (One Hundred
and One Dalmatians-1961)
– Musicals (The Sound of Music1965)
Changing Morality continued
• For the most part, films containing
sex did very well.
– Cleopatra (1963)
– James Bond movies (especially
Goldfinger, Thunderball, and You
Only Live Twice)
• However, they were the
exceptions; other forms of social
controversy (i.e., violence, drugs,
the rebellion of the youth against
the older generation) maintained
the status of “exploitation films”
and rarely made it to major
theaters.
• No showings meant no profit
(which as we already know was
the main concern of the film
industry!).
Changing Morality: A New Vocabulary
• Who’s Afraid of Virginia • The Graduate (1967)
Woolf? (1966)
–The “hero” engages in an
– Featured language never
before heard on screen
– Grossed over $14.5 million
and won five Academy
Awards
adulterous relationship with the
wife of his father’s business
partner
–Grossed over $44 million
Changing Morality: The Rating System
• In April 1968, the Supreme Court ruled that local
communities could establish their own censorship
guidelines concerning movies.
• The Motion Picture Producers Association (MPPA)
created a ratings system in order to prevent any
attempts from local governments to make their own
forms of censorship.
• The new ratings system took effect on November 1,
1968.
– G, M (PG), R, X (PG-13 was not introduced until the
1980s)
• It paved the way for more films dealing with mature
subject matter.
“Blaxploitation”
• Films such as In the Heat of the Night, Guess
Who’s Coming to Dinner, and To Sir, With
Love indicated to Hollywood that “black was
not only beautiful but box office as well.”
• One-quarter of all moviegoers in the late
1960s and 1970s were black; this statistic plus
the success of films starring black actors led to
a period of “blaxploitation films.”
• Between 1970 and 1972, over 50 feature films
were specifically made for a black audience.
– Examples: Cotton Comes to Harlem, Shaft, Black
Caesar
“Blaxploitation” continued…
• Blaxploitation films were
“inexpensively made exploitation
films” that were made primarily with
middle- and lower-class blacks in
mind.
• However, white audiences were
drawn to them as well because of the
films’ large doses of sex, violence,
and “gritty” realism.
• Critics complained that the heros of
blaxploitation films were not
represented in a positive manner (the
majority of them were criminals).
• Most revolutionaries of the black
power movement enjoyed the
“outlaw status” because it allowed
them to strike back against the
conservative mainstream.
The Two 1960s
• For moviegoers, there were two 1960s:
• One for the conservative, middle-aged, middle-class
mainstream
– Historical epics, musicals, Disney family movies
• One for the younger, more liberal, middle- and lowerclass audience
– The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, Easy Rider
• Eventually, the film style preferred by the youth
became more popular.
• By the late 1960s, movies aimed toward the older
generation became failures, and films for the college
crowd were very successful.
Rejuvenation: Products of the 1960s
• The majority of those who produced, wrote,
and directed movies in the 1960s were
products of much earlier eras.
• During the early 1970s, a new generation of
filmmakers emerged who belonged to the
generation of 1960s filmgoers.
– Examples: George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, Martin
Scorsese
• Cinema became “stylistically youthful and
inventive but politically conservative.”
• They were more conservative because
exploitation films cost much more to make in
the 70s, so their potential for revolutionary
statements was limited.
Review Questions
1.
During the 1960s, there was an ideological
battle between the ______ and the ______.
2.
How were women portrayed in 1960s film?
3. Give an example of a blaxploitation film.
4.
T/F: By the late 1960s, movies preferred by
the older generation were more successful
than those preferred by the younger
generation.