Post-Classical Cinema

From what I gathered to define “post-classical” Hollywood is also to define “New Hollywood”; dubbed by the press, and “American New Wave.” In my readings I have discovered they are all one in the same. They started in the mid 1960’s with films like 'Bonnie and Clyde'; which was the first film I saw Warren Beatty in after discovering how cool he was in Dick Tracy, and 'The Graduate'. I have never seen this film but that will change this week. The New Wave form of movie making seemed to fizzle out by the time I was born in the early 1980’s. This form of movie making started with a new generation of young film makers that rose from the transition of the ‘classic’ studio system in Hollywood to introducing subject matter and styles that set them apart from the studio traditions.
"Post-classical cinema" is a term used to describe the changing methods of storytelling of the "New Hollywood" producers(1). These new generations of producers differ from the original because they are film school-educated Hollywood filmmakers. There were breakthroughs in film technology around this time that enabled filmmakers to shoot in 35mm easier and since location shooting was cheaper because no sets were needed to be built, location shooting was becoming more viable and had the effect of heightening the realism and immersion of their films.
Later on during the 1970s, these filmmakers upped the ante with films often featuring anti-establishment political themes. They were increasingly depicting more sexually explicit content and sexual freedoms deemed "counter-cultural" by the studios. Furthermore, they started using rock music for the first time, gunfights, and battle scenes that started including graphic images of bloody deaths. The most memorable sign of the times in the movies made around this time in my opinion would be the many figures of this period openly admit to using drugs, such as LSD and marijuana.
I feel that the driving factor of this style they hoped to achieve while making their films was revolution. This couple of decades from the 1960s to the 1970s was person exploration and general loosening up. Everything seemed so tightly wound prior to this time period. No one talked about certain subjects and popular culture was so edictally dull that these new film makers wanted to break out and shake things up. This was the time that popular culture and society as a whole was evolving to what we know of today. Of course there was the 80s that introduced crude humor in their comedies and sequels to the classic of the decade passed, but mostly everyone was just on coke. The biggest thing I remember from the 1980s that effected movies was the invention of the VCR. The funny part was that the movie studios tried legal actions to ban home ownership of VCRs as a violation of copyrights, which proved unsuccessful, and eventually, the sale and rental of movies found themselves labeled as the ‘home video.’ In conclusion, other then the invention of home viewing jumping in to the second generation of issues with home rentals an purchases, I would say the biggest thing I found that we carried over from this period of film making other then creative and artistic freedoms would be that the Motion Picture Association of America film rating system was introduced. With the convergence of ‘Midnight Movies’, ‘B-Rated’, and ‘Grindhouse’ flicks playing in the theatre next to wholesome films like Disney’s Bed Knobs and Broomsticks; the rating system is here to stay.

Also on a side note, John Waters jumped on scene at this time and gave us bad taste and filthy trash movies like the classic ‘Pink Flamingos,’ oh how I love this flick. He also came out with films that confronted conventional morals and ethics like ‘Mondo Trasho and ‘Female Troubles’ before he went proper and main stream with ‘Hair Spray;’ the original, not that junk John Travolta tried to pawn off on us, and ‘Serial Mom.’ This was also the time great directors of the horror genre came into the picture. The god, Wes Craven with his debut into his directing career, the classic yet disturbing ‘The Last House on the Left,’ and again the original not that cleaned up sorry excuse for a remake a couple of years ago. Also we cannot leave out Tobe Hopper, the visionary that brought us ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.’ If you thought I was going to post a blog that was just facts and none of my ramblings – you don’t know me too well – I owe this to all my loyal fans out there reading my typed diarrhea. Thank you all of you out there, this last paragraphs for you, I could never let you down…

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_film#1970s:_The_.27New_Hollywood.27_or_Post-classical_cinema