If you could choose one or two films that really defined the decade they were in, what would they be?
I think St. Elmo's Fire really defined the 1980s.
I think Breakfast at Tiffany's set the tone for the early 1960s.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Dazed and Confused may have defined what 90s kids thought the 70s were like, but since it was released in 1993 I doubt that it impacted the 1970s at all.
So, while tentpole animation, comic book adaptation and adventure films make more money than ever, it seems like film is no longer at the center of popular culture. TV seems to have supplanted it. I've seen many fine films in the 2000s, but I have a hard time believing any of them will, as you say, define their decade. Thoughts?
"So, while tentpole animation, comic book adaptation and adventure films make more money than ever, it seems like film is no longer at the center of popular culture. TV seems to have supplanted it."
I rarely go to the movies anymore for a couple of reasons. The price has become out of control. I don't want to pay a high price for a mediocre movie or for something Meryl Streep is in. In addition, the people in movie theaters these days seem to go only to bother the people who are actually trying to watch the movie.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - 30's Citizen Kane - 40's All About Eve - 50's Dr. Strangelove - 60's Apocalypse Now - 70's The Breakfast Club - 80's Pulp Fiction - 90's Harry Potter - 00's (books defined two decades)
'90s - Clueless '00-'09 - Maybe the Nolan Batman trilogy?
And I like how Goth dismisses Meryl, like she hasn't accomplished anything in her career. Love her or hate her, you can't deny that she is the next Bette Davis. Just like there are film history classes devoted to Ms. Davis, there will be classes devoted to the work of STreep.
"And I like how Goth dismisses Meryl, like she hasn't accomplished anything in her career."
I don't deny she has had an amazing career. I'm just tired of seeing her and her ham-fisted acting in every movie. And your comparison to Bette Davis is apt. She was a personality actress who got work for personality rather than being able to lose herself in a character.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
What do you mean by "Defined a Decade"? It's such a broad question and the films posted here are all great films that had an impact, but did they "define" the decade? I can find a dozen other great films from each decade that had great impacts in different areas. So what exactly does "define" mean here?
1920s: The Jazz Singer, The Sheik 1930s: It Happened One Night, Gone With the Wind 1940s: Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives 1950s: Blackboard Jungle, Rebel Without a Cause 1960s: 2001, The Graduate 1970s: The Godfather, Annie Hall 1980s: The Breakfast Club, Do the Right Thing 1990s: American Beauty, Pulp Fiction 2000s: The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter (yes, they're both a series) 2010s: Inception, The Social Network
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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^ Great choices of films, Bestie, but you lost me at the 2000s and 2010s. Not that I don't enjoy some of the Rings and Potter films, but I'm at a loss connecting them to the decades in which they were made.
For the 2000's I might propose THE HURT LOCKER and UP IN THE AIR. Both films speak to the sense of dislocation wrought by the greatest calamities of the decade.
Jury is out on the 2010's since we're only 4 years into the decade-- don't have a clue what film will have meaning when our present decade ends.
As a tribute to the passing of Mike Nichols, how many of the last 5 decades could be summed up brilliantly by films made by the esteemed Mr. Nichols?
60s: The Graduate, Catch-22 70's: Carnal Knowledge, Silkwood (made in '83) 80's: Working Girl, Angels in America (made in '03) 90's: Primary Colors, Wit (made in '01)
A man with his hand on the country's zeitgeist again and again.
I have to confess, I think the 2000s is one of the bleakest decades in film history. With very, very few exceptions.
I absolutely detest The Hurt Locker, and Up In the Air is ordinary.
Other hideous choices for Best Picture in that decade: Slumdog Millionaire (trivial) and No Country for Old Men (boring except for Bardem).
Lame.
I think the two fantasy series films I listed define the decade for different reasons. Potter was/is a cultural phenomenon, both the books and the films. Rings mixed blood, guts, and war, with a fairy tale, and film and TV haven't been the same since. They were both an escape from reality, which people were clearly craving in the 2000s.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22