The decade between 1975 and 1985 was a very important one in American film history. It was a decade of blockbuster hits and major publicity campaigns, of new technologies and special effects - all of which attracted huge audiences. In the mid-'70s, previous trends such as "the buddy film," "the vigilante film," and "the disaster film," began to disappear. In their place came slapstick comedies, space operas, slasher films, remakes, and youth films.

Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) is an example of the new kind of filmmaking that emerged during this time. Unlike the previous disaster films, Jaws was optimistic. It featured a man who was able to defeat not only a deadly shark but also the local immoral politicians. Fuelled by a massive publicity campaign (that was so convincing that some people imagined they saw sharks in the water near their summer cottages), the film became the fourth biggest box office success in film history at that time. (Jaws still ranks quite highly, at number 16 of the top 50 highest grossing movies.) Spielberg was among the new young filmmakers dubbed "the movie brats." He, Martin Scorcese (Taxi Driver, 1976), Brian de Palma (Carrie, 1977) Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, 1971), had all grown up on a steady diet of the classic films of the '40s and '50s. Realizing that the age of classic cinema was over, many of these filmmakers worked playfully with cinematic styles by including in their works reference to old plots, reworking traditional film genres or, as in the case of Mel Brooks (Young Frankenstein, 1975) using the genre for comic send-ups or parodies. Eventually, some filmmakers simply recycled material from the past, in films like Superman (1978), Popeye (1980), and Tarzan (1984).

Trends in film are often closely related to trends in television. In 1975, ABC (the American Broadcasting Corporation) commissioned a survey that indicated viewers wanted a return to traditional values. On television, the heavy-action police shows (Cannon, Kojak, Police Story) were shelved, and the family hour took their place; sitcoms and superheroes became popular. Among the ten top-rated programs, the shows of producer Norma Lear ranked high (All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons). Characterized by a frank treatment of contemporary social issues - from racial prejudice to abortion - Lear's success has not been equaled since. The social commentary of Norman Lear was soon replaced in 1977, by programs such as Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley (both influences by the film American Graffiti) Charlie's Angels, Three's Company, and The Love Boat.

Sylvester Stallone as Rocky (1976) presented a new kind of film hero - a hero of the working class. Stallone, who declared that movies were about making the audience feel good about itself, presented film-goers with the image of realizing the impossible dream.

In 1977, George Lucas' Star Wars became a mega-hit - the biggest box office hit up to that time (and still the number two top-grossing film of all time). Lucas showed Hollywood how to borrow from many elements, both current and traditional: westerns, war films, fairy tales, cartoons, myth, science-fiction films, and classics such as The Wizard of Oz. Star Wars, with its militaristic themes and space age technology was also a universal story about the quest of its hero (Luke Skywalker) for self-knowledge. Spielberg, also in 1977 released Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which combined the science-fiction elements of Star Wars and the "feeling strong" mood of Rocky. And in 1982 came the gigantic box office hit E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. (Presently the fourth top-grossing film of all time, the re-release of this film in 2002 will most likely increase its standings.)

Saturday Night Fever (1977), starring John Travolta as the street-smart dance-wise hero, began another major trend. With disco all the rage, and a sound track album as a publicity boost, the film anticipated the success of later dance-musical films - Grease (1978), Fame (1980), Flashdance (1983), Purple Rain (1986), and Dirty Dancing (1987). With more and more young people making up the film-going audience (60 percent attending movies were under 25), a huge youth market opened up. In 1978, Saturday Night Fever was followed by two films pitched to a young audience: Grease and Animal House. These films preceded both the exploitative but commercially successful films for young audiences such as Porky's (1982) and the more realistic teen portrayals found in the work of filmmaker John Hughes - Breakfast Club (1985), and Pretty in Pink (1986).

Comedy has often resulted in a box office bonanza. In 1980, half of the top ten money-making films were comedies: The Jerk, Airplane!, Smokey and the Bandit II, Private Benjamin, and The Blues Brothers.

Ghostbusters (1984), the highest-grossing comedy of its day, was a sign of the times - it was suited to the Ronald Reagan-dominated American attitudes, which embraced big business and social conservatism. Under this influence, films with the hero acting as a one-person army who "settles the score" on behalf of America appeared: The Terminator (1984), Invasion USA (1985), Missing in Action (1984), and Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). Hollywood was also beginning to examine the meaning of Americans' experience in the Vietnam War and audiences were confronted with the moral and political dilemmas surrounding it: Coming Home (1978), The Deer Hunter (1978), Apocalypse Now (1979). The theme continued with Platoon (1987) and Good Morning Vietnam (1987).

In the late '70s and early '80s, a number of horror films appeared. Some of them were anti-feminist slasher films - Hallowe'en (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), Prom Night (1979) - but others such as Alien (1979), Spielberg's Poltergeist (1982) and Gremlins (1985) had many redeeming qualities in terms of theme and artistic impression.

The films described here are only the films of the big Hollywood studios. But there has been ample proof that independent filmmakers can make it on their own. Films such as Reds (1981), Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980), Norma Rae (1979), and Under Fire (1983) are examples.

What has remained constant in many American films since the mid-'70s is their self-reflexiveness, or the self-conscious tendency to refer to other films - their styles, dialogue, settings, and twists in plot. For a generation of filmmakers raised on television, also a self-reflexive medium, this trend was probably inevitable. Equally predictable is the recycling or exploitation of popular culture trends. For example, the police shows that were shelved in the mid-'70s reappeared in new forms in the mid-'80s, e.g., Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice.

The film industry is currently experiencing major challenges from several sources:

• Shifting demographics in audience groups. (For example, the youth audience declined during the early 90's, forcing filmmakers to look for material to satisfy the need of more mature audiences. Now the youth audience is rising once again, shifting the filmmakers' focus once again on new materials.)
• There have been huge business mergers among the big studios, often affecting the creative and economic climate necessary for good films.
• With the rise of the VCR and now, DVD's, people are buying or renting movies, and even recording films from network television or from pay television.
• Pay television is now producing its own films and competing with films shown in theatres or rented in video stores. All of these factors have led to more fragmented audiences and to a decentralized movie industry. How well the movie industry copes will define the role of movies in the popular culture of the 1990's.

Adapted from "Ten Years That Shook the World" By Jim Hoberman, American Film. 1985. In Barry Duncan (ed.), Mass Media and Popular Culture. Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Canada Inc. 1988. pp. 157-160.

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