Peachy the Magazine January / February 2014 | Page 55

ART + ARCHITECTURE

films were made within the realm of
the studio system—as these were not
indie film makers. Perhaps influenced
by the experimental mores of the day,
studio executives, for about a decade,
gave these young guns a long lead,
allowing them to explore subject matter and motifs that would have been
taboo a decade prior.
The themes presented in these films
mirrored the angst the country was
experiencing vis-à-vis Vietnam, civil
rights, feminism, Watergate and economic recession. Films such as The
Graduate, A Clockwork Orange, The Last
Picture Show, Raging Bull, Easy Rider,
Chinatown and Nashville presented
morally ambiguous themes and gave
audiences dystopian anti-heroes

rather than straightforward protagonists. These films were often violent
and sexually explicit—mimetic of
life’s gritty, sensual reality. Directors
enjoyed both unprecedented creative
freedom and fat budgets during this
era but their heyday was short-lived.
The threat posed to the industry by
the home VCR made studio executives
anxious and somewhat desperate to
find a new direction for film. The fate
of the New Wave was imperiled further by a string of failures at the box
office. Extravagantly expensive films
such as At Long Last Love, Heaven’s Gate
and One From the Heart all flopped
and prompted the studios to increase
control over production and reexamine
their commitment to New Wave film.

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2014

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