Art reflects the values of its time. It’s true about cinema as well. And Hollywood has done it pretty meticulously. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes accidentally. Some of these representative moments still stand proud, but some others have aged not so well.Here is a lineup of some movies that typified the common mentalities and sensibilities of their times that cannot possibly stand the test of time today. That is, of course, unless you yourself are stuck in those sensibilities, in which case, please get help.What’s interesting about these movies is that they were not some fringe oddities; they were the mainstream cinema. Many of them were critically acclaimed, commercially successful, culturally influential, trendsetters, blah blah blah. And, if you take away these thorny elements, quite a few of them are essentially not bad; some are quite good, actually.However, those thorny elements still hold up a mirror to the biases and blind spots of their time. Look at these 19 films, not as bad cinema, but as artifacts that highlight an incredible shift in what is considered acceptable storytelling and ethical filmmaking.How Yesterday’s Norms Became Today’s Red FlagsWe will examine these films in chronological order by their year of release. But, for a better understanding of the cultural shifts, we are also categorizing them by the cultural fault lines they expose. This will help you trace the recurring patterns across decades.Race, White Supremacy, and Cultural MythmakingThe narratives of these films navigate through the white supremacist lens. They present racial hierarchies as a...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Today