New Hollywood - Interpretations On Defining New Hollywood

Interpretations On Defining New Hollywood

For Peter Biskind, the new wave marked a significant shift towards independently produced and innovative works by a new wave of directors, that significantly changed after Jaws, Star Wars and the realization by studios of the importance of blockbusters, advertising and control over production.

Writing in 1968, critic Pauline Kael argued that the importance of The Graduate was in its social significance in relation to a new young audience, and the role of mass media, rather than any artistic aspects. Kael argued that college students identifying with the graduate were not too different from audiences identifying with characters in dramas of previous decade.

John Belton points to the changing demographic to even younger, more conservative audiences in the mid 70s (50% aged 12–20) and the move to less politically subversive themes in mainstream cinema.

Thomas Schatz sees the mid to late 1970s as the decline of the art cinema movement as a significant industry force with its peak in 1974-75 with Nashville and Chinatown.

Geoff King sees the period as an interim movement in American cinema where a conjunction of forces lead to a measure of freedom in filmmaking.

Todd Berliner says that seventies cinema resists the efficiency and harmony that normally characterize classical Hollywood cinema and tests the limits of Hollywood's classical model.