What happened between 1952 and 1971?
When it seemed like technology could go no further, people resorted to drugs.
I grew up with my grandparents. My mama always said that the 60s were the ruination of this country. I thought that was a bit of an exaggeration, and it is, but now I see what she means. She was born in the early 50s, and was raised by her mother and grandmother, who introduced her to the old music and the old movies. She loved Elvis and
The Wizard of Oz, and her favorite song was "How much is that doggy in the window?" by Patti Page. I'm not sure exactly what they are, but every once in a while a movie will come on AMC that she loved, in black and white and sometimes without sound, and she'll excitedly tell me that she used to love it when she was younger. She liked the happy, upbeat flavor of the culture from before her time. My mama always told me she "never fell for all that hippie crap." Watching her friends tripping on acid or high on weed always repulsed her, and as those habits leaked into her music and her movies, she stopped listening and watching.
There's a reason why the "golden oldies" radio stations usually play music only from the 40s, 50s, and a few 60s songs. Some radio stations include more decades, but my grandparents only listen to the 40s, 50s, and a few 60s because those were from the good, ol' days before the world went to Hell in a hand basket. They don't want to remember watching their kids make all the wrong decisions about drugs, and watching on the news as the hippies who had ones promoted drugs are being promoted to politicians. Every time I bring up something political or cultural in my house, they start going off on tangents about how the Beatles and their British Invasion ruined music, or how the people who tore up their draft or escaped to Canada were traitors to their countries.
Because of my very conservative family, I know how the 60s "ruined" music and other aspects of American cultural life, but I'd never really considered film before this class. I'd never heard of
Clockwork Orange or seen any part of it. I was appalled, watching these four kids, tripping acid and beating up an old man and raping another man's wife. My parents used to drop acid, and imagining them behaving so abominably made me almost ill. I know that the experience isn't the same for everybody, but the fact that something so dangerous was made into a film that a lot of kids my age apparently laugh at scares me. Apparently I'm more conservative than I thought, because now I almost agree with my mama's summation of the 60s.
I don't necessarily think that it ruined the film or music industry, just that it caused a huge change. And change, though difficult for some, is necessary and good for almost everybody and everything. I'd like to think that the American culture went through a bad time in the 60s, but that it took its experiences and learned from them. Movies and music have evolved in leaps and bounds every year, it seems like, and I enjoy where we're at today.
