You obviously weren't there.
Posted on 05/19/2005 5:56:43 AM PDT by js1138
snip...
That raises the cultural context, which was the war in Vietnam, initiated by communists and bungled by politicians, and the Watergate scandal, which magnified the minutiae just when America needed to get serious about its philosophy.
But America was in the grip of the hippies, who held American values in contempt, and they were having an impact in Hollywood. Fiery Katharine Hepburn and sunny Doris Day had all but departed from pictures, versatile Sidney Poitier had been vilified in his prime for being an Uncle Tom, and classy Cary Grant and upright Gary Cooper had given way to sniveling, squinting anti-heroes. The hum of a light saber firing up was a pleasant change from the sound of shrill hippies and their cinematic counterparts screaming in our faces.
Star Wars delivered a tonic for the time: sweeping music, opening scroll and a heap of hokey dialog set to purposeful action with enough optimism to cleanse the stink of Woodstock for a long time.
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(Excerpt) Read more at boxofficemojo.com ...
What is he talking about? "Star Wars" came out in 1977, not 1969!
bump.
Anyone who stands in line to see any Star War movie is a retard. Unless he or she is a 14 yrs. old or under.
He neve mentions 1969, but if you were an adult in 1977 you would know that the Vietnam War had just recently ended, and defeatism was the order of the day.
I mentioned 1969, because it seemed to fit the "screaming hippie" description much more than 1977 does. I wasn't an adult in 1977, but I wasn't a toddler, either ... I remember the Bicentennial much more than the end of the Vietnam War (most of our people were out earlier in the 70's, anyway), and I don't particularly recall "defeatism."
You obviously weren't there.
Of course not.
That year WAS the start of the Carter presidency, which was rooted in defeatist attitudes about our place in the world and led to record-breaking inflation and prime interest rates, the giveaway of the Panama Canal, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Iran taking our people hostage, establishment of the Dept Of Education, the malaise speech, the constant blathering about human rights although Carter fawned over brutal dictators.....(add your own)
Good points.
Retard is a bit much I think. DWEEB, now that fits.........
USA Star Wars Line
Cliff Cristofaro, 31 (l), and Morgan Phillips, 36, wait for the screening of Star Wars Episode Three, Revenge of the Sith, at the Ziegfeld Theater on West 54th Street in New York on Monday, May 17, 2005. Cliff, aka "Dark Fader", and his friend Morgan, aka "Sick Lord", form the group "Band of the Lost" and have been camping outside the cinema for over a week.
If you don't remember defeatism in the late 70s and even well into the 80s then you were indeed not an adult. It was rampant and awful. Left wingers were screaming I told you so and crowing about how our military was useless and that we would never win another war and that we deserved to "lose" the war, even though we didn't lose the war we just decided to quit fighting it. It was a crappy time in our history and, yes, I can see that some people might have used Star Wars or other types of escapism to quit thinking about it for a while. I didn't, I wanted to think about it and work to defeat liberalism where I could and I am still doing it.
Add to that the confidence crisis we had over Watergate....
Face it, the best part of Star Wars was the opening music. The movie was good but the John Williams intro was perfect.
Okay ... I yield to the greater experience of you older folks :-).
I was only 13 in 1980 and I loathed Carter. His limp-wristed way of dealing with those towel heads in Iran turned me into a big Reagan fan. I didn't understand too many issues back then, but I understood Reagan was strong and Carter was weak. A combination of Carter's ineptitude and Reagan's greatness made me into a solid Reagan Republican.
Imperial March is my favorite music followed by Throne Room (seen at the end of A New Hope) and Duel of Fates. Great music in an otherwise dull movie (Episode 1).
I was 28, fresh out of the Navy and trying to raise 3 small children during Carter's record 24% prime interest rate years, which translated to about a 26% interest rate on a bank loan for you and me, if memory serves....people forget things like that....not me.....
..and pardoned VN "Draft Dodgers"...A very good summary..
I've agreed that things were worse in 1977 than I remember :-). Sheltered upbringing, I guess.
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