Hollywood Renaissance - Bonnie and Clyde

2198 Words9 Pages
The time in cinema history named the Hollywood Renaissance (1967-1975) was a period that reflected in many aspects the turbulent socio-political context of the 1960s. Historically, this was a critical time in American life that generated a cardinal revaluation of some American values and assumptions. Somewhere amidst the "fervid brew of 1960s radicalism and counterculture to the icy paranoia of the post-Watergate period" the moviemaking process took a rapid turn in a direction, different in many respects from that of other periods, which consequently "set the pace" for the movies later being categorized as "The New American Cinema".[1] But is was not only the political factor and its general reflection on the era that led to this artistic renaissance – the abrupt downfall in the movie-going demographic due to series of reasons (I will go into detail with later on) necessitated some new and creative solutions to the economic insecurity of the movie industry. In this essay, I will look upon the nexus of conditions within the American film industry and community that impacted the movies associated with the New Wave period, and specifically director Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde (1967) starring Faye Dunnaway and Warren Beatty – the movie which was said to have initiated the era of Hollywood Renaissance. Within the social and industrial context of the late 1960s and early 1970s in America, I will stress on the production outcome which suggests that Bonnie and Clyde was a product of a ‘crises’ in American film industry and society. Firstly, I would like to place the period in its historical frame, observing its socio-cultural environment and to outline its relevant distinguishing features, proceeding to the industrial context. The Hollywood Renaissance described by Geoff King as ʺan era in which Hollywood produced a relatively high number of innovative films that
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