Film movements

Film movements are an imperative facet not only to the history of film, but history in general. Some sociologists even agree that film movements can often represent the political, social, and economic climate of a particular time period. For example, Italian neo-realism widely reflected the real economic turmoil post-WWII Italy was enduring at the time. Films such as Bicycle Thieves and Umberto. D were all about encapsulating the financial hardship and devastation of Italy not only after the second World War but also after the collapse and dissolution of its fascist system.

The Australian New Wave, with films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock or The Last Wave, seemed to depict - what was - a very consequential political topic at the time; the European Anglo-Saxon relationship with the indigenous Aboriginals. It also seemed to examine and dissect the elements of Aboriginal mythology and its correlation with urban, modern Australian life.

More recently, the New French Extremity movement, with films like Martyrs and Ils, seem to adopt a very graphic and ruthless nature, almost like it is exploring the underworld of the seemingly normal French suburbs and people.

I always found film movements interesting in that aspect. Some of the greatest foreign films of all time were rooted in the movements of the French New Wave and even German Expressionism. They certainly are reflective of what is going on the world and they all seem to have distinctive traits that makes their films so very different.

Are you interested in any particular film movements or do you have any favourite films that stemmed from such movements?

Here is a link to some of the most famous and well-known film movements.

Finally an interesting new thread and not these Sexy's dumb topics.

I always wondered whether or not can you call Spaghetti Westerns a film movement, or just a new sub-genre of western. I don't think Italian filmmakers were signing anything like those Danish for Dogma, or even planned it, but it's possible to name two main tenets:

1. The main character is a mysterious gunfighter we don't know too much about. Or nothing at all, like Blondie in the Trilogy.
2. Vengeance theme appears very often.

Obviously not all of them go by these, but the majority does. Then again, those might just be the tenets of the genre.

I'm particulary interested in the New Wave movements. Not only are there arguably the most known French New Wave and Japanese New Wave, but also among others Czechoslovak New Wave and Hungarian New Wave. I've seen a bunch of films from these movements, but would still like to get deeper.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

I don't see how that's suprising,every thing that people do is some kind of reflection of the world at that time.

But thank you for the post,I don't really know about these movements,except Italian,so it was very interesting.

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"Anything less than immortality is a complete waste of time."

This is an interesting observation. Spaghetti Westerns do tend to share some thematic similarities, albeit not as conspicuous as, say, Italian neo-realism. But perhaps most importantly, they share a lot of stylistic similarities, especially in terms of editing and the overall look of the film. Wikipedia cites Spaghetti Westerns as a subgenre. It also defines a film movement as:

This is a list of movements in cinema. Throughout the history of cinema, groups of filmmakers, critics, and/or theorists formed ideas about how films could be made, and the theories they generated, along with the films produced according to those theories, are called movements.

I really do not think this definition is applicable to Spaghetti Westerns, though. I don't think those films derived from a theory or a particular way of thinking on how films should be made. That is, Spagehtti Westerns were merely (and initially) rooted in one filmmakers' artistic vision and that's pretty much it. Perhaps the thematic similarities in all the different films were just derived from inspiration of previous Spaghetti Westerns? For it to be classified as a movement, there would have to be some type of purpose, some foundation, some beginning where filmmakers and people wanted this particular style, this particular method of filmmaking to represent and signify something.

Nonetheless, an interesting question to ponder.

Indeed. But, more than that, some sociologists have been known to actually use films as a pretext to understand the social environment of a particular time period. One would think this is ludicrous since film is fiction, and any type of depiction could easily be misleading (especially in the discipline of sociology), but to actually watch films in a social science as your personal way to understanding the sociology of a certain time period, well, it's amazing. Documentaries I could understand, but film? Surprising to me.

I sort of view film in the same way that I read literature. They're both in the realm of storytelling and instead of diction and characterization and what not we have editing, cinematography and mise en scene. I also find literary movements fascinating and reflective of many of the same things that you mentioned above

According to what is scribbled on the bathroom stalls in the basement of MSUM's film department, Soviet Montage is the least favorite film movement of the film students here

It's not too surprising, and I wrote an essay about this for a french class just to make sure my assumption of this was grounded in something. Problem is, it's in french.

However, films are different in that they don't need to have any storytelling at all. Such as The Mirror.

Minimalism exists in literature as well, but I see your point.

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I do not speak english perfectly so expect some mistakes here and there in my messages

It's not hard to understand. Science fiction films tend to reflect the spirit of the times and the popular political ideologies very well. For instance, Metropolis (1927) clearly reflected the political environment of Germany during the interwar period with it's collectivist mentality.

While 2001 (1968), reflected the technological optimism of the 1960's. And Nausicaa (1984) and The Terminator (1984), reflected the apocalyptic fears of the 1980's due to nuclear war, environmental degradation and the oil crisis.

There isn't any non-literary literature.

Movies can be like music, without any sense of narrative.

Are you considering manga as literature? Manga seems much more designed as cinematic than literary.

I think it's difficult not to view films as a narrative medium, even when it works against that. This is not due to the films themselves but because the vast majority of the films we have seen are narrative films. A lot of music contains a fair degree of narrative as well.

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Mubi

I don’t know if it’s a movement but I enjoy many Italian B Movies of the ’70s
At the time Italy had only two TV Channels controlled by the government, and the shows broadcasted were quite boring, stale and prude. So nitty gritty flicks that came out on theaters almost on a weekly basis, filled with scantilyclad women, violence and crude humor filled the gap, and people flocked in droves.

The Taiwanese New wave is a particular favourite "movement" of mine. Possibly the best cinematic explorations of the effects of industrialisation on formerly agrarian societies. The anomie such deep structural changes have on the lives of the persons subjected to them is perfectly realised within many of the films of Edward Yang, Tsai Ming Liang, Hou Hsiao-Hsien and maybe to a lesser extent the early work of Ang Lee.

It's interesting. When I studied sociology, I was told that films were a blanket, empty, and even an 'unacceptable' source, especially when writing a paper. Then I realised it is fairly common in the discipline. Just goes to show, I guess. Nevertheless, I agree completely with what you're saying. Films always have been a springboard to understanding the political, economic and even social climate of a particular time period. Another good example would be films like Rosemary's Baby, The Omen and The Exorcist which really seemed to capture this postmodern, almost existential way of thinking, especially in terms of religion. During the late 60s/early 70s, there seemed to be this growing ambivalence towards the existence of God or the possibility of a Satanic takeover as the world became more aware of all the torturous acts during the Second World War (it took a while for the Holocaust to be embedded in mainstream culture), not to mention its sheer causality magnitude and various other inhumane things that happened. If God exists, why did he allow these thing to happen? And if he does, indeed, exist, has Satan won? Some people say these films reflect this questioning thought, and I think it was evident in the infamous "Is God Dead?" TIME magazine scene in Polanski's film. Satanic subtext was starting to become more common. I've always found that interesting. Sidney Lumet's The Pawnbroker also, to some extent, fits this bill.

It's good you brought up The Terminator since there were a string of films in the 80s that dealt with nuclear warfare, with perhaps Threads being the most prominent and effective.

Comic books are a midpoint between the two. They are certainly not like movies and they also are unlike books. I guess they feel more like books than movies though, since books are not characterized by the passage of time.

Yeah.