Movies have change dramatically since 1965, the change has been notorious in several aspects, especially with the technology. The films have been changing, they can be seen including controversial issues such as political and social aspects, as cliche style and new original ideas have emerged. Today’s films are more open and liberal in a certain sense, and this is because our way of think has changed through the years.  

Films are not only an entertainment source, through them people can show a reality about society, they can touch matters like politics, and they can cause great controversy. Behind a great film there is also a great story about how it was made.  

Bonnie & Clyde is a 1967 American biographical crime film directed by Arthur Penn, that belongs to The New Waves movement emerged at the end of the 1950s.  This movie is a perfect example of how a film can create big controversy, and make people change they point of view. The film tells a modify story of the real Bonnie and Clyde. In the middle of the Great Depression, Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) meet when Clyde tries to steal Bonnie’s mother’s car. Bonnie, who is bored by her job as a waitress, is intrigued by Clyde, and decides to take up with him and become his partner in crime. They pull off some holdups, but their amateur efforts, while exciting, are not very lucrative. Bonnie & Clyde film created a controversy in the politic aspect. 

The Terminator is a 1984 American science fiction film directed by James Cameron, that belongs to Blockbuster era films. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose son will one day become a savior against machines in a post-apocalyptic future. The success of this film was great, and it also created a new step for women inside the film industry. 

House of The Flying Daggers is a 2004 wuxia romance film directed by Zhang Yimou, that belongs to Blockbuster era films. In AD 859, as the Tang Dynasty declines, several rebel groups are established, the largest of which is the House of Flying Daggers, based in Fengtian, who battle the corrupt government that oppresses the people. Two police officers, Leo and Jin—who are best friends—are ordered to kill the leader of the group within ten days, a task that appears to be impossible as no one knows who the leader of the House of the Flying Daggers is. This film created controversy in the political aspect even though that wasn’t Yimou’s intention. 

Forrest Gump is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth. Forrest Gump is a simple man with a low I.Q. but good intentions. He is running through childhood with his best and only friend Jenny. His ‘mama’ teaches him the ways of life and leaves him to choose his destiny. Forrest joins the army for service in Vietnam, finding new friends called Dan and Bubba, he wins medals, creates a famous shrimp fishing fleet, inspires people to jog, starts a ping-pong craze, creates the smiley, writes bumper stickers and songs, donates to people and meets the president several times. However, this is all irrelevant to Forrest who can only think of his childhood sweetheart Jenny Curran, who has messed up her life. Although in the end all he wants to prove is that anyone can love anyone. This film covers several political, social and domestic violence issues.

How do changes in technology affect movies as a business, a social-political force, and an art form? How do social and political issues affect movies at specific moments in history? How do movies explore and potentially affect society and politics? How does the need to make money from movies affect what movies get made? 

For some films the lack of technology is an issue, but for other it is not problem at all. For the films Bonnie & Clyde, House of The Flying Daggers and  Forrest Gump technology wasn’t an issues, the directors of these films had a good budget and the material they needed; on the other hand, for the film The Terminator, director Cameron didn’t had the amount of budget he needed and technology was not that sustained. Cameron had to change his initial idea for the film, because he didn’t had the necessary technology. The initial outline of the script involved two Terminators being sent to the past. The first was similar to the Terminator in the film, while the second was made of liquid metal and could not be destroyed with conventional weaponry. Cameron felt that the technology of the time was unable to create the liquid Terminator.

Social and political matters usually create controversy in a film, and these issue were not an exception for these films.  The Terminator was meaningful, because they gave the woman an important role, they showed her strong and gave her power. This was an important step in the history of the film and something unusual that was well received. While with Yimou there was controversy because close members of his family were shamed and humiliated for opposing the Communist government. It was a controversial issue, since Zhang gave his opinion about historic politic. “The objective of any form of art is not political. I had no political intentions. I am not interested in politics,” he said.

The public, after watching the film, decided that Bonnie & Clyde were victims of the circumstances, and consider them like a Robin Hood even though they were killers. Part of the controversy over the death of Bonnie and Clyde centers on the fact that today, in the United States, the police give the detainee the possibility to surrender peacefully before firing even in extremely dangerous situations unless there is a threat of immediate death. In this respect, the Supreme Court commented in the case of Tennessee versus Garner in 1985 that: “The fourth article prohibits the use of force to prevent a flight of a suspect unless the flight, in the opinion of the officer, involves a danger of death or injury to the officer or his own.”

Finally, Forrest Gump was not made with the intention to create controversy; however, in 1994, CNN’s Crossfire debated whether the film promoted conservative values or was an indictment of the counterculture movement of the 1960s. Thomas Byers, in a Modern Fiction Studies article, called the film “an aggressively conservative film”. The film covers topics like bullying, incest, domestic violence, assassination, political issues and U.S. history, causing controversy and sparking debate on the subject. Tom Hanks said “The film is non-political and thus non-judgmental”; however, the critics started to rain and everyone gave their own opinion.

Money is an important matter in the film industry, after all it defines the style of the film. While for the films Bonnie & Clyde and House of The Flying Daggers money was not an issues, but The Terminator and Forrest Gump it was. For Forrest Gump it took 9 years to be able to make this film. “Actors, directors, agents, studio people were just not interested in the project, partly because of ‘Rain Man’”. Mrs. Finerman, one of the producers, spent years searching for people who wanted to do the film, nobody was interested because they were afraid to lose money.

The expectations for the success of The Terminator were low, the first time Cameron showed his work, his agent agent disliked the Terminator concept and requested that he work on something else. After this, Cameron dismissed his agent. Then he showed his work to Orion Pictures, they accepted to do the film. Orion Pictures did not have faith in The Terminator performing well at the box office and feared a negative critical reception. This was one of the reasons why they didn’t gave Cameron a good budget for the film.

In all movies there will always be positive and negative reviews.

In the essay “The Terminator and Tales From the Crypt: Minor Budgets, Major Consequences,” Tim states ” The Terminator that was especially impressive in this regard, creating incredible practical effects through ingenuity despite having a rather small (for a blockbuster) budget of $6.4 million”. I agree with Tim, I believe that Cameron did a great job with the small budget that he had, the effects were good and the story line is impressive.

I liked that it was not the typical cliche story where man saves the woman in everything, I liked the fact that Sarah also saved Reese in dangerous parts. I liked that inside the fictional, they showed reactions and real situations.The film showed that both, men and women, need each other to survive.

In the essay “Two Different Blockbusters: Texas Chainsaw Massacre and House of Flying Daggers.” Owen Slater States “I would definitely consider… House of Flying Daggers as art forms, both in their own unique way, and both bringing something new to the table when it comes to the emotions and feelings that a film should invoke in its audience.” I agree partially with Slater, the film is an art form and unique, the story line allows the public feel some of the feelings that are going through the story, but you don’t get to empathy that much.

Like most of the critics claim, the love story line is a bit weak; I believe that Yimou could’ve done better, personally I did not feel so much empathy for what happened at the end with each character, I think Yimou could have made the viewer feel a stronger connection with the protagonists.

In the esay “Bonnie and Clyde” Evita Babin states “Bonnie and Clyde is raw, sharp, and a milestone in American cinema. It was the the initial movie that opened the “New Wave” in Hollywood and has been noted as a major inspiration in gangster film well known today such as The Godfather, The Departed, and Natural Born Killers.” I agree with Babin,  Bonnie & Clyde’s film is sharp and raw, and it allowed the “New Wave” movement to come into the industry.

In the article “It’s ‘Forrest Gump’ vs. Harrumph” Sarah Lyall states “FORREST GUMP may be the biggest hit of the year, the movie that earns a second Oscar for Tom Hanks, the one that makes audiences laugh and makes them cry, the one that proves you don’t need sex and violence to succeed in Hollywood”.

I agree partially with Lyall, it is an emotional film that makes you cry and laugh; however, the film does have violence and even though the sex films are not explicit, the film has them. So I believe that what made the film successful was the touching story it has and the amazing performance of Tom Hanks. The film is unique and that’s another reason why the film was successful. It doesn’t follow the cliché pattern.

The film addresses strong and uncomfortable topics like incest, domestic violence and political issues. I believe that the film make us open our eyes and realize about how cruel the world can be. The film shows us the trauma that war generates in a person and the physical and psychological damages that it brings. But the film also shows what friendship and love is really about, the film does not follow a the the cliché pattern that everyone is expecting, it show us a different perspective and that’s amazing. Sometimes we expect love to solve everything magically, including traumas and problems, but that’s not how it works.

The way that films are made have changed and will keep changing through time, technology is advancing and our way of thinking too. Nowadays films show with more freedom issues that are occurring in real life, they are giving a message without being scared of the consequences. Films are a tool that people is using to set a perspective, and show the world important matters.