Teens and Nostalgia LESSON 7 FMS 394
Guiding questions What were some defining characteristics of the early 1970s and how did the cultural climate differ from that of the late 1960s? Nostalgia is a fairly commonplace word, but what do we mean when we discuss it in media studies? What is the nostalgic teen film and how does it operate ideologically? How does American Graffiti exemplify the nostalgic teen film? How did it respond and contribute to cultural discourses at the time? What are its legacies?
The 1970s: A Time of Tumult Crisis in Vietnam Assassinations My Lai and the Tet Offensive Assassinations Martin Luther King, Jr. Robert F. Kennedy Kent State Shootings Watergate Scandal
What do we mean by “nostalgia”? A longing for the past Personal nostalgia Commodified Nostalgia Styles, goods, cultural artifacts Not necessarily personal Intensified in 20th (and 21st) century Nostalgia’s Ideological Implications Reification Romanticization Refusal
The Nostalgic Teen Film Generational tension and youthful rebellion filtered through an adult perspective. Sympathetic, but not indigenous voice Tension between excess and containment
The Original Nostalgic Teen Film? American Graffiti (1973) Directed by George Lucas and produced by Francis Ford Coppola Personal and commodified nostalgia Narrative structure Documentary style Soundtrack Wider significance of the film?
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