It was remarkable enough that ordinary folks now had enough money to take it and run off and alter the circumstances of their lives and create new roles for themselves. . . -But, simultaneously still others decided to go. . . all the way. They plunged straight toward what has become the alchemical dream of the Me Decade. -“The “Me” decade and The Third Great Awakening” Tom Wolfe, 1976 In the 1960’s, many Americans, particularly the younger generation, were exposed to new ways of thinking. One of the most influential and longest-lasting influences was that of religion and philosophy from the Far East. Fed up with the status…

Sergei Eisenstein made his later films in the Soviet Union while Joseph Stalin was in power. Artists working in the Soviet Union at that time were embattled by censorship. Anyone even remotely suspected of sedition could be incarcerated if not executed. Citizens had to use discretion with what they said and filmmakers like Eisenstein needed to use great caution with what sentiments were expressed in his films. The only art style of that period that was officially endorsed by the government was socialist realism. In A Short History of The Movies, Mast and Kawin define socialist realism as “The Stalinist insistence that art serve the interests of the state and…

In classic film noir, the city of Los Angeles is typically portrayed as a hostile, or at best, cold and indifferent place. The opening scene of 1947’s Possessed shows the protagonist, Louise, wandering lost through the empty streets of real life, downtown LA. The city appears stark and austere, vaguely antagonistic. In 1950’s Sunset Boulevard, the protagonist Joe Gillis is a once successful, now failing screenwriter who cannot sell his scripts, whose friends all refuse to lend him money to help him pay for his car and rent. In spite of his adversity, Joe chooses to remain in LA to try and make it in Hollywood and this eventually leads…