LS 690 - The 1970s: Ideas Have Consequences

(3.00 cr.)

Examines writings and films produced during the decade in which our current culture, for better or worse, took clear shape. Most aspects of the cultural revolution of the 1960s were absorbed into mainstream culture during the 1970s, even as a conservative counter- cultural revolution began to emerge that would reach full bloom in the 1980s. Students study works that are either interesting in their own right, or that shed light on the ideas and debates that prevailed during a curious and tumultuous time associated with the rise of postmodernism, feminism, libertarianism, mass narcissism, and much more. They also consider why film historians regard the 1970s as a particularly rich decade that brought forth both the American New Wave, and the rise of the summer blockbuster-Hollywood's standard for success for years to come. Readings include Tom Wolfe's The Me Decade and Christopher Lasch's The Culture of Narcissism.