Here is my list of must-see films from each genre, listed chronologically, from 1900–2000. For functional purposes, I have combined some film types/genres into one category. If a film is italicized, that means it is cross-listed. If a film is in bold, that means it is a personal favorite of mine. If it is not in bold, that does not necessarily mean I dislike the film—it simply means that it did not make it to my all-time favorites. This list is by no means comprehensive, but I tried to narrow it down to the classic films in each genre. Not all films are necessarily aesthetically “good,” but if they are important for the genre, then I included it.
Read more“Nobody Calls Me Chicken”: The Crisis of Masculinity in Gen X Cinema
Gen X movies often dealt with the theme of the male underdog finally getting the upper-hand over the dominant male type. Whereas cinema in previous eras glorified the rebel or the tough guy, Gen X cinema elevated the loser: the freaks, the geeks, the nerds, the wimps, the squares, the virgins, the slackers. The fact that so many of these films centered around the theme of the loser beating the jock or the bully demonstrates that there was a crisis of masculinity happening for Generation X, and this crisis was being worked out through the medium of popular culture.
Read more“All the Hippies Are Executives Now, and Everybody’s Sold Out”: Late Boomer and Early Gen X Cinema in the 1970s and 1980s
The small window of films from the late 1970s and early 1980s gives a glimpse into the social and cultural milieu of changing times: a short moment when the cinema reflected the generation gap between the Boomers and Gen Xers.
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