Abstract
Although frequently overlooked, the 1970s was a pivotal decade in postwar British history. As with histories of its visual culture, most historical accounts fail to consider the cultural, social and political diversity of the decade, focusing instead on significant events or broader trends. Conventional histories focus on issues such as the economic instability partially caused by the oil crisis of 1973, and the massive rise in inflation which peaked at 24.2% in 1975.1
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Notes
A. Sutcliffe, An Economic and Social History of Western Europe Since1945 (Harlow: Longman, 1996), p. 204.
D. Sandbrook, State of Emergency. The Way We Were: Britain1970–1974 (Penguin Books; London 2011).
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A. Walker, National Heroes: British Cinema in the 70s and 80s (London: Harrap, 1985).
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A. Higson, ‘A Diversity of Film Practices: Renewing British Cinema in the 1970s,’ in Bart Moore-Gilbert (ed), The Arts in the 1970s: Cultural Closure? (London: Routledge, 1994), pp. 218–237, p. 227.
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S. Sheridan, Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema (Richmond: Reynolds and Hearn, 2005).
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Biographies of key 1970s filmmakers include; J. Baxter, An Appalling Talent: Ken Russell (London: Joseph, 1973).
J. Lanza, Phallic Frenzy: Ken Russell and His Films (London: Aurum Press, 2008).
R. Wymer, Derek Jarman (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005).
N. Sinyard, The Films of Nicolas Roeg (London: Letts, 1991). J. Palmer, The Films of Joseph Losey (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
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M. Deeley and M. Field, Blade Runners, Deer Hunters and Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: My Life in Cult Movies (London: Faber and Faber, 2008).
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R. Sellers, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: The Inside Story of Handmade Films (London, Metro Books, 2003).
J. Eberts and T. Ilot, My Indecision Is Final: The Rise and Fall of Goldcrest Films (London: Faber and Faber, 1990).
R. Shail (ed), Seventies British Cinema (London: BFI/Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).
P. Newland (ed), Don’t Look Now: British Cinema in the 1970s (Bristol: Intellect Books, 2010).
L. Forster and S. Harper (eds), British Culture and Society in the 1970s: The Lost Decade (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2010).
S. Harper and J. Smith (eds), British Film Culture in the 1970s: The Boundaries of Pleasure (Edinburgh; EUP, 2011).
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© 2013 Sian Barber
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Barber, S. (2013). Understanding the 1970s. In: The British Film Industry in the 1970s. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137305923_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137305923_3
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