Popular Films and Their influence

 Hi!!! I'm Summer and this is my second post on my blog about the extent that film influence's public opinion and actions!

I began my research off by googling some of the most popular films from 2010-present. I knew I wanted to create a Google form for my peers to fill out to discuss the ways film has influenced them, so by starting with some influential films from our time that people would recognize it would help me further my research with how film was influencing people both in the past and present. After narrowing it down, these are the films I found from the 2010-present that had a large impact in the box office and on the people watching it.

The Social Network (2010), The Avengers Series (2012-Present), The Hunger Games (2012), Frozen (2013), Interstellar (2014), Blakklansman (2018), La La Land (2019), Midsommar (2019), Barbie (2023), and Oppenheimer (2023)

I know this is a short list of movies however I knew in order to get good Intel from my audience answering the Google Form I would need to add movies my audience would know. The only movie on this list I believe my audience may not know is Blackklansman. Even though many people, specifically kids my age, may not know this movie, I thought it had a huge influence on the need to combat the ideals of the KKK and white supremacy, as the movie was released a year after the protests and attacks in Charlottesville Virginia. Once I have information from my peers about any of these movies that influenced them, I will compile it and use it to further my understanding of the influence of Film.

Next I knew I still needed more of a variety of films so I researched some films from the late 1900s. I began by reading about the movie ET The Extra Terrestrial and how that movie influenced people. The fear of another life existing outside of our world freaked many people out. From the War of The Worlds broadcast in 1938 that set the public into a panic, or the sudden rise of UFO reports in the 50s because a man named Kenneth Arnold claimed to have seen "flying saucers" around. After this sighting, more and more people began to come out with their stories of sightings. ET was released in 1982 and put a huge shift on public perception of the idea of aliens. Instead of being fearful, the public began to be empathetic. The complexity of the innocence of the Elliot and ET in the movie was a great tactic the movie used to calm the fears of the public. Then I began even more research and realized ET wasn't the only film to calm public fears on the ideas of extra terrestrial.

While researching the series Star Trek came up. Star Trek was a popular show aired in the 60s that follows the adventures of a space crew on the star-ship USS Enterprise where they go from planet to planet meeting the new diverse groups that were different from the previous planet. Although I believe ET allowed the public to change their emotions from fearful to empathetic, Star Trek being released not very long after many of the sightings in the 1950s allowed people to be curious about what could exits beyond our world and not fear that existence. 

But Star Trek did even more then make people curious, the show was the first real "fandom" based TV show, influenced space history, and was a way to support diversity in America. Star Trek was helped establish the sociocultural idea of fandoms, or communities that enjoy the same content (TV show, movie, book, video game, etc) as one another. This rise of fandoms helped to establish modern license merchandising in the US. The people in these fandoms were so inspired by the show that after the show was released there was a rise in the amount of people who were interested in taking on jobs in fields of science. Even the people already in these scientific fields said space history was influenced by Star Trek through its depictions of the idea of a future existing past what we knew about space at the time. Along with this influence, Star Trek even aided in the civil rights movement because it was one of the first series in television to show the importance of diversity and not be afraid to hide it. The show hired the African American actor Nichelle Nichols to played a lieutenant in the crew on the ship. Nichols' character wasn't just an integral character to the show, but her character had been a respected officer to those in the show. This inspired so many marginalized African American people to believe in their own potential and continue fighting for what's right. Her role in the show was so influential that even Martin Luther King Jr recognized her importance in the show and persuaded her to remain in the series because it was a way to inspire people to fight for justice. 

These fandoms fighting for justice didn't just stop with Star Trek. After that success, Star Wars: A New Hope was released and the fandoms grew even bigger. A long with Star Trek, Star Wars was one of the more influential movie series of the 80s to influence generations to rebel against government ideals. I found this rise of fandoms super interesting and kept following the pattern to popular movies of today like Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and even Divergent. Although all the movies were based off of books, which helped to influence fandoms, the release of these movies and their large fandoms added to the newer generations fight against injustice in society. The movies popularized nonconformity within teens, which can be seen from 2001-present (when Harry Potter was first released). Before these movies, there was, and still is, the idea that everyone has to be the same and fit into the same box as one another. After these movies were released, there's been a huge shift from then to now on nonconformity within society, where more people are nonconforming and feel more empowered in who they are because of the media that's been released for many to see.

I'll finish off with a new movie my dad introduced me to and I read up on is the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, released in 1962. Although some of the movies ideals are very much outdated, the creation of the movie started a deinstitutionalization movement away from state-run asylums and towards community based care and treatment. The movie pushed for more humane ways to be treated in healthcare and for more patients rights in health care. I still have to look into it more but I found the movie to be super interesting after my dad explained it to me.

That's a lot of the research I've done this week, and can't wait to continue doing more. The influence of movies on the public is so interesting to me, and even movies influence other movies. I will hopefully get a lot of answers on my Google form to be able to have more research done! Bye!!!!