What Is The Context Of The Mid 1960s

Film is a story of people and a story made by the people. Since society is a world of community where people creates atmospheres and interact with one another, through films we can look into the mirror of the society at that time.

The French society from the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s was the time when the postwar modernization for France had begun. During this time period there were many values that the society reflected and various cultures that were embedded into the people’s lives. Nevertheless, in this paper, two of the social aspects during the period of the mid 1950s until the mid 1960s will be discussed through three of the French New Wave films; Breathless (À bout de souffle), Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7), and The 400 Blows (Les

Cléo is a young pop star, but she cannot even read music. In spite of her success in commercials as a star, she seems to have less power than the songwriters who do not acknowledge Cleo as an actual star. Moreover, she is also dissatisfied with her lack of power and shouts sadly about her will to become “just a puppet.” Throughout the film, Varda conveys the bad aspects of rising consumerism, which does not benefit everyone as well as letting the viewers notice of how Cléo is completely obsessed with herself, not much being aware of the lives of others. Mirrors in the film reflect Cléo love of beauty along with the wills of Cléo’s search for her identity in this modernized consumer society. In the begging of the film, mirrors in the shop confirm Cléo’s beauty, which most of her identity has been concentrated in. After her visit to the tarot reader, she stops to look at the mirror in the hallway. This shot implies the viewers about Cléo’s self-absorption and her own narcissism. Although she is a famous and beautiful female singer who is benefiting from the consumer society, loneliness, and emptiness that she feels is also drawn in the movie as part of living her life at that time. This is also shown through another the scene that shows contradiction between a female taxi driver and Cléo herself. The female

France was also one of them and it was inevitable for French cinemas at that time to act as a mirror of the French society. Culture, social life, alienation of the younger generation along with loneliness and confusion of identity were all spread and penetrated into most of the French New Wave films. Among them, the vast spreading consumerism (and how this affected the individuals), and the importance of the roles of institutions were the aspects of the French society that were focused on in this piece of paper, during this particular time period analyzed through the works of three different directors. The films of Breathless (À bout de souffle), Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7), and The 400 Blows (Les quatre cents coups) encouraged the audience to identify with these state values and social atmosphere that were prevailing from the mid 1950s to the mid 1950s