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Bonnie And Clyde Film Analysis

Decent Essays

In the 1960’s, the film industry as well as the rest of America was going through times of reform and change. The United States was facing a rise in feminism and militarism, as well as an influx in racial disparity. There was a shift in directors, who began to look towards European films such as the French New Wave and Italian filmmakers for inspiration. Bonnie and Clyde is one of few films that came out during this New Hollywood era which had started to incorporate violence, promiscuity, disillusionment, and ideas of going against social norms. This movie led the way for similar movies to be made.
Graphic violence, one the biggest characteristics of modern American cinema, was introduced in 1967 in Bonnie and Clyde. Previous to Penn's …show more content…

America in the 1960's was ravished by one of the biggest increases of violence and crime since the 1930's and many people were intrigued and sucked in by the violent acts and their coverage in the national media, much like people are today. Famous figures of the 1960's were surrounded in violence, either themselves violent or the change they were trying to bring about caused people to become violent. One such figure was Malcolm X. His group pushed for the advancement of blacks through the religion of Islam. This act helped spur the Civil Rights Movement which the 1960's is known for. Malcolm X was assassinated by the Nation of Islam in 1965ngs. Another figure who pushed for change in the 1960's and then was assassinated was President John F. Kennedy. He was assassinated in 1963 in Texas. These two figures’ assassination along with the increase in crimes across America had caused the nation to be engulfed in the violence. Penn takes the issues of violence of the 1960's and weaves them seamlessly into a story about crime in the 1930’s that also captured the American public attention. He is able to take a story that could have been just a historical recount of a burglarizing couple popular in the 1930’s and turned it into an expose of the current American

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