Movies and Cultural Contradictions
< I 1976 Movies and Cultural Contradictions FRANK P. TOMASULO In its bicentennial year, the United States was wracked by dis- illusionment and mistrust of the government. The Watergate scandal and the evacuation of Vietnam were still fresh in everyone's mind. Forced to deal with these traumatic events, combined with a lethargic economy (8.5 per- cent unemployment, energy shortages and OPEC price hikes of 5 to 10 per- cent, high inflation (8.7 percent and rising), and the decline of the U.S. dollar on international currency exchanges, the American national psyche suffered from a climate of despair and, in the phrase made famous by new California governor Jerry Brown the previous year, “lowered expectations.” President Gerald R. Ford's WIN (Whip Inflation Now) buttons--did nothing bolster consumer/investor confidence and were widely perceived to be a public rela- tions gimmick to paper over structural difficulties in the financial system. Intractable problems were apparent: stagflation, political paranoia, collective anxiety, widespread alienation, economic privation, inner-city decay, racism, and violence. The federal government's “misery index,” a combination of the unemployment rate and the rate of inflation, peaked at 17 percent. In short, there was a widespread perception that the foundations of the American Dream bad been shattered by years of decline and frustration. Despite these negative economic and social indicators in the material world, the nation went ahead with a major feel-good diversion, the bicen- tennial celebration that featured the greatest maritime spectacle in Ameri- can history: “Operation Sail,” a parade of sixteen “Tall Ships,” fifty-three warships, and more than two hundred smaller sailing vessels in New York harbor.
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