40 years of cinema in America

There was a time when popular movies would reflect the feelings of the people, and as far as I can tell that time lasted from 1960 to 1999, beginning with Plein Soleil and The Apartment and ending with The Matrix and The Sixth Sense.

The following list is made up of my impressions of what the people's feelings were in a given year based on which movies fared well at the U.S. box office that year. They fall into seven distinct periods, coping with innovation, founding, oppression, feeling, art, living and destiny.

1960: Displaced    | Coping with innovation
1961: Relating     |
1962: Considering  |
1963: Arranging    |

1964: Driven       | Coping with founding
1965: Doing        |
1966: Pursuing     |
1967: Guiding      |

1968: Limiting     | Coping with oppression
1969: Silly        |
1970: Challenging  |
1971: Harsh        |
1972: Bleak        |
1973: Merciless    |

1974: Dependent    | Coping with feeling
1975: Prone        |
1976: Excluded     |
1977: Longing      |
1978: Experiencing |
1979: Probing      |
1980: Trying on    |
1981: Tinkering    |
1982: Setting out  |

1983: Conventional | Coping with art
1984: Imaginative  |
1985: Touched up   |
1986: On a roll    |
1987: Cool         |

1988: Individual   | Coping with living
1989: Ironic       |
1990: Cynical      |
1991: Tough        |

1992: Insular      | Coping with destiny
1993: Sensational  |
1994: Epic         |
1995: Outrageous   |
1996: Superhuman   |
1997: Nerdy        |
1998: Derisive     |
1999: Uncertain    |

I may later analyse this further, but for the time being I'll leave it at that.