The Force Awakens

I, like many Millennials, was not alive in 1977. I grew up in the age of Star Wars, the age of the big blockbuster film that left everyone leaving the theater feeling generally happy, positive, and optimistic. Escapism isn’t new to Hollywood. It is Hollywood. During The Great Depression, people flocked to the theater to escape their awful, poverty-stricken life.  Somewhere along the line, though, when the depression had long been over, auteurs like William Friedkin and Francis Ford Coppola made extremely nihilistic and existential films, forcing people to face the mirror. This era of cinema called The New Hollywood movement, many believe, met its decisive end with Star Wars. ...