95 AS TIME WENT BY... the Hollywood studio powers. However, after WWII, the rise of television and the cheaper costs of filming on location and abroad caused Hollywood s crisis. Even if Johnson s administration passed many major laws that made substantial changes in civil rights, healthcare, welfare, and education, he was heavily criticised for his foreign policy, namely escalating American involvement in the Vietnam War. Go online and find out why many films deal with Nixon s administration. The release of Star Wars, directed by George Lucas in 1977, served as a significant milestone in American film with its high-tech characters, fast-paced plotline, and fantastic soundtrack and visuals, winning 7 Oscars in 1978. gritty: crudo meltdown: crollo rejection: rifiuto renewal: rinnovo The thirties and the Great Depression The United States emerged as a dominant force in cinema during the Golden Age of Hollywood, however, the 1930s were also a time of resilience, as filmmakers navigated the challenges of the Great Depression. An industry that still had not come to terms with the costly advent of sound technology found itself plunged into financial meltdown in 1931-32 as movie ticket sales collapsed. To contrast this, the solution was that of adopting the studio system : a system by which a small number of major studios controlled the entire filmmaking process, including talent, production, and distribution. By 1920, fifty studios produced 90 percent of the films made in America. Each studio carried its own group of directors, directors of photography, musicians, and performers, as well as numerous crews to perform the various functions necessary for making a film. The forties and the fifties Within days of Pearl Harbour, President Franklin Roosevelt commissioned Hollywood to emotionalise the conflict, mobilise public awareness, and support American war effort. World War II was indeed the best of times financially for the movie industry, and especially for 222 BiG and smaLL scrEEn The sixties and the seventies In the 60 s and 70 s the USA underwent a period filled with anti-war movements and ever-changing youth culture. This was also due to the scandals of Johnson and Nixon s presidential administration, the Vietnam War, and the rejection of conformity seen in younger individuals. These youth protest movements led to a renewal of genres and the success of authors who wanted to make cinema an art form. The film industry saw a new era of self-expression and broke down conventional norms with award-winning movies such as The Godfather and Star Wars . The end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century The history of film in the last period of the 20 th century and the beginning of the 21st was shaped in part by new technologies. In the 1980s, the widespread adoption of the videocassette recorder opened up new possibilities for the distribution of films, giving wider circulation and easier access to works throughout the world. In the following years, the spread of computer animation as well as digital video cameras and video discs accelerated these trends, with the computer emerging as a new production unit in filmmaking and the Internet as a site for film distribution and exhibition.