Mock Question Planning

What social, economic and technological context gave rise to the Blockbuster film from 1975 - 1983? Refer to specific films in your answer.

Planning:

Social:

Due to the long work hours adults had during the 1970's their lives begin to become repetitive and wanted an escape from their regular lives and because they wanted to see something that they hadn't seen before which they couldn't just get from TV and cinema's provided a spectacle in which they could escape from which led to a rise in people actually going to the cinema. (E.T, Star Wars).

Teen audiences began to have a huge influence during 1975 because blockbuster hits attracted huge media attention which drew teenagers to go and see the film in the cinema rather than just pirating them since all the media attention turn't it in to an event movie for example Jaws is seen as one of the first event movies which attracted masses of people because it was something which had never been done in the cinema before.

Multiplexes were also always on the high street which would attract teenagers to create a bigger audience which could explain why the rise of multiplexes had a strong correlation with the increasing number of teenage cinema attenders. Multiplexes also began to appear on motorways because there was more space to build them and could attract a diverse audience.

Technological:

More special affects and technology was very appealing to the public since it created a spectacle and was something in which they hadn't seen before for example Star Wars introduced elements in to films which had not been seen before.

The early 80s caused an increase cinema popularity due to new technologies becoming available to big budget companies which allowed them to create a spectacle to give people a chance to have a brand new experience, like Jaws and Star Wars being two of the very first event movies.

Economic:

Multiplexes were bought in by American companies because they were worried that their films were not being seen by English audiences, English people wanted/expected to see bigger and better films which America provided such as Jaws which is classed as the first blockbuster which is exactly what English people wanted to see which drew them to the cinema. 

Jaws and Star Wars were two of the biggest grossing films during the 70s and 80s which attracted audiences because they had pre existing audiences and news worthy budgets which made people believe that because the the budget was huge the film would be something worth going out to see. (Event Movie)