Saturday, October 24, 2009

Spirit of the Times Movie Poster Research

North by Northwest
Alfred Hitchcock, 1959

Espionage and suspense film with themes of deception, mistaken identity, and moral relativism of Cold-War era. Saul Bass designed movie poster is somewhat similar to the poster for Vertigo, which Bass designed the previous year. In both posters the figure of a man is depicted as if falling through space—perhaps echoing the uncertainty and tension of the cold war.





2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick, 1968

Made at the height of the “Space Age” the movie tackles immense subject matter with psychedelic imagery and enigmatic story-telling methods. The poster is a still from the journey through the “Star Gate” sequence of the film and shows a close up of an iris tinted in psychedelic color with the “Star Child” super imposed. The tagline “The ultimate trip” carries multiple meanings: the odyssey through space, the evolution of the human species, and a reference to the drug culture prevalent in the late 60s.




The Graduate
Mike Nichols, 1967

Pragmatic depiction of aimless youth struggling to determine right from wrong, and whether there is any distinction between the two. Minimal in the extreme, this poster for the graduate presents the a massive feminine leg towering over a tiny figure in a cap and gown—implicating the sexually confident and aggressive older woman over powering the hapless young man at the center of the story.




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