The 1970s was the most significant period of artistic exploration in film history, in my humble opinion. In the UK, as in the rest of the world, it was a time of unlimited possibilities – unlimited ideas that led to new, unlimited lifestyles. The younger generation in the 1970s built on the optimism of the 60s, tweaked it, and took the ideas of freedom and liberation to a whole new level, creating changes that the previous generation was outraged by. Their optimistic exuberance and fearlessness was reflected in their clothes, their music. Similarly, film directors of the decade tested the boundaries of what was acceptable, constantly looking to provoke a reaction from a public which expected to be surprised and shocked as well as entertained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the 1970s, in Great Britain, cinema continued to be quite open-minded after the period that came just before, called “The Swinging Sixties”. This was a period of youth-led cultural revolution that took place in the UK in the mid-1960s. It saw a flourishing of art, music and of course cinema. Suddenly people, particularly young people, wanted things to be real and reflect the harsh reality of the time: long dole queues, grinding poverty, shitty weather all year round. They wanted to see real people in real-life situations. Films such as Private Enterprise<\/em>, 1974, and Pressure<\/em>, 1975 were breakthroughs in the field of minority film-making, showing eager audiences what life was like for the growing Asian and Black communities in the country. Similarly, filmmakers such as Derek Jarman and Ron Peck (Nighthawks,<\/em>1978) shone a light on the gay community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n