What do you think really defined the difference between the look, feel, and attitude of 70's movies and our beloved 80's flicks?

For me, the really big one was the Sci Fi movies. In the 70s, there were gleaming white ships with loads of leatherette and chrome fittings, all of the uniforms were neatly tailored with belts and flares, and aliens always looked like they just stepped out of some groovy disco. Everything was all Star Trek - The Motion Picture, and Blakes Seven / Space 1999 (UK readers will now what I mean). As soon as the 80s started, everything was that bit darker, grimier, and more real. The only exceptions to this were Star Wars (in 1977) and the UK HitchHikers Guide series (in the 80s) that kinda reversed the formula, and maybe that's why they worked.

What do you all think?
 

If it is about the genres, then here's my spiel...

I mentioned about the differences in another newsgroup, so I might as well answer it here:

1970's - DISASTER MOVIES
Examples: Airport (and sequels), The Towering Inferno, Earthquake, The Swarm, Jaws (and sequels), The Poseidon Adventure, Bug!, The China Syndrome, The Hindenburg, Juggernaut, Meteor, Rollercoaster, Skyjacked!, The Cassandra Crossing, etc.

Also the disaster movie genre was parodized in the 70's as The Big Bus (1976) and the Airplane! movies in the early 80's.

1980's - TEEN FLICKS
Examples: Porky's (though it was R-rated), almost any John Hughes movie, Class, lots of mad slasher/horror movies, etc. Well...too many to list here, but you know what I mean.

1990's - CRIME MOVIES
Examples: Goodfellas, Fargo, Pulp Fiction, A Simple Plan, Hoffa, Donnie Brasco, The Usual Suspects, The Godfather #3, Jackie Brown, Reservoir Dogs, From Dusk Till Dawn, Go, Copland, Deep Cover, L.A. Confidential, Payback, Heat, 2 Days In The Valley, Natural Born Killers, Miller's Crossing, True Romance, Thelma & Louise, Wild At Heart, Casino, American History X, Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, and several others that I don't recall at the moment.
 

As I said, I wasn't around in the 70's, but in the 80's we seemed to have a lot more animated films and fantasy films geared towards all of us 80's kids who are now in our 20's. For some examples I remember owning all the toys and movies of such beloved 80's entertainment as The Carebears, The Neverending Story, Labyrinth, Rose-Petal Place, The Wuzzles, Teddy Ruxpin,My Pretty Pony,Cabage Pail Kids,etc etc etc. And you all must agree that one of the best aspects of the 80's was all the great toys we had, so it's kinda sad if you weren't a kid in the 80's to enjoy them since they were SO much a part of the decade. =(

Also, although the 70's had disco music and disco movies such as "Saturday Night Fever", they tended to have more serious issues in them like drugs and rape, while the 80's seemed to be more about how big you could get your hair and just having fun.

Like I said, I'm really an 80's kid, born in the begining of '81 and had a great childhood growing up in the 80's, I cant really speak firsthand about what it was like in the 70's (my mom can), however just from what I've seen and heard it seemed to be a much seedier and sleazy time (with the exception of such classics as "Grease" and many others).
 

Of course George changed all that and Cimino scared the studios into making things more regimental and putting over zealous director's on a leash...The 70's was a hangover from Vietnam and the 80's was when things came full circle and people just wanted colors, escapsim and above all: fun.
 

80s...lightness, good times, happy endings...

90s...A little from column A, a little from column B on all fronts.

Those, to me, are the differences between 70s, 80s and 90s movies.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...the rock steady flamethrower
 

1. All movies (or almost all) in the 70's were played by old people and you could see that even on TV; in the 80's they discovered a really big market, teens, and we started to see a lot of teens and early 20's leading movies as well as TV shows.

2. Special effects.

Ok, Ok, 3. Color!!! The 80's were filled with color
 

Except for some of Woody Allen's movies.