What happened between the 50's and the 70's??

Over the course of about 20 years the content shown in film changed completely. Movies from the 1950's consisted of singing, dancing and love stories, what you could call "wholesome" entertainment. The main characters were clean and respectable people. The issue of drugs or sex were almost unheard of. The dilemmas that faced the characters in these movies although entertaining were mostly unrelated to everyday life. It was more of an escape from reality as opposed to addressing the true issues of society.  Film still remained seemingly oblivious to the troubles of peoples lives.

The 1970's were an entirely different story. The dirty laundry of America was finally being aired for the world to see. Sex, drugs, transvestites, homosexuality... you name it, there was most likely a movie about it somewhere. Filmmakers were no longer being polite. Women were also portrayed in an entirely different manner. They were wearing provocative clothing, doing drugs, having sex and basically doing everything that men could do, which in was unheard of in the 1950's. Basically society between the 50's and 70's became a little more crude and honest and hollywood mirrored this trend.