Spirit of the Times: Movie Posters

Here are a few movie posters that I found online that I believe have many characteristics that clue the viewer into what decade they were made in. 

"The Day The Earth Stood Still" (1955)

Many science fiction movies from the 50's have similar posters to this one. There are often many images depicting different parts of the movie, many of them also have the classic "damsel in distress" front and center. Coloring is another key to figuring out when movies are from. Technicolor was a from of color film processing that was used quite a bit between the 20's and 50's. Technicolor was known for it saturated coloring of film, thus many movie posters from this time exemplify the bright, high contrast color that was found in the film it self.  Below is a poster for the 1955 film "This Island Earth." Another Sci Fi movie from the 50's that has similar coloring and subject matter to the poster for "The Day The Earth Stood Still."

 The third poster that I found was for the 1971 film "Harold and Maude." Color photography had become more widely available by the mid to late 60's, so by the early 70's most movie posters were color photographs. The 70's are known for bright colors in photography, fashion, art, etc. Many household objects were quite kitschy around this time too. (ie. mushroom shaped cookie jars, salt and pepper shakers, etc.) In the movie poster for "Harold and Maude" there are several things that let the viewer know it was made in the 70's. First is the bright orange psychedelic-esque font which was very typical of the early to mid 70's. Second is the fact that the poster is simply a color photograph of the two main characters from the movie. Third is the wardrobe of the characters which is normal attire from the 70's.

The last poster that I found that I believe is a good example of a movie that exemplifies the decade in which it was made is the poster for "Pretty in Pink" a John Hughes film from 1986. Again we see a photo of the character's from the movie dressed in attire that is very specific to the time period. The contrasted photo makes the characters look grungy. During this time the "grunge punk" music/fashion persona was a common sight, thus the poster shows us that the movie was made around the same time when that music and fashion scene was part of pop culture.