You are to choose one of the headings, watch both films, and then write an essay exploring how the films constitute a dialogue with or debate about the nature and future prospects of American society in the 1970’s.

In two cases, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Blade Runner,” I have gone past the line demarcating the decades – both films were made in 1982.  I can explain this easily enough: the calendar is not always absolute, and the cultural atmosphere of the 1970’s drifts easily into the early 1980’s.