Resistance and Revolution in Society Exemplified in Film Noir and Science Fiction in the Baby Boomer and Millennial–GenZ Age

Abstract Sociocultural attitudes have fundamentally changed between the Baby Boomer era of the long 1950s (1945–1965) and the present rise of Millennial and GenZ. Whereas the Boomer mainstream sought social change and opportunity within the established socioeconomic system, Millennial–GenZ seeks essential structural change in the form of cultural equality for all orientations and identities that accept inclusiveness, and radical redistribution of wealth and even mainstream challenges to the legitimacy of the capitalist system as wealth concentrates at the top and the quality of life declines for the vast majority worldwide. Socially critical and forward-looking media, namely popular film noir and science fiction, exemplify the socially dominant attitudes of their respective eras, and illustrate actual social attitudes as demonstrated in empirical research of each respective era.