The phenomenon of a rash of films having a common theme and appearing within a relatively short period. An example is the Vietnam War cycle of the late Eighties - think Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill. A cycle of films is a much smaller and more closely-defined collection than a genre, which can cover a broad range of themes and subjects within a common setting or style. A cycle can bridge genres: the millennial angst cycle which straddled 2000 includes such obvious members as End Of Days, Bless The Child, and Stigmata, but also (arguably) Deep Impact and Armageddon.
Film cycles are interesting for what they owe, in terms of vigour and longevity, to factors other than obvious profit-driven formulism. The Vietnam cycle both represented and participated in a critical shift in the mood of America's public discourse about the War. Another cycle, starting with Fatal Attraction and embracing Basic Instinct, Single White Female, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, and others of a 'psycho bitch' bent, has been posited as symptomatic of anti-feminist backlash.
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