I was listening to Three Dog Night’s “Shambala” this morning, and thinking about Lost and its references to Seventies culture and ideas. I think it was much more effective to have the DI originating then rather than the 80s, say, though that would have made more sense chronologically. And going back and watching videos from that era gives me an almost “uncanny valley” kind of vibe, where what I’m looking at seems familiar yet off somehow. Anybody else get that feeling, or have ideas about this?
Another brief example would be the groovy kid with the hole in the back of his head in The Sixth Sense. “Psst. C’mon, I’ll show you where my dad keeps his gun…”
People from the 70s in television movies seem dirty and hairy. Ugly was “in” for some reason. I find that this lends a certain degree of realism to even the cheesy horror movies that don’t exist for horror movies from the 80s, 90s or today. Compare the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre or the Hills Have Eyes to the remakes from the last decade. The ones from the 70s just look that much creepier to me.
The porn star mustache. My husband (not a porn star) occasionally decides to revisit his youth and grow one. It’s not a good look.
People from an era that I have not lived through look weird.
Probably from the eighties, but still, Jerry Reed and the Hee Haw Honeys give me a creepy vibe as well.
Instead of a break from reality, TV and movies in the 70s were a break to reality. Not in every single case of course (i.e., Three’s Company, Dukes of Hazzard), but consider this:
Up to the 70s, TV shows consisted of clean, wholesome living – I Love Lucy, Leave It To Beaver, Father Knows Best, Ozzie and Harriet, etc. Then came *All in the Family, which was, IIRC, the first show (on American television at least) to let viewers know characters went to the bathroom. That in itself was “real” and “groundbreaking”. Of course, AITF dealt with more real issues such as rape, menopause, racial issues, etc. none of which had been seen on American TV before.
For movies, the late 60s were the groundbreaking times with films such as Midnight Cowboy, but The French Connection in my mind shows NYC as it was in the early 70s: dirty, grimy, gray, overcast, cold.
The end of the Hays Code in the late 60s also had something to do with it, as did the general cultural revolution and change throughout the 60s.
Movies and commercials from that time tried to appear “natural” by using lousy film stock, ambient lighting and stock library music, but a lot of that now looks very forced and comes across as if they were trying way too hard.
It’s worth keeping in mind (or putting there to begin with) that what many/most people think of as “The 60’s” really happened in the 70’s, at least the first half of the 70’s. “The 60’s” didn’t get started until maybe 1967 and were still going strong into that sleazy section of “The 70’s.”
Yeah, the early 70s were still the 60s, the real 70s didn’t get started until the mid-70s.
There’s a particular filthy dirty sleazy look to the 70s, like the clothes, the hair, the skin, the furniture and the food are coated with a thin layer of slime.
Throbbing Gristle’s first few albums are really good for that distinctly '70s creepiness too.
The clothes and furniture, at least, were probably largely polyester and plastic. Combine that with a layer of residue from cigarette smoke, and that might explain it. 
I did live through it, and I thought they looked weird.
Tow simple words explain all the creepiness of the 70s, my friends.
Leisure suits.
And when they combined leisure suits with disco and big hair, they created hell on earth.
A lot of the sitcoms from the '70s were depressing as shit. Taxi and Good Times come to mind as examples of that.
“Creepy” and “sleazy” are good terms to describe the 70s but I think the best one is “seedy”. “Seedy” can mean “sordid and disreputable” (e.g., Watergate) or “shabby and squalid” (e.g., 70s fashions and quality of American cars). Both definitions are equally applicable to the decade.
I was born in '75 and I wouldn’t go back to then if you stuck a gun in my face.
Though the rock got pretty good…
Please watch this, it’s very 70s and very creepy:
Make sure to read the description.
You are completely correct.
Particularly at 3 min 29 seconds where the camera swoops in on his look of triumph and anticipation. He does not look like a human thing there.
I was going to post my own link to Paul Williams’s Phantom of the Paradise (1974), but nothing can top the real life creepy you got there. Good show, sir.