Word: despairful
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...chillingly realistic domestic violence and frequent screaming. The contaminating influence of American pop culture is everywhere, as indicated by choice shots of American brand names (Ford automobiles, Prozac "happy pills"), clips from American movies and glimpses of American cultural icons. Through a gray haze of depression, addiction and despair, Oldman and his cast somehow manage to salvage a sense of optimism and indomitable vitality from this tangle of wrecked lives. In doing so, they rescue the movie from wallowing in its own despair and self-pity. Be warned--it's not a happy ending, but it's not a miserable...
...came to power almost simultaneously: Adolf Hitler on Jan. 30, 1933; Franklin D. Roosevelt 33 days later. It was no coincidence. Each embodied drive and vision--one diabolic, the other democratic--at the very moment their respective countries, and the world, had reached a nadir of economic and social despair...
Before the '60s, America seemed immune to the revolutionary impulse that defined the 20th century elsewhere. Periods of tumult--the giddy swirl of the '20s; the grinding despair of the Great Depression, which led so many to question capitalism itself--only served to highlight the broad, deep social stability born of American affluence. But the 1960s brought one great revolution in American life--civil rights--and many smaller ones. Religious dogma, journalistic objectivity, middle-class morality--all came under assault as the war sputtered on. Pleasures were now political statements; student opposition to the war turned into an assault...
College is traditionally seen as a time for idealism, yet it seems we live in a cynical age where students increasingly demonstrate collective despair with politics by making apolitical choices. Activism, since the 1960s, has existed in the shadow of that turbulent decade. Nothing could be as big or bold or nationally impressive a demonstration of dissent as the age of D.C. marches and SDS rallies...
...people now drops decisions into the laps of state Supreme Court judges and prevents either side from being satisfied. When court appeals and amicae briefs are the most important locus for lawmaking, the initiative system has been hopelessly debased. Lacking in legislative finesse, ineffective propositions lead voters to despair and stop voting, or, more wisely, vote "no" on bills regardless of their content. Then, the status quo is safe--and any chance for reform is on the ropes...