In the 1960s paranoia was viewed by social scientists as ungrounded fear of powerlessness, and the theme of paranoia as it relates to feelings of powerlessness was dominant in films of that period  In the 1970s paranoia instead was viewed by social scientists as a response to real threats from society
Images of paranoia presented in films made in a period reflect trends in social science of that period.
 Films of this period portray paranoia as a legitimate response to a world gone mad