1950s and 1960s: Birth of Pop Culture

            Popular culture or pop culture is defined as everything from “common culture” to “folk culture” to “mass culture” ⁽¹⁾. In America after the first world war, popular culture is related to commercial culture, including movies, television, advertising, cyberspace, and all other items that can be purchased, such as toys, paintings, etc, or experienced, such as musicals and dance concerts. In the United States, pop culture is one of its most profitable commodities, ranging from the latest jeans to Hollywood movies.

            The 50s was the beginning of the era of television. It launched some of the well loved classics such I love Lucy and Father Knows Best. Television dominated mass media and people integrated television in their daily lives. The early 50s what was seen on television was accepted as normal. This was because for the first time people considered themselves as “eyewitness to the events” ⁽²⁾ as had been in the program You Are There. Television also became the main source of news or information. When Hear It Now started broadcasting “See it Now” the magazine format for television begun. It alternated from broadcasting the news with commentaries. As for the families of the 50s, they started copying the characters of the popular shows, such as Lucy in I Love Lucy. This changed the way people dressed, acted and viewed their lives.

            There was a great change in the way Americans lived the 60s, particularly the younger generation. The Doo Wop music remained in the latter part of the 50s and the beginning of the 60s but soon female groups, beach music and the Beatles emerged. And there was of course, Elvis who dominated the scene and it gave birth to Rock and Roll. Socially, boundaries were defied and crossed as was seen in the youth protesting about the bomb, the civil rights movement, the government against the Vietnam policy, and of course there was their use of drugs.

In the 60s, the so called “Psychedelic Sixties” broke every rule in music, fashion, mores and manners and created the Generation Gap. With these social changes, rock music became the medium of expression ⁽³⁾. In Elvis’ Rock and Roll the youth saw a way of expressing their rebellion as a malcontent teenager. This was gradually followed by the hippie music, inspired by the hallucinogenic drugs and empowered by social angst. The music of the 60s then created for the youth a world of their own, with their own language and lifestyle that was totally foreign to the previous generation.

            In 1953, one year behind the United States, the Soviet Union detonated a hydrogen bomb. In 1957, again ahead of the United States, the Soviet Union launched their first artificial satellite, the Sputnik I. The Soviet was leading the space program in the 50s. However the space program had a double meaning since the technology developed were also used for the superpowers’ intercontinental ballistic missiles ⁽⁴⁾. Thus, it was not just a demonstration of technological advancement but a demonstration of nuclear superiority capable of destroying the enemy. With this, the Cold War started to intensify.

            In the United States the rise of the Cold War had its great impact in the political scene. There was Mc McCarthyism or the Second Red Scare and by the time Sputnik was launched and many Americans was already fearful of the Communists. When Sputnik was launched many politicians downplayed the event. President Eisenhower himself congratulated the Soviets but stated that his view on national security remain the same. However, internationally the government increased funding for its Vanguard project. Eisenhower created the “New Look” policy which relied on nuclear weapons as way to deter war ⁽⁵⁾. It became the basis of the America’s next national and international policies.

References

(1) Pop Culture. n.d. Post World War II American Literature and Cultural Database. University of California, Berkely, English Department

http://english.berkeley.edu/Postwar/pop.html

(2) Television. 1998. American Culture History. Kingwood College Library.

http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade50.html#tv

(3) Rock Music 60s. 2007. Psychedelic 60s: Rock Music. University of Virginia.

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/small/exhibits/sixties/rock.html

(4) The Fabulous Fifties. N.d.

http://www.buyersmls.com/americantv/fifties/fifties.htm

(5) Government Spending. 2007. Piedmont Communities

http://www.piedmontcommunities.us/servlet/go_ProcServ/dbpage=page&GID=01302001151017804962040383&PG=01302001151017804962205589