1950s Popular Culture

In the 1950s, cars became very important. People living in the suburbs needed a car to drive everywhere. They drove to work, to shop, and to have fun. People drove to national parks. They drove to drive-in theaters to watch movies. They ate at drive-in burger restaurants and ice cream shops. Shopping centers outside of cities became very popular. Cars made it easy for people to go to new places. Now television made it easy for people to see places without leaving their homes. On television, people could see faraway events as they happened. They watched soap operas and comedy

From 1949 to 1969 the amount of televisions grew from one million to about 45 million. The amount of TV stations grew from a mere 69 to almost 570. The amount of Americans with at least one TV grew to 96% of America by 1970.

A sitcom, is short for "situation comedy", it is a genre of television centered on an established set of characters. Sitcoms originated in radio, but throughout the years and the increased popularity they are now generally found on television. Ccountless sitcoms have been aired over the generations creating a multimillion dollar revenue for this genre. Broadcasters use manipulating strategies to determine the production of shows that would air on their network, without regard to the network, limiting the producer’s ability to use their own creative ideas to generate content that adheres to the commercial media’s profit driven ideology for broadcasters. Hegemony and the mass media is when the portrayed

Television sales were started in the late 1940s,after they started appearing in the largest cities. TV ownership was originally a big-city thing. Of the 102,000 TV sets in the US in 1948, two-thirds were in New York. Even though a television set would cost around $400, it was still “Catching on like a case of high toned scarlet fever,” according to a March 1948 edition of Newsweek Magazine. This early on, TV was still just an experiment, radio was still the number one source of entertainment. As more TV sets began to be sold, people came to wonder what sort of programs would be shown.

During our first module of Performance Cultures, we explored and researched into the counter cultures of the 1960’s; how those movements shaped not only the development of the performance world but also the culture of modern day life.

In the 1950s, most TV diversion projects overlooked current occasions and political issues. Rather, the three noteworthy systems (ABC, NBC, and CBS) created prime-time demonstrates that would engage a general family gathering of people. These real systems would indicate family drama that was recognized by its character-based amusingness and normally set inside of the home. SO in the event that you needed to realize what was going ahead on the planet you needed to listen to the radio on the off chance that you were sufficiently blessed to have one. Dark families were poor. Vagrant laborers endured terrible hardships, and racial pressures were overflowing. None of this was reflected in the realm of residential comedies. Impacts of TV in the

“The 1960s were advertising's ‘coming of age,’ when the industry mastered the language of TV, appropriated the medium of photography and produced work of unprecedented creativity.” (“History: 1960s.”). Smoking everywhere, drinking hard liquors, harassing women and cheating on wives was not considered as a bad manner in the 60s. The first episode of MadMan conquered me with dissimilarities that were acceptable in the 60s and are not much tolerable in our time. American culture in the late 50s and 60s was created with a blended mix of icons such as TV shows, fashion, and ads.

During the 1950s, American society developed a conformity and obeyed social norms. Television, Music, Movies and the suburbs contributed to the standardizing development by giving an experience exhibiting approved social patterns. The new style of music, Rock-n-Roll gave a clear definition of youth and adulthood during this period. Suburbia and Television became symbols of an era. People got their relaxation and enjoyment by watching movies and TV. The life in 1950s was portrayed as a decade of conformity, prosperity and consensus in the United States.

In the 1960s, there were 52 million television set in American homes. Today, approximately, 285 million televisions sets are in American households. Almost every Americans own a television in their homes and it is the one of the most popular electronics devices. Since the invention of television, television had impacted the world of entertainment. In 1960s, television was founded mostly on political forces. While the modern world, television was created on drama and entertainment. The transition of television shows in the 1960s and the modern world significantly changed through media and moral values. The Andy Griffith show and Friends both teaches a life lesson. However, they both target different audiences. The comparison of both shows is based on the popularity of the show.

The 1950s and the 1960s had many similarities, though they had many differences as well. Their similarities and differences include: the politics, the economy, the society, and the culture of both decades. In the 1950s, North Korea moved into South Korea and began a civil war between the two parallel countries. The reason for this dispute was the border lines as well as guerrilla fighting in the South, which created a greater tension on the issue. The reason why the U.S entered the Korean War was so that the Soviet Union would not gain another nation and, in turn, more power. Like the 50s, our country was also at war with another country in the 60s. This time, the U.S was at war with Vietnam. The U.S entered the war because the

The television gave much of the country something to do. It reflected the homogenization of the United States. People began to envision a futuristic nuclear world after the start of the Space Race between the United States and Russia to land on the moon. The United States launched Alan Shepard into space after the Soviets launched “Sputnik” in 1957 as we launched our first man in 1961. Meanwhile, computers were developed into large room size machines to do simple computations and made things portable. One of the characteristics of the mass media during the 1950’s, as the T.V., was that the sitcoms was directed to make viewers think about the idea of the perfect family living the American dream. The only problem with those T.V sitcoms was that not every American family fitted into that mold. For example, Jews, Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians, and other minorities were not portrayed as part of that image that most people wanted to imitate because these T.V. families were white-collar, middle class, and Caucasian.

about. The 1940’s and 1950’s marked the era in which television really began to take hold in the

Modern day television in household has become its own culture. Television holds a constant presence in American households and is forever changing, and visually keeps our attention. Television can be beneficial in the aspect that it has given viewers different attitudes by viewing different cultural backgrounds that can be presented on televisions. For example, this paper will be addressing the sitcom American Dad, American Dad is an adult animated sitcom, which focuses on a modern American family. The main character Stan Smith and his family who face at times core issues of a family. The comedy and farce overshadow the serious messages being conveyed. The stereotypical messages are often relatable in family households in an absurd way. American Dad is fantasying to watch because the visual elements and the real-world issues that are being addressed can heavily impact American society. American Dad depicts American family culture, because traditional families see norms being depicted on the show, it incorporates current trends, and society often depicts aspects from the

The 1950s is considered to be the model decade of America. Families were close, children respected their elders, workers worked hard to provide for their families who grew up in nice neighborhoods, and the economy was booming. The forced conformity, neglect of the poor, and segregation are often overlooked when talking about the decade as they were during the time period. The 1950s were a prodigious time period for family life but not for the individual or societal ethics.

A sitcom is a situational comedy, which is when the same setting and same characters appear in every episode. In terms of sitcoms much has changed between time and a good example of that is, I Love Lucy and The Simpsons. I Love Lucy first premiered in 1951 and for television viewers of the fifties; Lucy and Ricky could have been well known neighbors from down the street. Many people are able relate to this young couple, the Ricardo’s, who were experiencing the hard times and trails of marriage as typical Americans were. They lived in a brownstone in Manhattan with common struggles such as paying the rent and affording household materials. The humor and jokes came along when ordinary situations were amplified as Lucy managed to get herself into trouble time and time again, and