“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. America was full of prosperities and disillusions that were bounded tight together. There was a fine line that was slowly dividing society into two parts: an accustomed …show more content…
The first scene begins with a bar overview, where the main character is smoking a cigarette, trying to come up with an original idea for advertising a “Lucky Strike” tobacco company. There was not a scene where a cigarette was not lighted up. Everybody smoked – women and men, before and after sex, in elevators, at work, during business meetings and doctor’s sessions. Smoking was a trend that symbolized power, wealth, and fashion. 1960 s was a time when everything can be sold, just by doing it in a correct and memorable way. Advertisement companies achieved a phenomenal success by linking market products with emotions and feelings. Being smart, sarcastic and have a non-ordinary sight on things will make anyone a sought-after in the Madison Avenue world. Don Draper is that person, he has the power of creating unforgettable and effective advertising campaigns for his clients. He had to create a slogan for a tobacco company despite the raising awareness of bad health problems that are linked to smoking. He effectively deals with his mission, even though he was concerned earlier as he struggled with ideas. Still, business is an ocean full of sharks, a junior executive Pete Campbell, arrogant and insecure, shadows Draper and willing to take a turn for Don’s position right after he
The early 1960’s to mid 1970s was the start of the counterculture of youth culture. During the 1960’s, there were revolutions including a sexual revolution, a cultural/ racial revolution, a rights revolution, and student revolutions. In addition to revolutions, there also a focus on the transition to adulthood, popularity, consumption, anxiety, and the media. However the movie, American Graffiti, which was set in the 1962 (1960s)–before the peak of 1960’s counterculture–and released in 1973 (1970’s) displays an environment more focused on the anxiety of transitioning to adulthood, dating, and consumerism--music and cars. American Graffiti compared to the set and release dates share similarities with the counterculture, but are depicted in
As World War Two came to a close, a new American culture was developing all across the United States. Families were moving away from crowded cities into spacious suburban towns to help create a better life for them during and after the baby boom of the post-war era. Teenagers were starting to become independent by listing to their own music and not wearing the same style of clothing as their parents. Aside from the progress of society that was made during this time period, many people still did not discuss controversial issues such as divorce and sexual relations between young people. While many historians regard the 1950s as a time of true conservatism at its finest, it could really be considered a time of true progression in the
Many people inaccurately assess the 1950s and 1960s. Historians, in particular, tend to describe the 1950s as a decade of prosperity and the 1960s as one of turbulence. According to most, peace and harmony defined the 50s while violence and protest conjured the 60s. This isn't true because controversy existed in the fifties, many achievements occurred in the sixties, and both decades had its political ups and downs. With all the criticism surrounding it, the 1960s remains one of the most controversial decades in American history.
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.
The 1960s was, undoubtedly, a very eventful period which saw dramatically changed social norms over the decade and, ultimately, attitudes were very different by 1969 then they were in 1961. The year 1960 saw the decolonisation of Africa when British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan announced his “Winds of Change Speech” to the parliament of South Africa. The post war government also believed that they had eradicated poverty with their welfare system, and though this was true for some families across the country, who were able to buy the first car, fridges and washing machines, this was not the case for everyone. Wages were still very low and gaps between social classes began to broaden, increasing tension and bring about extreme socialism and
Australian popular culture in the 1960s had multiple features, many of which were influenced by the social changes and counter culture at the time. The primary aspects of Australian popular culture in the 1960s were; music, fashion, film, sport and television.
Conrad Phillip Kottak has visited the small village of Arembepe numerous times over the years. His visits were frequent, but spaced out over a couple years, which caused him to begin to notice some very dramatic changes from the Arembepe he came to know. The development of a more stratified society caused for some major changes coming to the small community. This essay is going to address the major cultural changes from the 1960’s to the 1980’s and whether or not the suburbanization of this village community was good or bad.
The 1960’s was a period of America enriched of political and social tension that included issues regarding the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement the Vietnam War, race, gender, the Vietnam war, and sexual orientation. During this era, the Baby Boomer generation sought out to challenge the status quo of the current government policy by protesting against these issues. From hippies to teddy boys, they opposed the existing conditions in the United States that have emerged as contentious reasons to warrant public outcry. Amidst this conflict, when John F. Kennedy (who ran against Republican Richard Nixon) was inaugurated as the 35th president of the United States on January 20th, 1961 he delivered his “call to action” speech. With carefully
Throughout history people have always had different ideologies about society. During the 1960's this statement is evident. Some people wanted to stop the war in Vietnam, while others wanted to stay in the war. In today's society, American citizens argue over money, how parents should take care of their kids, and the government controlling people's lives. If we go back twenty years to the 1990's the same problems are there. Chris McCandless was one such person that did not agree with everything that society threw at him including money and family. He liked his life at home and loved his parents, but he felt something was missing from what he wanted. The way his family plays into society just does not agree with him. So he leaves home, goes on
Ever since Thomas Edison invented the Kinetiscope in 1894, films have been reaching its way to the heart of American culture. Since the roaring twenties, where the United States began to see the first movie theaters to the 1960’s, where films are officially a source of leisure and escape from reality. Films influenced American culture between the 1920’s through 1960’s by becoming an increasingly popular form of leisure for years to come while causing scandals, riots, and movements about films or about the idea of films in general by displaying issues in society such as racism, forming a need for censorship laws. Films have also provided a fantasy world for their audiences by showing a film about someone in their perfect life using ethical
The seventies is often seen as a lost decade, merged between the optimistic sixties and the opportunistic eighties. Bruce J. Schulman argues, in his book titled, “The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture”, that this period ignores changes brought by the 1970s. This period brought changes in the economy, shifts in culture, politics, race, family and religious values. The United States faced many transformations that helped shape our country to this day. Schulman begins to explain his thesis, “The Seventies transformed American economic and cultural life as much as, if not more than, the revolutions in manners and morals of the 1920s and the 1960s.” The information that I will present will summarize the changes that affected the United
When World War II ended most countries began to progress and prosper. Of these many countries, the United States was ready to take on new challenges that lied ahead and eventually become one of the most powerful countries on Earth. Popular Culture and Mass Media had a tremendous impact on people’s lives during the 1950’s which shaped the way that the United States is today. Popular culture and mass media affected the television, the average American family, teenagers, and people involved in the red scare.
With the end of World War II, the suburbs became a new home to a large influx of people. This caused transfiguration of American culture. The Great Depression and World War II changed the way many Americans viewed things. In the middle decades of the twentieth century, postwar suburban growth changed California. Ethnic and societal grouping dynamics shifted, freeway and housing development took off and old businesses started to vanish as new business opportunities flourished.
To some people the 1960s were the best of times, to others it was a
Popular Culture in Britain at the Beginning of the 1960s In this essay I will describe the key features of popular culture in Britain at the beginning of the 1960s. In the late 40-50s, life was drab, uniform and restrained. People generally had a low standard of living as a result of the Second World War. This was formally known as austerity.