“Bye Bye Birdie”, a musical by Michael Stewart is about a vastly known rock star, Conrad Birdie, who gets drafted by the army, causing a frantic ruckus within his fan base. The news of him being drafted spreads far and wide and though his fans march against it, there is nothing they can do. Meanwhile, a struggling songwriter whose song was supposed to be featured in Birdies upcoming movie, begins to plunge into a frenzy, since this feature was supposed to be his rise to fame, in a way. Seeing that he will no longer have a song in Birdies movie, Rosa, Alberts lover and longtime girlfriend, goes on a mission to somehow give him the break he deserves. Thus, she plans and plans and eventually she devises an idea. Albert will write a song
Most people equate 1960’s American culture with an idealistic view that it was all peace signs, “flower power”, and the old adage of “sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll”. While in some aspects that was true, especially in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco where the Hippie Counter Culture Movement began, many people also forget that there was a much darker side to this period of history. According to Walsh (2010), the 1960’s “was a decade of extremes, of transformational change and bizarre contrasts: flower children and assassins, idealism and alienation, rebellion and backlash. For Many in the massive post-World War II baby boomer generation… it was the best of time and the
In the mid 20th century intriguing drama directed by Dennis Hopper, Easy Rider, we were drawn back to 1969 to shed light on the influences of drugs, sex, and culture as the characters began to question the American system in this counterculture movement. The counterculture movement provoked an alternative lifestyle that came about during the Vietnam War. The tensions following the protests of human inequalities embodying racial segregation and the frustration faced with the draft system resulted in not only the Civil Rights Movement, but the counterculture movement as well. This film, Easy Rider, helped to formulate and to transition over to the New Hollywood era, or also referred to as the American New Wave.
Other cultural changes she experienced during her lifetime were deemed as ‘counterculture’. The counterculture was a significant factor in the fall of the American consensus as new ethos of rebellion and individuality caused youth to embrace the flawed Volkswagen and for Rock-and-Roll rebels to become more mainstream (American Yawp Ch. 27, 2017). While Ms. Hampton did not participate in the change due to her new marriage and raising children, she stated that she tolerated the new cultural wave because moving forward was the only option. However, not everyone shared her tolerance as the 1970’s witnessed the struggle to once again compartmentalize society by evoking simpler times with songs like “Okie from Muskogee” (American Yawp Ch. 28, 2017).
One of my favorite movies that taught me the most about the roles of women in the United States is Pleasantville directed by Gary Ross. The 1950s and 60s have always been an interesting time period within women’s history for me. In that time period, women were homemakers where their job would be to cook, clean, and take care of their families. It is so interesting to me because that is not at all how my family life is now. Pleasantville depicts the life of women in that era by telling the story of two teens who are brought into the world of Pleasantville where they take on the roles of Bud and Mary Sue Parker. In this world, everything is black and white and their lives are seen as “perfect” family. Nothin ever went wrong in Pleasantville,
The Hippie Movement changed the politics and the culture in America in the 1960s. When the nineteen fifties turned into the nineteen sixties, not much had changed, people were still extremely patriotic, the society of America seemed to work together, and the youth of America did not have much to worry about, except for how fast their car went or what kind of outfit they should wear to the Prom. After 1963, things started to slowly change in how America viewed its politics, culture, and social beliefs, and the group that was in charge of this change seemed to be the youth of America. The Civil Rights Movement, President Kennedy’s death, new music, the birth control pill, the growing illegal drug market, and
Women were now being portrayed as powerful, unpredictable, and possessing a mysterious sexual power, which they used to elude male control. The 1960’s also brought with it his tensions that resulted the escalating war in Vietnam, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, black ghettos going up in flames, the women’s liberation movement, the youth anti-war rebellion and free love theme, and the Civil Rights movement. It was safe to say that the American public had violence on its mind and the movie industry capitalized on the public’s apprehensions.
The “hippies” of the 1960s had many effects on the American society. The visual appearance and lifestyle of the hippies were in sharp contrast to the conservative nature of the older generation, which defined them as a counterculture. The hippie lifestyle was based on free love, rock music, shared property, and drug experimentation. They introduced a new perspective on drugs, freedom of expression, appearance, music, attitudes toward work, and held a much more liberal political view than mainstream society.
The theme of struggling with identity, present in all three of the abovementioned films, is significant in characterizing the popular views of young women. In The Breakfast Club (1985), one of the leading characters, Claire Standish, is a spoiled, prim, popular princess at first glance. As the film progresses, the 1980’s cultural construction of young women begins to appear and as Claire comes forward with her sensitivity, stresses, and struggles she begins to rebel against the rules of detention by smoking marijuana in the school library and by kissing the “bad boy” that is serving detention with her. Claire’s rebellion reflects the adolescent angst present in the 1980s possibly caused by teenagers’ subjection to new music, more drug use and being further informed about diseases such as HIV and
During this research I learned that many of Ms. Taylor films of the 50’s 60’s were clearly trying to send out a message of how the popular mass was eager to hear and in the 60’s people were ready to act in order to bring about change. The new baby boomers were ready to set the world on light speed and change our society at ultra accelerated speed.
The 1960s was crammed full of many impacting events and important figures. From Hitchcock releasing one of the greatest thrillers of all time, Psycho, to Marilyn Monroe’s untimely death, to the infamous Woodstock festival. This era changed history completely and made the United States think twice about its youth. Events of the 1960s are still impacting our country as we know it today. The sudden pull from the conservative ‘50s changed America’s views on all aspects of life, including fashion, entertainment, and lifestyles.
The film is centered on a group known as the Women’s Army. It is a group comprised of women who seek to eradicate the ever-present inequalities between males and females. They end up going on marches, networking with different radio shows and meeting together in order to find ways to educate women and the general public about the hypocritical nature of the government and its role in the social and economic status of women. In the beginning of the film we see men catcalling women as they walk down the street, harassing them while riding the subways, and even attempting to rape them in broad daylight. This highlights the impact of societies ideology about gender
Feminist ideas are used throughout this story in both explicit and implicit ways to help describe the gender roles placed upon females in the 1950s. “That figure was a garish blond showgirl, a Hollywood ‘sexpot’ of no interest to intellectuals”. (Page 79) The author explicitly includes the
The Sixties, by Terry H. Anderson, takes the reader on a journey through one of the most turbulent decades in American life. Beginning with the crew-cut conformity of 1950s Cold War culture and ending with the transition into the uneasy '70s, Anderson notes the rise of an idealistic generation of baby boomers, widespread social activism, and revolutionary counterculture. Anderson explores the rapidly shifting mood of the country with the optimism during the Kennedy years, the liberal advances of Johnson's "Great Society," and the growing conflict over Vietnam that nearly tore America apart. The book also navigates through different themes regarding the decade's different currents of social change; including the anti-war movement, the civil
The film’s treatment of gender and sexuality connects to the time in which the film was based in and also made in. Grease connects to the 1950’s because of its relevance with the release of Playboy in 1953 (Playboy History). Playboy conveys the idea that sexually mischievous women are better than women who are not with their explicit media. Grease also connects to the 1970’s because of the feminist movement in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The Civil Rights Act was also passed in 1964, which was intended to prevent employment discrimination of race, religion, and sex (The 1960s-70s American Feminist Movement: Breaking Down Barriers for Women). In the film, women seem to have a bit more power than they are thought to have. For example, bad Sandy is able to assert sexual power over Danny at the end of the film. The producers of the film were able to connect elements from the 1950’s to the 1970’s.