How does the film explain the development of the "middle class" n the mid-20th century? What conditions saw the improved standard of living for many working class people? What contradictions existed at the same time?…
When adapting a well-known and loved play into a movie, the adaptor must keep in mind how the audience will react to a new version of a beloved story. An example of this is A Raisin in the Sun, which was adapted into a movie in 2008. Lorraine Hansberry wrote the original play and Paris Qualles adapted that play into a TV movie. The main themes of the story are family, faith, and hope. Following the narrative of a lower-class family living in Chicago in 1959, the play deals with racial tension, family issues, the journey from childhood to adulthood, and how each individual person impacts others around them, within the family unit and out in the world. Some minor issues with the play were resolved in the movie, such as the role of women and how they did not seem to have lives outside of the apartment. The 2008 movie adaptation stayed true to the original framework of the play while enriching the story for a modern audience.…
Introduction Historical background In the postwar decade of 1950s, progress in all social aspects filled the United States. The economy boomed from the huge success of the automobile industry and the expansion of middle class, pushing consumerism into the spotlight of Western society. Population increased significantly, resulting in a generation of “baby boomers”. Cold War against Soviet Union, while pushing forward rapid technological developments due to the space race, brought along many other underlying influences to the American society, such as the Red Scare and McCarthyism.…
racism were very much present in the American society. The film tells the story of a…
Since the 1940’s, there has been a mass movement by Americans to live in the suburbs. They were searching for a sense of security, community, and open space that the city lacked. Suburbia was the answer to America’s discontent. It promoted the ideal community; with less crime and congestion. Suburbanites wanted to raise their families away from the cities in a wholesome, controlled, idealistic neighborhood. Suburbia became this romanticized idea.…
The movie showed instances of gender stereotyping most strongly. Starting with the women characters, there is a laundry list of notable instances, but I will only name a few. We can start with Azteca, Z's friend and fellow "worker". While Z is a typical male who is competitive and wants to move up in the world, Azteca maintains a somewhat "typical" female response. Instead of encouraging him, she tells Z to just smile, and happily accept his place, even if it is an awful life where he is to literally digging ditches his whole life. This example simply highlight the stereotype that women can, in effect, be "yes men", the phrase further illustrating the perception of weakness in females. Another time when this theme appeared was when the Queen was talking to her daughter, who was, in an old-school sort of way, betrothed to a man not of her choosing, the general. While the daughter complained, the Queen simply urged her to be complacent, and accept her fate, because it is "the best thing for everyone". Another instance, and one which I found particularly hilarious, was the woman wasp(no coincidence there, of course). When Z and the princess were in trouble, she insisted to her husband that he help them, because it was the humanitarian thing to do. It was presented in such a way that harkened to the proverbial housewife image, whereby the…
Following World War II America saw an extreme decade of both conformity and nonconformity. A strong post-war economy meant there was money to spend. Settling down, raising a family, and owning a home were the established goals of the American dream. Many tried to attain the ideal family depicted on TV shows such as Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best. Deviating from this popular culture was the "Beat Generation."…
The years following the second Great War are know as a period of culture consensus. The 1950s were characterized as a time of prosperity, due to the number of Americans who moved to the newly developed suburbs while under the comfort of a growing economy. As well, America's national identity began to change from an isolationist outlook on the world to a hard-line Cold War advict. This change made many writers and intellects switch to a writing style that focused on defending the United States and the freedoms it stood for. At the same time, a growing number of critics found the widespread conformity to be an evil to America’s health as a nation. From the expansion of the consumer economy, uniform communities, and corporate bureaucrats,…
Changes in society have always been shot down by Adults of the era as “Stupid” or “unnecessary”. Some fads that were viewed as inane by Adults of the era included: Telephone Booth Stuffing, or when several college students would squeeze themselves into a telephone booth until no one else could fit inside. As well as the infamous “Panty Raid” where around 600 male students at Michigan University had bombarded into the women’s dormitory and confiscated hundreds of pairs of underwear. The acts weren’t popular to the adults at the time so they had believed that this was completely an incompetent thing to do. These adults weren’t born into this so they had to either change their ways or, as most adults do stick with what they had liked growing up such as stickball or Swing dancing, or even swallowing live goldfish which were very far off from what teenagers of the era had viewed as…
Conformity became evident through the medium of culture, society, and politics throughout the era of the 1950’s. The country was in such fear of Communism, that President Truman led the government in a revolt against any who claimed to be a Communist in the American government. Again, due to fear of being ostracized, Eisenhower, the proceeding president, was reluctant to confront McCarythism. The Red Scare of the 1950’s was thriving and the presidents waged war against foreign Communist powers in order not be accused of being…
How well do you know the 1950s? The 1950s was the beginning of major things changing, from the way war is fought to the integration of sports and life itself. Even though war and segregation has been around for a huge part of history things were changing soon.…
Another reason to travel to the city of the 50’s is the extensive art museums and collections thriving. Suburban Life: Have you ever wanted to take back the city life and enjoy some peace and quiet with others like yourself then the suburbs of the 1950’s is the place for you. The suburbs were places of conformity where everyone dressed lived and decorated the same this is nice for people who live in large cities to get away for awhile just be careful you memorize your address because all the houses look the…
America went through many social changes with the American Revolution and industrial revolution. During the 1920’s, the face of America began to change more into an urban society. Many differences between the rural and urban sides of America emerged. Historians consider the tensions of the 1920s as a backlash against the rising urban America, which turns out true. Rural people believed that the city lacked morals. The urban city dwellers lashed back saying that rural residents did not understand the technology of modern times.…
Question 1 Response: The decade of the 1950s might be considered to be a tale of two Americas or even a paradox for various reasons. Even though this time period can been seen as a decade of prosperity with the freedom of consumer choice, ethnic minorities were excluded. This decade was a time of confidence and a time of fear. The United State believed that they could do whatever; for example end poverty and prevent the revolution on communism in other countries. Even though Americans were confident they knew that there was still a cold war going on. During this time period school had to regularly practice taking cover against atomic attacks. The 1950s was also a time were America was prospering but still felt at an unease. Eisenhower was the president during this period of prosperity. The economy was prospering and liked by Americans because workers had more disposable income than ever before. This seemed to benefit everyone but there were not enough family-wage jobs for all of the African American and Latino workers. Many Mexican Americans were still farm laborers and worked in sweatshops. Minorities always resulted affected by the changes in industrial jobs and the shift of jobs to suburban areas that were isolated from their neighborhoods. The unemployment for the blacks was twice of the whites; this frustrated many African Americans and other minorities. During the fifties Americans were turning to religion but also to materialism. Eisenhower advocated churchgoing to remedy Communism. The percent of people attending church increased. But spending habits were also increased. With new highways, malls, and cars people were beginning to spend more and becoming materialistic. They would buy fast food, T.V.s and many other items that they had never owned before. But with all of this whites withdrew to minimize contact with people of other races. The Brown v. Board of Education opened up a new civil rights movement that impacted the sixties…
John Stahl’s 1945 ‘Leave Her to Heaven’ is a beautiful and intelligent example of classic Hollywood cinema that transcends the bounds of storytelling and offers something not only narratively captivating, but deeply meaningful. The film does not shy away from making interesting social commentary. At the time it was produced in the United States in 1945, the very fabric of American society was changing rapidly. Through the advent of consumerist advertising and the unprecedented necessity for them to work, women began to question their place in this quickly evolving culture.…