Nifty Fifties to the Twenty-First Century
Most of our grandparents remember the times of the fifties. A time of youthfulness, rebellion and rock and roll is what the fifties were all about. As the teenagers of the twenty first century start to grow up, and have families of their own, they will also remember what their youth was like, as did their grandparents. The teenagers of the fifties and the twenty-first century could be compared to day and night. The 1950's have come and gone, but it is not an era that will be forgotten, the teenagers of the twenty-first era will soon remember what it was like just as their grandparents are these days.
Rock and roll was a form of rebellion among teens in the fifties. Most parents saw Elvis Presley as the devil himself. Now, in the twenty first century we have half-naked Britney Spears parading all over the television and most parents could care less. Within a fifty year time span we went from bobby-socks to no socks and sometimes no shirts at all. In the fifties singing about blue suede shoes was somewhat controversial, although the teenagers now a days listen to lyrics that possess such terms as "I'm a slave for you", or "I want to rock your body", most parents usually just turn their heads. Although the lyrics that many teenagers now listen to are unacceptable, many people just turn their heads and accept the fact that they are teenagers, just as the parents of the fifties teens did.
The "D" word, meaning divorce was not a common thing of the 1950's. Most teenagers of the fifties had no such idea of what divorce even meant. As we develop more and more into the twenty-first century, teens are more adapt to a single parent surrounding. Very much unlike the fifties te...
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...egal paraphernalia. Although the illegal merchandise was out there and still is for both teens, the teens of the fifties did not have the technology to purchase the substances as easily as teens today now can.
Although the teens of the fabulous fifties have come and gone, the teens of today have stepped up to the plate to instill their own fashion trends, music, slang and history. The teens of the twenty-first are said to "be the future", although the future may not look too bright in some elders eyes. In contraire, that is what may have been thought to be said of the teens of the fifties. With their endless rock and roll and rebellion the teens of the fifties are very much different but very much the same of the teens in the twenty-first century. It is amazing to see what the world has become, from bobby socks and roadsters to mini skirts and vipers.
1. The sociocultural history of rock & roll during the 1950s created a metamorphosis of teenage mannerisms against the older generation. Shumway (118) emphasizes how the rock & roll periodization represses the nature of normal convention illustrated in “Blackboard Jungle”; through the deviant nature of boys against adults. The boys are malicious towards each other, sneering at one another just as Vince Everett did in “Jailhouse Rock”. While the post-war generation tried to discipline the baby boomers into their known demeanor, the recalcitrant teens rebelled against all means of adult intervention. Similarly Szatmary (50) expressed the generation gap between the baby-boomer and their parents fueled the fear of delinquency in their children. Shumway (125) refers to “Blackboard Jungle” to reiterate the essence of the song “Rock around the Clock” to define the conception of foreseen dangers of youth and the behaviors associated with rock & roll as a transformative cultural practice. In reference to the integration between African Americans and whites during the rock and roll era thr...
(Goldberg, 2004) The 1950’s was a decade of fear, but it was fear that came with hope that peace and prosperity should never be taken from the people again. A shift from families crowding around their radio trying to hear the news, they began sitting down in front of their television watching their favorite shows that only aired once a week on either CBS, ABC, or NBC. Richard Powers said, "There have always been inter-family conflicts between parents and their adolescent children, but this cultural division was larger.” (Powers) he went on to say “A significant proportion of the adult generation disapproved of the values and lifestyle of the teens, and was doing something about it, including setting new rules, restrictions and prohibitions.” (Powers). This quote ties directly into the movie. This decade had many ups and many downs. It launched the
Teenage life in Canada during the 1950’s is hard to understand unless having lived there. With this new demographic, many things had to be created in order to satisfy this demographic, such as clothing, music, rules, and schools. Unique aspects of teenage life in this era include a lot of rules, the movie theatre, rock n roll and the way they communicated to each other. Issues teenagers faces include marginalization, condemnation and disapproval. The new demographic helped Canada as it made the “children” demographic smaller, and it gave the teenagers more freedom, independence and they finally felt as they could have their own “stuff” as they would call their music, their clothes, their friends their social life etc.
This along with many other things had opened up the youths’ eyes about a near perfect generation and about love. Each generation after the 1960’s has been compared to that generation. Most generations are trying to rekindle those feelings brought around by the 1960’s. Unluckily it has brought around a resurgence of those hard drugs that remain prevalent in the 21st century now. The music has also had a resurgence that has brought around the Grateful Dead and bands influenced by them like Phish, Moe, and Acoustic Hooka. All generations wish to strive to be more like that age when things seemed golden or was it a flashback?
Teenagers in the 1950's are so iconic that, for some, they represent the last generation of innocence before it is "lost" in the sixties. When asked to imagine this lost group, images of bobbysoxers, letterman jackets, malt shops and sock hops come instantly to mind. Images like these are so classic, they, for a number of people, are "as American as apple pie." They are produced and perpetuated by the media, through films like Grease and Pleasantville and television shows like Happy Days, The Donna Reed Show, and Leave It to Beaver. Because of these entertainment forums, these images will continue to be a pop cultural symbol of the 1950's. After the second World War, teenagers became much more noticeable in America (Bailey 47). Their presence and existence became readily more apparent because they were granted more freedom than previous generations ever were.
Almost every generation criticizes the current adolescent generation due to the difference of historical perspectives. In response to this, I went out into the world and decided to interview someone of these older generations, Diane Partee Miller. Mrs. Miller is the age of seventy-five and is my maternal grandmother. She grew up in the small town of Evansport, which is located in the Northern part of Ohio. Mrs. Miller was an adolescent and primarily grew up in throughout the prime years of the 1950s. Differences between these generations is evident in classes taken in high school, social acceptance of dress, romantic relationships, and technology.
The coming of age theme is evident seen in the teenagers of the new generation. They were nothing like the traditional teenagers in the early 60s. Girls were not respecting their parents, girls' clothing were to over rated, girls choice of clothing were not appropriate to the older generation. Young girls did not worry if every man turned his head to look at them, for the clothes they had on. The older generation worked hard and put a lot of time in raising their younger girls up, to be respectful young
Rock and roll is a style of music that has roots traced all the way back to the 1800s. It is made up of jazz, blues, folk, country, and rhythm and blues. The rhythm and blues contribution to rock originated from the African American culture (??). Performers like Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, and Little Richard aided in the formation of rock and roll music. The generation that was highly impacted by this new sound was the baby booming population that arose after World War II ended. Black and white teenagers loved every aspect of rock and roll and listened to the music together at the staged concerts Alan Freed created. These young adolescents played a major role in the desegregation movements of the 1960’s and learned a great deal of information from their folk icons Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. This new form of music gave them new freedom, thoughts, and expression. Middle aged and older adults would say that the creation and evolution of rock and roll corrupted their children or the youth they saw on the streets. Many believed that rock and roll did not corrupt the young it revolutionized them. Rock and roll desegregated young African Americans and whites, it gave a new way for adolescents to express themselves, and it created a new way for the youth to be involved in social or political causes.
The ‘60s were the age of youth, as millions of children’s from post World War II became teenagers and rebelled against the conservative fifties. Denying civil rights to African-Americans and liberation to teenagers in previous decades and Vietnam War, created a vortexes which lead to massive rebellion against the status qua. Music of the 1960s was characteristic of the revolution that was going on during the decade. It was a time of rebellion and counter-culture in which the teenagers and college students were critical of government, business, religious institution and other various aspects of life. Era marked by civil rights movement, Vietnam War, environment of drug abuse and sexual freedom formed new music like: folk rock, soul and psychedelic rock. These genres starkly contrast the teen idol music of ‘50s pop mainstream. Writes John Covach; “World was exploding, and rock musicians were listening more closely than ever.”(Covach, 152) Such stark contrast in pop music directly relay to changing social culture in America, which further echo’s the relationship between music and culture.
The development of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the late 1940s and early 1950s by young African Americans coincided with a sensitive time in America. Civil rights movements were under way around the country as African Americans struggles to gain equal treatment and the same access to resources as their white neighbors. As courts began to vote in favor of integration, tensions between whites and blacks escalated. As the catchy rhythm of Rock ‘n’ Roll began to cross racial boundaries many whites began to feel threatened by the music, claiming its role in promoting integration. This became especially problematic as their youth became especially drawn to ...
“The ‘60’s was one of the first times the power of music was used by a generation to bind them together.” - Neil Young. In the ‘60’s, people had found a way to express themselves freely to a large audience and stand up for what they believe in through music. When chaos and protest clouded the public's eye from anything but violence and the propaganda of the government, music was a light to people in search of peace and helped to “bind them together”. The 1960’s was a decade of experimenting with music and pushing the social limits through expanding genres, expressing political views through music, and putting a new meaning to concerts with the first Woodstock.
A generation gap is a difference of opinions between one generation and another regarding beliefs, politics or values. The 60`s were full of historical events such as the civil rights movement, a war in Vietnam, women`s rights, and the JFK assassination. These events were all very influential to the youth of the decade, and the generational gap came to light when the younger generation began to go against everything their parents believed in, including music and government. In the short story “A&P” by John Updike, the main character experiences the chance of social acceptance and the challenge of making adolescent decisions. Updike depicts the generational gap of the 60`s and the beginnings of “breaking
Teens today do things a lot differently. Girls wear clothing that shows more skin. Guys wear oversized pants and oversized shirts. A lot of today's teens like to party, so some will get fake ID's so they can get into 21 and over clubs. Here, they can get alcohol easily. They can even get their hands on illegal drugs. Their taste in music is much different as well. There is a wide variety of styles now, many of which include, rock, pop, dance, R&B, and rap. Today's teens also have technology all around them. They can play video games, computer games, go on the internet, watch television and talk on their cell phones, while the teens of the forties could listen to the radio and talk on the phone.
The sixties was a decade of liberation and revolution, a time of great change and exciting exploration for the generations to come. It was a time of anti-war protests, free love, sit-ins, naked hippie chicks and mind-altering drugs. In big cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Paris, there was a passionate exchange of ideas, fiery protests against the Vietnam War, and a time for love, peace and equality. The coming together of like-minded people from around the world was spontaneous and unstoppable. This group of people, which included writers, musicians, thinkers and tokers, came to be known as the popular counterculture, better known as hippies. The dawning of the Age of Aquarius in the late sixties was more than just a musical orgy. It was a time of spiritual missions to fight for change and everything they believed in. Freedom, love, justice, equality and peace were at the very forefront of this movement (West, 2008). Some wore beads. Some had long hair. Some wore tie-dye and others wore turtle-neck sweaters. The Hippie generation was a wild bunch, to say the least, that opened the cookie jar of possibilities politically, sexually, spiritually and socially to forever be known as one of the most memorable social movements of all time (Hippie Generation, 2003).
“It was different in the USA, where wartime restrictions had been quickly removed, and where the new ‘consumer society’ was forging ahead – helped by new developments such as the start of the credit card system in 1950. But these differing conditions produced a similar effect on fashion both in Europe and America – a tendency to prefer the safe and normal, a veering away from the radical and extreme. ‘Normal’ felt good, especially with the memory of the war still so fresh in many people’s minds” (Baker 6). Fashion is an important aspect to people’s lives, and is influenced by various parts of society. Sometimes there are practical reasons behind certain fashion trends, but there are some trends that have no apparent origin or purpose. Fashion can also influence other parts of popular or high culture, including music. “Rock n’ roll,” the music of the 1950’s, displayed young people’s (17-25 year-olds) interest in clothes, as heard in such pop tracks as “White Sports Coat” and “Blue Suede Shoes” (Baker 12). Regardless of purpose or origin, “style [in the 1950’s] often meant super luxury, whether it was the use of lots of shiny chrome or lace, shimmering with sequins” (Baker 11). During the 1950’s, style was not only a portrayal of one’s sense of fashion – it was a portrayal of who you were.