Rapid Changes During the Jazz Age

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Conflict covered the world in the early 1900s during WWI. After four long years of fighting treaties were signed. Following Armistice Day a new era began. New ideas and trends swept over the world after WWI in the era called the Jazz Age.
During the Jazz Age, Paris became the center of the artistic movement. Artists of all sorts from every corner of the globe traveled to Paris. Ernest Hemingway was there during this time, and his life in 1920s Paris is documented in his memoir A Moveable Feast. Along with Hemingway, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, and Cole Porter were all prominent figures in the artistic movement in the Jazz Age (Weber). Gertrude Stein hosted gatherings of numerous now-acclaimed artists and critiqued their works. The works of that renowned clique have transcended the Jazz Age and are still relevant today (Ellis and Esler 524).
Paris may have been at the forefront of the artistic movement during the Jazz Age, but Paris was definitely not the only place that was changing during this period. Japan was undergoing amazing cultural changes in a very short period of time. While the Japanese military was focused on creating a larger empire, the people of Japan were still transitioning out of the intense cultural isolation that they were kept in. The Jazz Age was a time when western influences were being melded together with the already present eastern influences. Jazz entered into society, but was slightly altered into “Japanese Jazz” to appeal to the Japanese audience. Jazz still influences the culture today with modern takes on the music like the band the Seatbelts. Acclaimed animator Shinichiro Watanabe is heavily influenced by this style of music. The traditional Japanes...

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.... 2004. Web.
5 Feb. 2014.
Berger, Joseph. “Decoding Woody Allen’s ‘Midnight in Paris’.” The New York Times.
27 May 1011. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
Cibulski, Earline. Personal interview. 21 Feb. 2014.
Coyne, Amanda. “Museum exhibit reveals an unusual place where the Jazz Age thrived- Japan.” The State. 5 Feb. 2014. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
Dirks, Tim. “The Pre-Talkies and the Silent Era.” np. nd. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
Ellis, Elizabeth, and Anthony Esler. World History The Modern Era. 1st Ed.
Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. Print.
Rosenberg, Jennifer. “Prohibition.” About.com. nd. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
Weber, Nicholas. “ ‘The Jazz Age in France’: Tender Was the Night.” The New York Times. 5 Dec. 2004. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.

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