The 1950s Popular Culture

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The 1950s was a frantic decade during American history, WW2 just finished, the baby boomer generation just commenced, paranoia of the Communist conquer was rampant and racism was at its high especially in the southern parts of the US. Popular Culture or otherwise known as Pop Culture started during the 1950s in America. It brought to light other perspective and views of society that were considered radical and degenerate.

Popular Culture had many branches such as fashion, music and film where these ‘radical’ and ‘degenerate’ ideas were portrayed. Movie stars such as James Dean and Marlon Brando paved the way for many teenagers growing up during that period of time. The movie craze of teen rebellion introduced rock-n-roll and juvenile delinquency …show more content…
As stated, movie stars such as James Dean and Marlon Brando influenced teenage males and set a particular norm of which teenagers needed to acquire to be seen as ‘cool’ or ‘normal’. This persona was seen as degenerate and was frowned upon by the parents of these teenagers. This was felt because the teenagers (who were now the parents of the teenagers during the 1950s) back in the 30 's and 40 's had a completely different life because of the great depression.

Source 1. In Rebel without a Cause (1955), actor James Dean portrayed Jim Stark, a seventeen-year-old filled with anguish about his role in life. A sensitive but misunderstood young man, Stark muses that he wants “just one day when I wasn’t all confused . . . [when] I wasn’t ashamed of everything . . . [when] I felt I belonged some place.” After making only three films, James Dean died in a car crash, further enhancing his mystique among young …show more content…
Pulp literature (utopian and horror themes, sports and nurse novels, and contemporary science fiction); radio thrillers; TV horror movies: television evangelists; sitcoms; music (polka, country-western, blues, jazz, and rock 'n roll); comic strips (Krazy Kat, Dick Tracy, Zippy); women 's humour—these and other topics are given sensitive, detailed—sometimes humorous—attention. Paul Buhle 's essay, "The 1960s Meet the 1980s," discusses popular culture, drawing on a wide range of theory—the Frankfort School, art history, literary criticism, and social science approaches. Buhle argues for the importance of this scholarship as a way of understanding "that missed connection between the cultural promise of a richly diverse, democratic society and the reality at

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