Pop Culture In The 1930's

The 1930’s were a period riddled by economic depression, dubbed the “Great Depression”, the economic mishaps of the 1930’s leaked out into affecting every facet of society, even the pop culture. The troublesome economics of the 30’s were overlooked by pop culture, as it deliberately used exaggerations and optimism to distract people from the reality of recession; while pop culture candidly documented political America in the 30’s, in which people were in search of a political hero. Bridled by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 in New York City, Americans needed an outlet from their economic struggles; thus Pop Culture in the 1930’s displayed this struggle, but often alluded to the much-needed optimism that people truly desired in such an economically …show more content…
The economic struggles of the 1930’s left the biggest influence on political debates, and in the film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), a young man takes on a governmental apprenticeship to address several political ideas. The American people have understood for a long period of time the various corruptions within government and shorty before the release of the film, the people saw this first hand as President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the “court packing” scandal, in which he tried to force his trusted men into powerful governmental positions. Corruptions like these frustrated Americans and the movie became a hit and landed as the #7 film of the decade, largely because the issue was current and intrigued the public. The frustrated public wanted to see a political figure who made a positive impact and did it the right way and for that reason, many people were intrigued by the fictional Mr. Smith, who faced corruption head-on in a young, strong and patriotic tone. Around the same time, a new type of hero appeared in pop culture with the release of Action Comics #1 and its feature character, Superman. In the Golden Era of Comics, came Superman who was depicted as a dazzling mental and physical specimen who fought rime such as, corrupt businessmen, bank robbers, embezzlers. Although fictional, Superman became the figure for doing everything that people began to wish the government would have done during a time of disaster. This explained the rise to popularity of the Superman character as the character was quickly purchased by the top comic company in the 30’s, DC Comics (Kistler). Even with the success of characters like Mr. Smith and Superman, politics wasn 't addressed heavily in the music scene as very few