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Cold War Culture

Cold War Culture. How did atomic bomb, McCarthyism, and consensus affect American culture and social life?. Postwar Dissent & Nonconformity. Working Outside the Box?. CONFORMITY. Ralston Crawford, Tour of Inspection, Bikini, 1946. Jackson Pollock, Convergence, 1952.

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Cold War Culture

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  1. Cold War Culture How did atomic bomb, McCarthyism, and consensus affect American culture and social life?

  2. Postwar Dissent &Nonconformity Working Outside the Box? CONFORMITY

  3. Ralston Crawford, Tour of Inspection, Bikini, 1946

  4. Jackson Pollock, Convergence, 1952

  5. Jackson Pollock, No. 1, 1949

  6. Jackson Pollock, No. 1, 1950

  7. Jackson Pollock, No. 31, 1950

  8. Jackson Pollock, Blue Poles, 1952

  9. Jackson Pollock, No. 8, 1949

  10. Jackson Pollock, No. 8 (detail), 1949

  11. Jackson Pollock Videos • MOMA short video: “The Painting Techniques of Jackson Pollock: One: Number 31, 1950” • SFMOMA short video: “Jackson Pollock on His Process” • Longer version of SFMOMA: Hans Namuth’s Jackson Pollock 51 (1951, 10 minutes)

  12. Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942

  13. William Garnett, Grading, Lakewood, California, 1950

  14. William Garnett, Trenching, Lakewood, California, 1950

  15. William Garnett, Foundations and Slabs, Lakewood, California, 1950

  16. William Garnett, Framing, Lakewood, California, 1950

  17. William Garnett, Finished Housing, Lakewood, California, 1950

  18. 1950s Horror Films

  19. The Fly, 1958

  20. Link: Film Trailer

  21. Them, 1954 Link: Film Trailer

  22. Outer Space Anxieties • Sputnik, 1957

  23. Horror Films, the Atom Bomb, and the Environment • Common themes in 1950s horror films?

  24. Gender Roles Dissent and Nonconformity: Women, Domesticity, and Work

  25. June Cleaveror Not? • Conventional Message: Domesticity = Appropriate Gender Roles = Safety = National Security = “The Homeland” • Contestation of Conventions • Domestic role conformist or empowering? – using maternal role to protest Civil Defense Drills in NYC • Working outside the home • Women in Civil Rights Movement • Beat women, bad girls • Feminism

  26. Traditions: Victorian Gender Roles John Singer Sargent Video J.S.S. Video #2

  27. 1950s Gender Roles • Father Knows Best • John Wayne and movie westerns • “A Word to the Wives,” 1955 • “Leave It to Roll-Oh,” 1940 • “Why Study Home Economics,” 1955 • “Are You Popular?” (1947)

  28. Gender Roles in Yates’sRevolutionary Road? • Men • Women

  29. Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, 1963 • Link to Chapter 1 • Article on Friedan and FM, The Atlantic Monthly • Another article, The New Yorker

  30. Link: Film Trailer

  31. Link: Film Trailer

  32. Dissent – The Beats • Kerouac, On the Road • Ginsberg, Howl, America, Supermarket in CA [audio recordings] • Ferlinghetti, I Am Waiting • Ferlinghetti, Sometime During Eternity • Ferlinghetti, Constantly Risking Absurdity

  33. Dissent – The Beats • Playful, tongue-in-cheek style • Using popular culture, consumer culture, and elite culture symbols and language in subversive ways • Subversive politics, sexuality, lifestyles

  34. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Sometime During Eternity, 1958 • Lawrence Ferlinghetti, "[Sometime During Eternity]" (1958) • Sometime during eternity • some guys show up • and one of them • who shows up real late • is a kind of carpenter • from some square-type place • like Galilee • and he starts wailing • and claiming he is hip • to who made heaven • and earth • and that the cat • who really laid it on us • is his Dad

  35. Ferlinghetti (cont.) • And moreover • he adds • It's all write down • on some scroll-type parchments • which some henchmen • leave lying around the Dead Sea somewheres • a long time ago • and which you won't even find • for a coupla thousand years or so • or at least for • nineteen hundred and fortyseven • of them • to be exact • and even then • nobody really believes them • or me • for that matter

  36. Ferlinghetti (cont.) • You're hot • they tell him • And they cool him • They stretch him on the Tree to cool • And everybody after that • is always making models • of this Tree • with Him hung up • and always crooning His name • and calling Him to come down • and sit in • on their combo • as if he is the king cat • who's got to blow • or they can't quite make it • Only he don't come down • from His Tree

  37. Ferlinghetti (cont.) • Him just hang there • on His Tree • looking real Petered out • and real cool • and also • according to a roundup • of late world news • from the usual unreliable sources • real dead

  38. Conclusions • Total conformity?

  39. Conclusions (cont.)

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