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Culture & Counterculture. In the 1960s. Early 60s Pop Culture. Early 60s culture , such as fashion and film, still looked very 50s. Traditional values emphasized; stereotypes around gender and race still seemed to prevail in many cases Early 60s music was the exception
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Culture &Counterculture In the 1960s
Early 60s Pop Culture • Early 60s culture, such as fashion and film, still looked very 50s. • Traditional values emphasized; stereotypes around gender and race still seemed to prevail in many cases • Early 60s music was the exception • subtle evolution in R&B away from blues and toward Motown and Soul (fuller sounds, more instrumentation, more melody and baseline variation) • By 1963 and 1964, both the “hippie” and “mod” fashions began to become more apparent • Mods (or modernists) • Bright colors, clean lines (even geometric-looking), very stylized, miniskirts
Television in the 1960s • Television came of age in the 1960s • Kennedy assassination (unifying national moment) • A great deal of live programming emerged • Americans were now having a mutual experience of their collective culture AND history – in real time! • T.V. was the platform on which Americans got to know one another and themselves, not only making it easier to spread awareness of important issues, but also making possible to develop a collective identity and national unity • People of color finally began to appear on television shows besides American Bandstand • New female characters began to appear (other than the homemaker/wife/mother role) • By 1963, Americans were watching an average of 4-5 hours of T.V. per day • Advertisers increased their grip on programming, and product placement on television proliferated
The Counterculture of the 1960’s • Counterculturewas a movement made up of mostly white, middle-class, high school and college-aged young people who were disillusioned with the war and injustices of society • Like the Beatniks before them, they rejected the materialism and consumerism that had flowered during the 1950s; sought creativity, originality and spirituality that they believed was missing from modern society • Members of the counterculture were known as “Hippies” • Youth were suddenly in the spotlight; America was watching everything they did; their activities, music, fashion, philosophy and culture were for the first time, more important and more relevant than that of their parents • The concept of the“Teenager” reaches full maturity!
Hippie Culture and Fashion • Rock ’n’ Roll, Folk Music • Sexual Revolution (Free Love, other expressions of sexuality outside of marriage) • Marijuana and LSD ( Recreational Drugs) • Eastern Religions (Zen Buddhism, Hare Krishna) • Jeans, tie-dyed garments, military garments, love beads, Native American and Asian jewelry and clothing styles • Long hair and beards • Many joined communes, renouncing private property • Haight-Asbury District of San Francisco a was major center for hippie culture and lifestyle • Casualness, permissiveness, and acceptance: “Do your own thing”
Music of the 1960’s • Coffeehouse culture of the beatniks gave rise to 60s folk music • Beat poets gave way to wholly original singer/songwriters like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Simon & Garfunkel, and Joni Mitchell • Folk music acquired a focus on political and social commentary during the 60s • British Invasion: music that grew out of African-American rhythm and blues of the 1950’s – the new Rock n’ Roll • The Beatles, The Animals, The Rolling Stones, The Who • These groups brought back the blues to mainstream America; it had survived in the black community, but in mainstream America, it had faded with the advent of Motown and Soul. The new Rock n’ Roll inspired a whole new generation of American musicians and groups: • The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead
The Conservative Response • The counterculture’s impact on mainstream America included a more casual approach to social and sexual behavior • A conservative backlash ensued, culminating in Nixon’s election • Nixon, Agnew and J. Edgar Hoover publicly expressed anger and concern over the counterculture and the threat to traditional values • Many conservatives saw the values of the counterculture as decadent, un-American, immature, and irresponsible • Conservatives presented their own solutions to the perceived “moral corruption”, and to what they perceived as “crime and lawlessness” (beginning of the “tough on crime” stance – response to 60s protest action)
