Cultural and Intellectual Trends Chapter 9 Section 4

A. Culture: Radio and Movies Inventions in 19 th Century started a revolution in mass communication Marconi transmitted radio signal across the Atlantic Radio broadcasting facilities sprang up across the world Motion picture camera emerged in 1890s After WWI, full length movies began to appear The American film Birth of a Nation was the U.S.’s first blockbuster By 1939, 40% of adults went to the movies once a week Hitler said without automobiles, sound films, and radios, the Nazism would never have grown Radios and movies were used to spread propaganda

B. Mass Leisure After WWI, work patterns provided people with more leisure time By 1920, the 8-hour workday had become normal for most workers People began to spend their leisure time going to sporting events and other activities People traveled a lot due to trains, buses, and cars Nazis began to offer activities for the working class to fill their time –Concerts, operas, films, and vacations

C. Artistic and Literary Trends After WWI, people were shocked by human behavior Many thought humans to be nothing more than animals, incapable of producing a rational world Dada Art –Artists obsessed w/ the idea that life has no purpose –Revolted by the “insanity of life” –Artist Hannah Hoch used Photomontage to comment on women’s roles in mass culture –Her work was part of the first Dada show in Berlin

After 1918, Abstract Art especially Surrealism became popular -this sought art sought reality beyond the material world by portraying odd and sometimes scary pictures Salvador Dali was the most famous surreal artist He painted everyday things out of context Architecture also changed after the war Modernism emerged in which buildings were created that united function and technology Writers at the time also wrote about the unconscious

D. The Heroic Age of Physics During the 1920s, physicists realized that an atom could be split German phyisicist Werner Heisenberg came up with what he called the Uncertainty Principle This said that all physical laws are based on uncertainty and randomness This challenged the old theories that said physical laws were based on certainty