A New Mass Culture

What new trends became popular? More and more students attended high school which created more educated Americans Technology was beginning to connect different types of people With technology and educated Americans, news media grew The phonograph and the radio helped draw people from different backgrounds into a culture that listened to the same music

The phonograph also allowed people to learn the dances such as the fox trot and the Charleston As the radio improved, it became the best form of communication across large populations

Leisure patterns changed as work hours decreased and wages rose  mostly occurred in growing cities Silent films became popular so going to the movies trended  Charlie Chaplin The birth of modern cinema happened in the 1920’s with the creation of “talkies”  The Jazz Singer (1927) People had many activities they enjoyed  dance marathons and attending sporting events

What was the age of Heroes? With the growth of national media, via radio, superstars became the rage and millions of Americans adorned these “superheroes” Sports stars, such as Babe Ruth, became popular due to radio broadcasts and sports writers like Damn Runyon The most popular person in America during the 1920’s was Charles Lindberg Made the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic in his plane the Spirit of St. Louis

What Roles did women play in the 1920’s? As women began to gain their independence and trail away from the norms of the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, they changed the way women were viewed Women were more liberated and showed it by wearing shorter dresses, wearing more makeup, having short hair  flappers Flappers smoked, drank in public, talked openly about sex, and danced to the latest crazes Double standards still existed like men having greater sexual freedom than women

Women actively pushed to be seen as equals  played sports, drove cars, attended college, voted Massive employment opportunities were provided by WWI and women tried to stay employed after the end of the war Margaret Sanger advocated for birth control and the U.S. saw a decrease in the birthrate during the 20’s Women in rural areas still existed in a culture where they were expected to run the household and bear children for their husbands Showed a distinct split between urban and rural Americans

How did Art and Literature Change? Austrian psychologist, Sigmund Freud, argued that human behavior was driven by unconscious desires rather than rational thought Led many writers and artists to explore the subconscious mind Writers of the 1920’s strayed away from the expression of progress depicted from the Victorian Era  the “Lost Generation” Led to skeptical worldviews in their works  modernism

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about the reality of the American dream of wealth, success, and emotional fulfillment He wrote The Great Gatsby that showed the American dream ending in a nightmare Sinclair Lewis ridiculed Americans for their conformity and materialism Ernest Hemingway became the most famous writer of the 1920’s with his books A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises  criticized the glorification of war

Paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe and Edward Hopper demonstrated the modernism style of painting that included various forms George Gershwin brought together jazz and classical music to create a new American music genre