A N EW M ASS C ULTURE 20.4

O BJECTIVES Trace the reasons that leisure time increased during the 1920s. Analyze how the development of popular culture united Americans and created new activities and heros. Discuss the advancements of women in the 1920s. Analyze the concept of modernism and its impact on writers and painters in the 1920s.

K EY P ARTS New Trends in Popular Culture An Age of Heroes Women Assume New Roles Modernism in Art and Literature

I NTRODUCTION Read Section 20.4 Answer Critical Thinking Questions 4-5.

N EW T RENDS IN P OPULAR C ULTURE The automobile reshaped American culture, creating new forms of recreation and making it easier for people to travel. Also people in the cities work week went from 70 hours to 45 hours and their salaries increased. This gave Americans more time to do things just for fun.

C ONT. Americans began to go see motion pictures for fun. A handful of huge studios in Hollywood, California established monopolies that controlled the production, distribution, and exhibition of movies. This allowed the large studios to become extemeley wealthy in the 1920s and beyond.

C ONT.. The early theatres were very ornate and almost palace like in their design. Movie watching became one of the primary sources of entertainment for the 1920s pass time. In 1927 film history changed, suddenly and forever, with the release of The Jazz Singer, the first movie with sound synchronized to the action.

C ONT … Audiences were amazed by the films that now had sound incorporated into them. Like the movies the phonograph and the radio also became powerful instruments of mass pop culture. The Radio was invented by Gulielmo Marconi in the 1890s but it wasn’t until the Westinghouse company started a radio station, KDKA.

C ONT …. The radio stations was a huge success, within three years there were 600 radio stations broadcasting to more than 600,000 radio sets. Radios were able to bring distant events to people all across America. Also the radio allowed people to listen to the same music no matter where they were.

A N A GE OF H EROES Before the 1920s there were not really any nationally famous sports athletes. This began to change in the 1920s, thanks to increased newspaper readership and the rise of radio coverage, every major sport boasted nationally famous performers. During this time the most famous were Babe Ruth, Red Grange, Jack Dempsey, Bobby Jones and Bill Tilden.

C ONT. This time period was called the Golden Age of Sports. The way the athletes played, the quality of sportswriters and announcers and the over all need of Heroes after WWI was needed in the form of entertainment for Americans. The sports heroes of the 1920s gave Americans a sense of hope for their lofty dreams. Also Aviation was on the rise and Charles Lindbergh became a hero by flying across the Atlantic Ocean by himself to Paris (33hours long)

W OMEN A SSUME N EW R OLES Women began to change in the 1920s, even the way they dressed. Women began wearing shorter dresses and more make-up, and shorter hair. These women were called Flappers. Women begin to make strides in the 1920s, the first women governor’s were appointed in Wyoming and Texas. (Nellie Ross, Miriam Ferguson)

C ONT. Women began working in jobs such as; journalism, banking, aviation, medical, and legal proffessions. The increase in household appliances helped women get work done faster at home so that they were able to do other jobs outside the home.

M ODERNISM IN A RT AND L ITERATURE The way novelist began to write after WWI changed. They began to experiment with new forms and fresh ideas. Sigmund Freud contributed to literary and artistic modernism. Freud argued that much of human behavior is driven not by rational thought but by unconscious desires.

C ONT. Modernism and Traditionalism clashed in the realm of art. Traditionalist would often paint representational art depicting real life or the details of an occurrence. Modernist art would often take an abstract approach trying to use fresh visual idioms. This began in Europe and moved to the United States after a Major Art show in New York in the 20s

C ONT.. Post war American literature begins to take off as well, this group of writers are often referred to as the “lost generation” of writers. This was because they no longer had faith in the cultural guideposts of the Victorian era. Some of the most famous during this time were F. Scott Fitzgerald (Great Gatsby), Ernest Hemingway (Farewell to Arms).