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Module 4: The Many American Modernism(s) and beyond - Coggle Diagram
Module 4: The Many American Modernism(s) and beyond
Contextualization
from World War I through the 1920s and into the 1930s
World War I - Contexts and Impacts
decisive change in political self-construction of U.S.
Domestic: progressivism was put on hold, new period of reaction and conservatism was ushered in
American nationalism
Collective mentality:
affirmations of central and traditional American ideologies
American sense of mission, American claims to a special role in and for the World
The idea to be the perfect society itself
The City upon a Hill
Woodrow Wilson
Declaration of War on Germany of April 1917
14 points of January 1980
expressed American interests, values, visions
making the world safe for democracy, the crusade for democracy
Generation of people who felt lost and disappointed
The Lost Generation
Henry Ethmay? called the years between 1912-1917 the "End of American Innocence
1920s: A time of Paradox and tensions
The rawring/golden/jazzey/modern times twenties are not just single good feelings, but also FULL of TENSIONS and different forces
Tension between progress and reaction, liberalism and tolerance and reactionary xenophobia
belief in technological improvement and a fear of social problems arising from it
between internationalisation and provincionalism
economic prosperity > culture of consumption
electronic goods
new jobs and more income
technological innovation, mobility
mass media and celebrity culture
urbanization
redefinition of role of woman/flapper
by mid 1920s
60% of all American homes were wired with electrical power
phone became available on a large scale basis
merged into a communication society
electrical household appliances like refrigerator, vakuum cleaners, washing machines changed the American home and its organization
American society became a mobile society
1920: 8 million passenger cars
1930: 23 million passenger cars
Entertainment culture, celebrity culture
new jobs, new roles, new expectations
radio shows
early age of hollywood movies
sound was introduced to film
Steamboat Willie(Mickey Mouse with sound for the first time)
1928: Disney produced the first sound clip with Mickey Mouse
the rise of sports, magazines and commercials
mass culture and entertainment
Time of urbanization and continued cultural pluralization
Urban population outnumbered rural population
1920s: Redefinition of roles and images of women (19th Amendment) etc.
Time of sexual liberation in the context of modern psychology
women become more independent
image of new woman/flapper develops
self-confident, independent, sophisticated, portrayed with particular symbols (cigarettes, short skirts, sports, bobbed hair, driving cars, make up,
cigarettes the "tortures of freedom"
Racism and xenophobia
Also time of traditionalism, conservatism, racism
immigration restrictions climax in 1924 national origins act
restricts immigration and privileges immigration from north European protestant countries
KKK, White Supremacy
was refounded in 1915 after had been resolved in the 1870s (officially)
Griffith,
Birth of a Nation
(1915)
propagates highly racist and white supremacist perspectives
contributed to the second founding of the KKK
Antisemitism
Traceable even in Fitzgerald's and Hemingway's works
prohibition of alcohol
rise of organized crime in America
brutalization of urban spaces
illegal bars that served alcohol
particular space of the 1920s
also period of religious fundamentalism and economic conservatism
1930s: Great Depression and New Deal: Social & Economic Crisis
1929: stock market crash
one of the deepest crises of American ideologies in American history
helplessness of the individual American
challenged the very foundation of America and its' people
collapse of banking system
5500 banks closed, without returning the savings to the people
1929: 3% unemployment VS. -> 1932: 25% unemployment (=13 mill. people)
mass poverty and homelessness
growth of cities began to slow down
Hungry people wating in line for food..
Dorothea Lange "Migrant Mother." (1936)
effects and consequences:
loss of hope
a deep crisis for society
a drop in birth rates
movement from eastern industrialized to mid-western/western agricultural states (California etc.)
worsening of the situation for women
deterioration of race relations, especially in the south
1932: Watershed elections
FDR landslide victory
bold persistent experimentation
relied on emotional, personal message of hope, optimism and confidence
"The only thing we have to fear is fear"
"THE NEW DEAL"
reformation of American politics
government intervention and responsibility on all levels and areas
turn away from the emphasis on the individual