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THE INFLUENCE OF POPULAR CULTURE AND NEWS MEDIA, 1917-80 - Coggle Diagram
THE INFLUENCE OF POPULAR CULTURE AND NEWS MEDIA, 1917-80
SOCIAL IMPACT OF CINEMA, 1917-45
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Types of movies-1920s:
- Big Hollywood studios (e.g. Warner Brothers) dominated movie-making.
- Focused more on romance, consumerism, and social harmony - which appealed to those who sought escape from the recent war, strikes, and Red Scare.
1920s- Social impact:
- Celebrities- reminded people that the American dream was alive e.g. impoverished people could gain fame and fortune as a movie star.
- Movies shaped viewpoints about poverty, labour, and gender. Radicals making movies about class-conflict were increasingly monitored.
- More middle/upper class people went to the movies, so movies became more conservative.
- Many movies reinforced the traditional role of women by showing women favouring careers over being housewives as unhappy.
- Older Americans convinced that movies were corrupting younger Americans e.g. flappers. Movies showing economically independent women.
- Some blamed Hollywood for rises in divorce rates and the rejection of traditional values by youth.
The Hays code- 1930:
- 1926 - 200 cities had censorship boards.
- Moviemakers wanted to avoid trouble because banned showings meant fewer customers.
- Hays code established in 1930: forbade films that might 'lower the moral standards' of audiences, such as nudity, or criminals.
- The hays code was established as a result of Hollywood fearing the loss of box office takings.
- Church groups and women's organisations thought the code was ineffective.
Movies during GD:
- Usually challenged traditional US values such as Frankenstein which showed the dangers of individualism.
- From 1934, Hollywood movies was subject to the censorship of the Production code administration (PCA), which basically enforced the hays code.
- The censors stopped any films that showed undesirable political or social comment.
- PCA was nervous about anti-capitalist sentiment in movies.
Wartime movies:
- After the US entered the war, Hollywood focused on films that would boost morale and increase national unity.
- Office of War Information ensured that nothing implying criticism of US society was shown.
Hollywood had characters representing many different ethnicities.
- Some movies (e.g. Bataan) emphasised that American strength came from diversity.
Hollywood and Communism:
- First red scare: several anti-communist films produced.
- Communists depicted negatively.
- When US entered WW1, Hollywood movies supported Americas allies , such as Russia. These movies were not popular.
SOCIAL IMPACT OF RADIO, 1917-45
1920s:
- Around half of the population had radios
- They were the cheapest form of entertainment, so were accessible to more people.
- Radio ads: promoted consumerism
- Radios could create celebrities e.g. Babe Ruth, whose baseball career occurred at the same time as the growth of radio.
- Rise of national networks (NBC) helped homogenise (unite) American popular culture.
-Speakers could make huge influence through radio. Such as 'radio priest' by Charles Coughlin, who attacked birth control, communism, and Hoover.
- Radio helped make sports such as baseball popular.
1933-45:
- Cheap entertainment.
- Radios offered an escape from the economic crisis.
- FDR used radio to communicate with the public and build a connection with them.
- FDR - fireside chats: reassurance that his measures would work, explained his policies.
- FDR's fireside chats were personable - they started with 'My Friends...'.
SOCIAL IMPACT OF MUSIC, 1917-45
1920s-Jazz:
- Introduced by black performers.
- Very popular amongst white performers and audiences.
- Jazz did little to improve race relations.
- Only white people were allowed in Harlem clubs to hear top jazz musicians.
- Socially conservative White Americans considered black music a corrupting force that was likely to lead to drug-taking.
- Conservative whites loathed dances associated with jazz such as the Charleston.
- As it was young Americans who especially liked jazz, many older Americans grew anxious.
Popular music, 1933-45:
- Music was the most important genre in broadcasting.
- Music could be heard on records at home, in movies, or on the radio.
- Music helped maintain wartime morale.
- 1941-47: United Service Overseas gave performances to 1.6 million military personnel.
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INFLUENCE OF BROADCAST NEWS, 1920-80
1950s:
- Televised news was sometimes influential.
- Daytime screenings of McCarthy hearings attracted as many as 20 million viewers and contributed to McCarthy's downfall.
- On-the-spot Tv reporting: for example little rock, showed black Americans trying to get past a white mob to get into the school shocked some northern whites.
- Newspapers helped promote McCarthyism.
- Korean war did not have televised reports.
1960s:
- Media coverage of protests and the Vietnam war affected public opinion.
- Coverage of the CRM helped change Northern whites' attitude to southern segregation, and contributed to the passage of the 1964 CR Act.
- Media coverage did not always promote a positive change in attitudes. Images of ghetto riots and MLK's Chicago campaign helped promote white backlash.
- Media gave hippies coverage out of proportion to the numbers of them, which helped convince some Americans that counterculture should be challenged. They covered about 10,000 hippy communes in the years 1965-75.
Vietnam:
- Many believe that the media's coverage of the war changed public attitudes from supporting the war to being against the war.
- During the Tet Offensive, American viewers saw footage of communists overrunning the South Vietnam capital, and the most trusted news reporter (Walter Cronkite) questioning what was going on. This confirmed people's fears.
- Some argue that media coverage of the Tet offensive was what convinced LBJ to halt the escalation.
1970s:
- Exposure of Watergate made Washington Post reporters national heroes.
- Watergate encouraged journalists to seek another career-making scandal.
- Some believed that US democracy was damaged by journalists because they disillusioned the electorate.
- Respect for presidents by the media was decreasing. E.g. Gerald Ford: media mocked him on many occasions.
- TV news programme '60 minutes' by CBS became the most successful programme in American history. It led the way in things such as hidden cameras.
- Female/gay activists were not convinced that media coverage impacted upon society, so they pressed for more representation. NOW campaigned for more women on tv.
- Coverage of Watergate hearings in the senate was vital in the change in public opinion about the presidency and the government.
Pre-1950s:
- Broadcast news became more popular than newspapers because it was quicker. A voice also made a deeper impression on the audience.
- Newspapers fought back, providing what radios couldn't: pictures.
- Radio news played an important part during the GD- reports of the stockmarket crisis fuelled fears about the falling share prices. This caused people to panic and sell their shares, making the situation worse.
- Radio also helped settle the crisis: FDR's fireside chats helped restore peoples confidence and trust in banks.
Carter:
- Media showed him in a positive light at first.
- But, once it became clear that his administration was managing policy-making and congress badly, the media began to withdraw support for Carter.