Constructing a Culture
Introduction
Adults created a network of resources and tools to coerce and disseminate their concocted standard of upstanding American youth.
Post-World War II life had changed as GI’s returned home to begin families, and the rise of the middle-class began with the creation of suburbanization in the early 1950s.[1] This changing landscape promoted homogenization, blandness and conformity.[2] Furthermore, American post-war life gave rise to a new class of people: teenagers.
Despite the growing terror spreading across the American landscape, teenagers were viewed as a "threat" that could be controlled. Film and print media attempted to constrain teenagers by using different modes of educational material. Informational sources such as The Journal on Audio-Visual Learning and Educational Screen: The Audio-Visual Magazine aimed at disseminating information and promoting conformist ideology to educators, who in turn, cultivated and circulated "idealist" dogma upon their students, American teenagers. Across America, teens were "tuning in" to films created by production agencies such as Cornet. During this same moment, magazines such as LIFE circulated photo-essays concerning the new group and acted as an agent of culture to the public using multidimensional images. The hope was that the image would "speak louder than words" and further impress white, bourgeois ideals upon the impressionable youth.
Adults created a network of resources and tools to coerce and disseminate their concocted standard of upstanding American youth.
Post-World War II life had changed as GI’s returned home to begin families, and the rise of the middle-class began with the creation of suburbanization in the early 1950s.[1] This changing landscape promoted homogenization, blandness and conformity.[2] Furthermore, American post-war life gave rise to a new class of people: teenagers.
Despite the growing terror spreading across the American landscape, teenagers were viewed as a "threat" that could be controlled. Film and print media attempted to constrain teenagers by using different modes of educational material. Informational sources such as The Journal on Audio-Visual Learning and Educational Screen: The Audio-Visual Magazine aimed at disseminating information and promoting conformist ideology to educators, who in turn, cultivated and circulated "idealist" dogma upon their students, American teenagers. Across America, teens were "tuning in" to films created by production agencies such as Cornet. During this same moment, magazines such as LIFE circulated photo-essays concerning the new group and acted as an agent of culture to the public using multidimensional images. The hope was that the image would "speak louder than words" and further impress white, bourgeois ideals upon the impressionable youth.
How to Use "Constructing a Culture"
Our project allows for users to navigate and access information through several methods. Although the site was designed to be linear in fashion, users are invited to move throughout the site in whichever manner you choose.
First, you may choose to follow the prescribed path by clicking on the "Begin with..." button at the bottom of the page, which will take you to the first page of the chapter. By clicking on the "Continue to..." button located at the bottom of each page, you will be taken through the chapter linearly. Feel free to move back and forth between the pages.
You can navigate through the entire content of the book by hovering over the small menu icon
in the upper left corner of any page. At any given page you may see navigation icons that take you further through a path or that enable you to jump from one intersecting path to another.
You are invited to search the collection using your own key words, simply click the magnifying glass
above to open the search dialog box.
Welcome into "Constructing a Culture," we hope that you enjoy the site, and we welcome any feedback.
First, you may choose to follow the prescribed path by clicking on the "Begin with..." button at the bottom of the page, which will take you to the first page of the chapter. By clicking on the "Continue to..." button located at the bottom of each page, you will be taken through the chapter linearly. Feel free to move back and forth between the pages.
You can navigate through the entire content of the book by hovering over the small menu icon
in the upper left corner of any page. At any given page you may see navigation icons that take you further through a path or that enable you to jump from one intersecting path to another.You are invited to search the collection using your own key words, simply click the magnifying glass
above to open the search dialog box.Welcome into "Constructing a Culture," we hope that you enjoy the site, and we welcome any feedback.
[1] Donald Miller, “Program 23: The Fifties/From War to Normalcy,” Video, Fred Barzyk (2000; WGBH Education Foundation.), Online Video.https://www.learner.org/series/biographyofamerica/prog23/transcript/index.html.
[2] S. Mintz & S. McNeil, “The Cold War,” Digital History, Retrieved (January 7,2016)
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3401.
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3401.
This page has paths:
Contents of this path:
This page references:
- Motor Scooter Fun
- The Changing Style of Fashion
- Saturday Night Dance Party
- Students in Mrs. Orin's Class
- Teen-Age Girls: They Live in a Wonderful World of their Own
- Teen-Age Boys: Faced with war, they are just the same as they have always been
- Democracy vs Communism
- Mrs. Orin Facing School Board Screenshot
- Chores: It's a Girl Thing
- Feminine, Frilly, Full-Skirted Finery
- Bored Kids
- FILM "Projector"
