Republican Dominance and its Opponents: Cultural challenge, 1981-1992

What was the most revolutionary technological development that laid the foundations of today’s technology-based pop culture?

* The personal computer.

In the 1950s, was the computer accessible to everyone?

* No!
* Computers were being used by bigger businesses but it wasn’t until 1981 that computers became accessible to ordinary people.

What was the first computer that was actually accessible to the general public?

* The IBM 5150 personal computer - it was slow and very basic but it was small enough to be used by ordinary people in their own homes.

How much did the IBM 5150 personal computer cost?

* $1600.

What was a cool feature of the IBM 5150?

* It could be linked up to the family television.

How much did the updated model of the IBM 5150 with a double diskette drive (to take two floppy disks) and printer sell for?

* $4000.

How did computers change by 1992?

* Other companies such as Apple entered the personal computer market.
* Floppy disks were supplemented for hard drives, dramatically increasing the computers memory.
* Personal computers allowed people to write and store text and data - they could also play early computer games such as ‘Ship of Doom’ released by Artic and ‘Arcadia’ by Imagine.

What games consoles and games became popular throughout the period?

* The Atari 2600 went on sale in 1977.
* ‘Space Invaders’ was hugely popular when it was released in 1980.
* ‘Pac-Man’ faced a similar fate on its release the same year.
* Initially, it was Atari and Mantel that dominated the market for game consoles but in 1985, Nintendo appeared and came to be a major player in the market.

How had computers and games consoles changed home entertainment?

* By 1992, home entertainment had acquired a new dimension beyond radio and television.

What was the biggest technological development in the music industry?

* The Compact Disc (CD).

When was the first CD player released and what was it?

* The first CD player was the Philips CD100, launched in 1982.

How much did CD players initially cost when they were first released?

* $1000 - as they entered a market that had been dominated by audio cassette tapes (and a declining market for vinyl).

Why did CD’s overtake the cassette tape and vinyls in popularity? Why was there a CD revolution?

* The sound quality of CDs far exceeded vinyl or cassette.
* When the cost of CDs dropped to rival audio cassette tapes, the CD revolution had began.

In 1984, how much money did the US music industry make on CD sales alone?

* Just over $100 million.

What was the first album and single released on CD?

* The first album to appear on CD was Billy Joel’s ‘52nd Street’.
* The first single released on CD was ‘The Visitors’ by ABBA.

How did the audio cassette evolve to exist alongside CDs?

* The development of the Walkman portable audio cassette player revolutionised where and when people could listen to music.
* It gave young people a completely new mobile way to listen to music.

When was the first Walkman launched?

* The first Walkman was launched by Sony in Japan in 1979.

What two pieces of evidence demonstrate the popularity of the Walkman?

* By 1989, 50 million Walkmans had been sold.
* The term Walkman appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1986.

How did household video entertainment change?

* The development of the video cassette and with it the video cassette player enabled people to watch recently released films, sporting events and music concerts in their own home.

Initially expensive and split between two delivery systems, who were those delivery systems?

* Betamax and VHS.

When did the video cassette take off and which delivery system outcompeted the other?

* In the 1980s, the video cassette took off and the VHS system began to dominate the market.

How much did a Betamax Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) cost in 1975 compared to a VHS VCR by 1987?

* A Betamax VCR cost $2000 in 1975.
* A VHS VCR cost $250 dollars by 1987, with a blank VHS videotape selling for just $5.

What was a downside of the development of the video cassette?

* The development led also to a growth of a lucrative pirate industry in videos.

Linked with the appearance of the video cassette and VCR, what other technology came about in the 1980s?

* In 1983, the first camcorder was released quickly replacing 8mm film home movie cameras.

What was the impact of the camcorder on people’s lives?

* The camcorder enabled individuals to make their own cassettes to be watched at home.
* It spawned a massive boom in amateur home movie-making which television series like ‘You’ve been framed’ have exploited ever since.

What is cable television?

* Television broadcast via an underground cable - cable television services are only available to those who have houses close to the cable.

What is satellite television?

* Television signals are relayed via satellites and are picked up through a satellite dish on the viewer’s house. The signal can be received almost anywhere.

What is terrestrial television?

* The earliest form of television broadcast. A large television aerial transmits and relays television signals, which are received through a television aerial on a house or on an individual television.

When did cable television first feature in American life?

* In 1972 - the first pay-TV network, Home Box Office (HBO) was launched.

What did HBO show?

* HBO originally showed Hollywood films.

Despite the first pay-TV network being launched in 1972, when did cable television become a major part of the American television industry?

* The 1980s.

What other type of television developed by the 1980s and what did this mean for American TV viewers?

* Satellite television came about.
* Both developments provided viewers with dozens of channels at a time when viewers in the UK could only access 4 channels.

How did Atlanta businessman R. E. ‘Ted’ Turner turn these developments to his advantage?

* Established a nationwide network called WTBS which provided up-to-the-minute sports news and classic movies.
* In 1980, he set up Cable Network News (CNN) which became a major rival to terrestrial networks ABC, CBS and NBC from 1983.

In the 1980s, what happened to the balance of terrestrial networks and cable networks?

* Terrestrial networks’ share of the television market fell while viewing figures for cable television rose from 9% to 26%.

How did Reagan speed up the downfall of terrestrial networks to cable television?

* Reagan appointed Mark Fowler as Head of the Federal Communications Commission from 1981-1987.
* Fowler wanted a more competitive television market, this goal was boosted by the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, which provided a favourable regulatory framework for the expansion of cable television.

How much money was spent on cable TV between 1984 and 1992?

* $15 billion were spent laying cable across the USA.
* Billions were spent on programme development.

By 1990, how popular was cable television?

* Nearly 53 million households had subscribed to cable television.
* The number of cable television networks had grown from 28 in 1980 to 79 in 1986.

What were the most important cable networks?

* CNN.
* C-SPAN (Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network).
* ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Network).
* MTV (Music Television).

When did MTV begin broadcasting?

* In 1981, MTV started broadcasting 24/7 music video entertainment.
* It was announced by the phrase ‘Ladies and gentlemen, rock’n’roll’.

What was the first music video shown on MTV?

* ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ by the Buggles.

What celebrities did MTV have a major part in making stars?

* Madonna and groups like Duran Duran.

How did MTV impact the music industry?

* To make it, music artists now had to produce a music video as a creative promotional tool for their records.

What major event was broadcast on MTV in 1983?

* Michael Jackson’s 14-minute video ‘Thriller’ was broadcast.
* Its broadcast on MTV made ‘Thriller’ a truly global phenomenon.

How much did Michael Jackson spend on the music video for ‘Thriller’?

* $500,000.

How much did MTV have to pay to broadcast his music video?

* $200,000.

MTV did not only show music videos, what else did MTV broadcast? Who was the intended audience of this media?

* By the late 1980s, MTV started to show non-video programmes geared towards the teenage and young adult market - such as reality series, ‘The Real World’ and cartoon programme ‘Beavis and Butthead’.
* Eventually, MTV would produce documentaries, game shows and public service campaigns on issues such as voting rights and safe sex.

When was AIDS first identified?

* AIDS was first identified in 1981.

How is AIDS transmitted, who was most at risk?

* AIDS is transmitted through sexual contact or reuse of contaminated hypodermic needles.
* This means that people with a variety of sexual partners and those who injected drugs were most at risk.

Why did AIDS cause considerable concern when it first came about?

* There was no known way of treating the condition successfully.
* Acquiring AIDS was virtually a death sentence.

By 1985, how many deaths had AIDS been responsible for?

* 5,600 deaths in the USA.

By 1989 (the year Reagan left office), how many AIDS cases and deaths were reported?

* Just above 80,000 cases were reported, around 46,000 of them had died.

Why did government reaction to AIDS attract considerable criticism?

* During his first term, Reagan did not order a study of AIDS nor did he make its prevention a high priority.
* It was not until the death of Rock Hudson, a film-star friend, in late 1985, that Reagan began paying attention to the problem.

How did Reagan manage the AIDS crisis in his second term?

* During Reagan’s second term, the federal government began devoting more substantial resources to AIDS.
* The Surgeon General of the USA, C. Everett Koop, said that by 1991 approx 79,000 Americans would have died from AIDS, and called for widespread sex education in schools.

What problems did Reagan face in terms of the AIDS crisis?

* A high proportion of AIDS sufferers were drug users and gay men.
* Many of Reagan’s supporters from the Moral Majority opposed the idea of helping these groups and the idea of sex education in public schools.

What were the opinions of the Religious Right on the AIDS crisis?

* Catholic conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly were opposed to the use of condoms as a way of preventing the spread of AIDS.
* Some people termed AIDS a ‘gay plague’ and reinforced conservative views against homosexuality held by individuals like Reverend Jerry Falwell.

How was Reagan’s problem further increased in 1986?

* In 1986, the US Supreme Court decided to uphold a Georgia state law outlawing gay sex in the case ‘Bowers v Hardwick’ - 24 other states had similar laws.
* These developments limited the ability of the federal government to act decisively in dealing with AIDS.

By 1987, what was Reagan’s stance on the AIDS crisis?

* By 1987, even Reagan was willing to state that AIDS was ‘public enemy number 1’.
* He made a speech to the American Foundation for AIDS Research in May 1987.

Who was Ryan White?

* 13-year-old Ryan White was a haemophiliac who contracted AIDS from an infected blood transfusion.
* He was ostracised from his home town in Kokomo, Indiana.

What happened in 1987 in regards to the AIDS crisis?

* 500,000 people staged a parade in New York City on Columbus Day, demanding better funding for AIDS research.

What piece of evidence demonstrates how divided the US was over the AIDS crisis?

* Nancy Reagan advocated the use of condoms to combat the spread of the condition, the president refused to endorse this approach.

What were the most popular television shows of the 1980s?

* Comedies, miniseries and soap operas were the most popular television shows of the 1980s.
* Television was mainly a method of escapism.
* However, a number of socially controversial topics did appear on US television and elicited considerable debate.

What happened in the made-for-television movie ‘The Day After’ (1983)?

* It dealt with the highly controversial topic of a nuclear holocaust in the USA and included very graphic scenes depicting the USA after a nuclear attack.

What impact did ‘The Day After’ have on the US?

* The movie appeared at the height of the Second Cold War and struck a chord with the American public.
* Reagan was always appalled by the prospect of nuclear war and ‘The Day After’ encouraged Reagan to support the Strategic Defence Initiative, also known as Star Wars - this was a plan to make nuclear war redundant by developing a defensive shield of space-borne missiles.

What was the television show ‘The Cosby Show’ (1984-1992) about?

* It starred black American actor Bill Cosby and described the life of a middle-class black American doctor and his family.
* The show mirrored shows about family life from the 50s and 60s (like ‘Father Knows Best’ and the ‘Dick Van Dyke Show’).

What happened in the television programme ‘Murphy Brown’ (1988-1998)? Why did it spark so much controversy?

* It showed the life of an ambitious single mother who worked at a news magazine.
* Dan Quayle, US Vice president from 1989-1993, claimed that the programme undermined family values by giving the impression that being an ambitious single mother was an acceptable role model for young women.

What two films demonstrate that Hollywood did address several important social issues?

* ‘Silkwood’ (1983) - starring Meryl Streep, followed a worker in a nuclear plant who gets radiation sickness.
* ‘Rainman’ (1988) - dealt with autism.

What films act as examples that the issue of race relations was dealt with in a number of films?

* ‘Cry Freedom’ (1987) - about the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
* ‘Mississippi Burning’ (1988) - dealt with the murder of white and black civil right activists during the ‘Freedom Summer’ of 1964 in Mississippi.
* ‘Boyz n the Hood’ (1991) - set in the gangland of South Central Los Angeles which was the scene of serious race riots in 1965 and again in 1992.
* ‘New Jack City’ (1991) - dealt with drug-taking and drug gangs in NYC.
* In 1992, black American director Spike Lee made a film of the life of Malcom X.

What other social issues were covered in film?

* Disability - ‘My Left Foot’ (1989) told the real life story of Christy Brown, a severely disabled Dublin slum-dweller who went on to be a successful novellist.
* LGBTQ+ - ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ (1985), released at the height of the AIDS crisis portrayed a gay man incarcerated in a Latin-American jail.

How did film influence the social issues of the 80s and 90s?

* The films about the varying social issues were popular amongst moviegoers and helped bring a wide range of social issues to public attention.