MACH Unit 4 Flashcards: The American Century and its Discontents

The American Century

The 1940s and 1950s, the end of WWII and the beginning of the Baby Boomer Generation

Lesley Gore (1946-2015)

Gained popularity in the 1960s, singer, daughter of WWII. Singer of “You Don’t Own Me” (1963), a song emphasizing emancipation as the singer tells a lover he cannot objectify here, song helped develop the second wave feminist movement

Donald J. Trump (1946-)

Current US president, born in the same year as Lesly Gore, is leading America into another crisis, like how the American Century was defined by Crisis

Wonder Woman (1941-)

The beginning of the female superhero, fought fascism, fought the Nazis

Glamour Girls of 1943 (1943)

Film that explained what women were doing in factories

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), “Rosie the Riveter” (1943), Rosie the Riveter (film) (1944)

Painter and illustrator, created the most famous version of Rosie the Riveter

Rosie the Riveter (1943)

Icon of the working woman, figure of wartime culture, referred to all women hired to work in factories, created to boost morale

“Sex Antagonism” (1913), “The War Between the Sexes” (1940s), “Sexual Politics” (1970)

Sexist cartoons, designed to push back against the increased role of women in society, demonstrated how the typical way of life was changing

Philip Wylie (1902-1971), “Momism” in Generation of Vipers (1942), Gladiator (1930)

Writer, wrote in response to women’s increased role during the war, featured misogyny in his work

Attack of the 50 ft. Woman (1958) and The Brain Eaters (1958)

Films to attack the increased role of women, claim they are destroying the world, dehumanization of women

Isabel Bishop (1902-1988), At the Noon Hour (1935)

Sketch depicting 2 women who are briefly liberated from their secretarial or sales desks

Joan Crawford (1906-1977), Our Modern Maidens (1929) and Mildred Pierce (1945)

the best example of the flapper, born in Texas, had a rough childhood, moved to Kansas City, career spanned 6 decades and a multitude of films, example of a star

George Hurrell (1904-1992)

Photographed Joan in her early career

Robert Frank (1924-2019)

Photographed Joan in her early career

James Rosenquist (1933-2017), Untitled (Joan Crawford Says…) (1964)

Painted Joan in her late career

Nathan Lyons (1974), Notations in Passing (1974)

Photographed Joan in her late career

Elizabeth Hawes (1903-1971)

Fashion designer, born into bourgeois family, wrote for magazine with Communist ties, worked with unions, leftwing, radical, specialized in ready to wear clothing, focused on how the secretary should dress

Esther Bubley (1921-1998), Photographs of Dissin’s Guest House in Washington, DC (1943)

Documentary photographer of women during the war years

Stella Dallas (1937)

Film, example of a maternal melodrama, conflict revolved around the kitchen

Butterfly McQueen (1911-1995)

American actress, often typecast as a maid, played prissy in Gone With the Wind

Billie Holiday (1915-1959), God Bless the Child (1941)

Song about dreams of independence, striving not to be a maid

Ginger Rogers (1911-1995)

Traditional “pin-up” girl, Republican, anti-Communist, starred as Jo in Tender Comrade

Tender Comrade (1943)

Radical film, featured upended gender relations, film showed women on the home front living communally while their husbands were away at war, idea that the war is more important than life, the soldier is the hero, subtle intervention of the state through radio and telegram

Madonna (1958-)

Queen of pop, style was a mashup from the Age of the CIO

A League of Their Own (1992)

Sports comedy drama film starring Madonna, tells a fictionalized account of the real life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League which occurred during WWII

Swing Shift (1984)

Romantic drama, WWII era, woman lead signs up to work in an armaments factory

Betty Friedan (1921-2006),The Feminine Mystique (1963)

Radical journalist, book was considered The Bible of the Second Wave of the Feminine Revolution

M.I.A, music video for “Bad Girls” (debuted on February 2, 2012)

Song exploring themes of social empowerment, “live fast die young, bad girls do it well”

Migration 1

African Americans migrated from the South to the North and West, occurred from the 1910s to the 1960s

Migration 2

Migration of “New Americans,” peasants from Eastern and Southern Europe migrated to the US from the 1880s to 1924

Citizen 13660 (1946)

Graphic novel about the internment of Japanese Americans, written and illustrated by Mine Okubo, real look into the camps, helped the public understand what happened in the camps and what it was like, people were forced to depend on the state for all basic needs, can draw comparisons to Tender Comrade which was released around this time, can also draw some comparisons to the Holocaust though it wasn’t on the same scale, showed the importance of community within the camps

The Sleepy Lagoon Case (1942)

12 Mexican-American youth were convicted of second degree murder despite insufficient evidence, contributed to the Zoot Suit Riots in which white Americans attacked people of color wearing zoot suits, created fear around the zoot suit

The Who (1964-)

British band, sang about the zoot suit in their song “Zoot Suit” (1964), youth looking back on WWII

The Zoot Suit

Invented by a Black man in Georgia, considered the first American suit, often worn by Mexican-Americans, cultural symbol, extravagant, excess fabric, sign of political messaging

Gordon Parks (1912-2006)

Black documentary photographer of the post-war era, photographed men in zoot suits

The Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee (1942-1945)

Fought for the release of the Mexican-American men convicted of murder in the Sleepy Lagoon Case, precursor to Zoot Suit Riots

Ralph Ellison (1914-1994), Invisible Man (1952)

Author, commented on the political meaning of the zoot suit in his book

Malcolm X (1925-1965)

African-American revolutionary, Muslim minister, civil rights activist, wore a zoot suit, understood the political messaging of clothing

Cesar Chavez (1927-1993)

American labor leader, civil rights activist, wore a zoot suit

Luis Valdez (1940), Zoot Suit (1978)

Playwright who turned the zoot suit into a Chicano birthright

Jitterbugs (1943)

Comic, jitterbug was a dance often done in the zoot suit

The Zoot Cat (1944)

Animation of zoot suit done in black face

War Production Board (1942-1945)

Issued guidelines on how to tailor clothing for women during the war to reduce fabric use

Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973)

Fashion designer credited with popularizing shoulder pads. Shoulder pads started with the 1930s, zoot suit, and new women trend. In essence, wearing shoulder pads is a reference to the zoot suiters

Ashley Montagu (1905-1999), Man’s Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race (1942)

A book about understanding race as a social construct, people are racialized

Gunnar Myrdal (1898-1987), An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (1944)

Book explaining how race is an American issue due to Jim Crow laws

Oliver Cromwell Cox (1901-1974), Caste, Class & Race (1948)

Book that looked at the relationship between capitalism and race. Capitalism operates under white supremacy

Common Ground (1940-1949)

Journal that introduced the idea of ethnicity, became a cultural way to differentiate people. Ethnicity determined language, food, clothes, and culture.

Carey McWilliams (1905-1980), Factories in the Field: The Story of Migratory Farm Labor in California (1939), Ill Fare the Land: Migrants and Migratory Labor in the United States (1942), North from Mexico: The Spanish-Speaking People of the US (1949)

Sociologist, communist, literary critics, author of books discussing the relationship between race and land, books focused on the path of the migrant

Bracero Program (1942-1964)

Allowed for imported labor of Mexicans (typically peasants and/or indigenous) in light of labor shortages, people were treated as animals and dehumanized

Carlos Bulosan (1913-1956), America Is in the Heart (1946)

Filipino migrant, wrote novel on migrant workers under the Bracero Program

The Indian Reorganization Act (“The Indian New Deal”) (1934)

Helped Native Americans regain their native lads through reservations, celebrated for its support of self-governance

Tonita Peña (1893-1949), Basket Dance (1932)

Indigenous painter, depicted Indigenous people doing a traditional basket dance

Joe Hilaria Herrera (1923-2001), Hummingbird (late 1940s), Eagle Dancer (late 1940s), Eagle and Rabbits (1950), and Untitled (1951)

Indigenous painter, modernist, used symbolism in his paintings to illustrate his roots

Japanese American Citizens League (1929-)

Asian-American civil rights charity, first to publish Lange’s photos of Japanese internment camps, Lange’s photographs of the relocation and internment of the Japanese have only resurfaced in recent decades

Mine Okubo (1912-2001), Trek (1942-1943), Citizen 13660 (1946)

Japanese-American, artist, used her drawinga to depict everyday life in Topaz, spent 2 years in 2 different internment camps, director of the literary magazine Trek (1942-1943), author and illustrator of Citizen 13660 (1946)

Hikaru Iwasaki (1923-2016)

Japanese-American photographer, held in an internment camp, layer worker for The War Relocation Authority, traveled to internment camps to photograph conditions of everyday life, highlighted the ways in which internees endured and thrived

The Shangri-Las (1963-1968)

American girl group of the 1960s, singers of “Leader of the Pack” (1964), a teenage tragedy song

Rosser Reeves (1910-1984), “Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands”

Mad man, pragmatist, idea that you need to emphasize realism and the physical content in advertising, coined “Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands” for M&Ms, famous for “less is more” meaning you can see 1 or 2 things, not 17

David Ogilvy (1911-1999), “The Man in the Hathaway Suit”

Mad man, the artist, treated advertising as a campaign, continuous, kept up his campaign of “The Man in the Hathaway Suit” for 25 years, came up with the image of white collar masculinity, gave the corporate man an air of intrigue

Leo Burnett (1891-1971) “The Marlboro Man”

Man man, the populist, addressed the masses instead of the individual, Kelloggs Cereal, Pillsbury, Marlboro Cigarettes, “The Marlboro Man”

Leonard Peltier (1944-)

Indigenous activist, imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, sentence communed to house arrest by Joe Biden

Incident at Ogala (1992)

Documentary directed by Robert Redford, rose awareness of the case of Leonard Peltier

Democracy Now (1996-)

TV program which acts as a news source, no ads, progressive. It documents social movements, struggles for justice, activism, and American foreign policy

Robert Redford (1936-) and the Sundance Film Festival (1978-) and the Sundance Institute (1981-)

Protest artist, actor, filmmaker, cares about indigenous issues, started the Sundance Film Festival and the Sundance Institute

Sundance Film Festival (1978-)

Largest festival for independent films in the US, created by Redford as a way to seize the means of production

Bruce Barton (1886-1967), BBDO (1928, originally 1919)

Founder of BBDO, utilized advertising to show that marketing was necessary for a company’s success

Henry Wallace (1888-1965), “Century of the Common Man” (1942)

VP under FDR, gave speeches about the common man, helped found the CIO-PAC, coined the term “Century of the Common Man”

CIO-PAC (1943-1955)

First ever political action committee, labor union

Charles Erwin Wilson (1890-1961), CEO of General Motors (1941-1953), US Secretary of Defense (1953-1957)

Said corporations are necessary for success

American Studies and Advertising

Advertising has always been a concern of those studying American Studies

Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), The Mechanical Bride (1951)

Book was a study of popular culture; treating newspapers, comics, and advertisements as poetic texts

David Potter (1910-1971), People of Plenty (1954)

Book on advertising

Mad Men

Men who figured out how to use advertising as an art form to persuade the masses

Reality in Advertising (1961), Confessions of an Advertising Man (1963)

Competing books on strategies for advertising

Marlboro Cigarettes (1920-)

Made popular through advertisements by Leo Burnett, The Marlboro Man was masculine, addressed the masses

Calling All Girls (1941-1949), Seventeen (1944-)

Magazines created to target teenage girls as the customer

Fredric Wertham (1895-1981), Seduction of the Innocent (1954)

Book, wrote about the shifts in norms of teenagers, teenagers as delinquents, teenagers as a new social phenomenon

James Dean (1931-1955), Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

Actor, emblem of the teenager, star

Eugene Gilbert (1926-?), Advertising and Marketing to Young People (1957)

Discovered the teenager as a market for advertisments

Benjamin Spock (1903-1998), Baby and Child Care (1946)

Wrote books on how to take care of babies, committed to supporting the lives of children of all races and nationalities, brought appreciation to the stages of life, fought to keep advertising out of his book and lost, fought to ensure a reprint of his book featured a group of racially diverse children

Harriet Pilpel (1911-1991)

Noted legal scholar, represented Benjamin Spock in court to keep advertising out of his book

Du Pont (1802-)

Company that sold plastics, specifically cellophane, created advertisements to convince the female consumer that cellophane would ease her workload. Sold Teflon non-stick pan, Teflon relied on toxic chemical C8, C8’s danger was evident in birth defects of babies

Elvis Presley (1935-1977)

American singer and actor, the original delinquent

Hot Rod (1943)

A motor vehicle specifically modified to give high power and speed

Previous definition: A criminal, a gangster

Lowrider (1940s)

A customized car with a lowered body that emerged among primarily Mexican-American youth. These cars were made illegal by the California legislature in 1958

Chuck Berry (1926-2017), “No Particular Place to Go” (1964)

Black singer, song was written in jail, was about independence when driving, as when you are driving you are in control of your car

Women Drivers

Problematic for many, seen as dangerous and bad drivers

Driving While Black

Many drove together for safety, arbitrary arrests often occurred, faced a variety of dangers and inconveniences while on the road

Interstate Highway Act of 1956

Connected the US through a national highway system, allowed the car to serve was the emblem of the American experience

Cars (2006)

Animated sports comedy film, demonstrates the influence of cars on American culture, contrasts with the image of cars and death by Robert Frank

Robert Frank (1924-)

Photographer, Swiss Jew, modernist, secured funding for photography through a foundation, traveled around the US to create his photo book The Americans

The Americans (1959)

Photo book containing 83 images taken across the US by Robert Frank, modernist photos, intentionally showed the US in an unprofessional way, dominated by road culture

Harley Earl (1893-1969), The Buick Y-Job (1938)

First product designer in the automobile industry, recruited by Sloan at General Motors, modeled tail fins, created the first concept car of the Buick Y-Job, focused on a new model every year to bring in more money

Car Craft (1953-), Hot Rod (1948-)

Magazines about modeling cars

Ron Aguirre (1937-2011)

Well known among car people, began detailing cars with no prior experience, amateur, developed technology to hit a switch to raise or lower a car, useful for low riders after California made them illegal

Ralph Nader (1934-), Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile (1965)

Book in which Nader argued for the use of seatbelts, leading Congress to mandate seatbelts due to the dangers of cars

Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Green Car Crash, Orange Car Crash (1963)

Painter, fascinated by images of car crashes, utilized repetition and distance in his prints to spread his message

Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008), Automobile Tire Print (1953)

Modernist, played with the car as a medium, created Automobile Tire Print with John Cage in 1953, raised question of ownership

Jack Kerouac (1922-1969), On the Road (1957)

Working class Canadian novelist. Author of On the Road (1957), which was emblematic of car culture and about the car