Cold War Cold War CultureCulture

How did atomic bomb, McCarthyism, and consensus affect American

culture and social life?

Postwar Dissent &Postwar Dissent &NonconformityNonconformity

Working Outside the Box?

CONFORMITY

Ralston Crawford, Tour of Inspection, Bikini, 1946

Jackson Pollock, Convergence, 1952

Jackson Pollock, No. 1, 1949

Jackson Pollock, No. 1, 1950

Jackson Pollock, No. 31, 1950

Jackson Pollock, Blue Poles, 1952

Jackson Pollock, No. 8, 1949

Jackson Pollock, No. 8 (detail), 1949

Jackson Pollock VideosJackson Pollock Videos• MOMA short video: “The Painting Techniques of

Jackson Pollock: One: Number 31, 1950”• SFMOMA short video: “Jackson Pollock on His

Process”• Longer version of SFMOMA: Hans Namuth’s

Jackson Pollock 51 (1951, 10 minutes)

Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942

William Garnett, Grading, Lakewood, California, 1950

William Garnett, Trenching, Lakewood, California, 1950

William Garnett, Foundations and Slabs, Lakewood, California, 1950

William Garnett, Framing, Lakewood, California, 1950

William Garnett, Finished Housing, Lakewood, California, 1950

1950s Horror Films1950s Horror Films

The FlyThe Fly, 1958, 1958

Link: Film Trailer

ThemThem, 1954, 1954

Link: Film Trailer

Outer Space AnxietiesOuter Space Anxieties• Sputnik, 1957

Horror Films, the Atom Bomb, Horror Films, the Atom Bomb,

and the Environmentand the Environment• Common themes in 1950s horror films?

Gender RolesGender RolesDissent and Nonconformity: Women, Domesticity, and

Work

June Cleaver or Not?June Cleaver or Not?

• Conventional Message: Domesticity = Appropriate Gender Roles = Safety = National Security = “The Homeland”

• Contestation of Conventionso Domestic role conformist or

empowering? – using maternal role to protest Civil Defense Drills in NYC

o Working outside the homeo Women in Civil Rights

Movemento Beat women, bad girlso Feminism

Traditions:Victorian Gender Roles

John Singer SargentVideo

J.S.S. Video #2

1950s Gender Roles1950s Gender Roles• Father Knows Best• John Wayne and movie westerns• “A Word to the Wives,” 1955• “Leave It to Roll-Oh,” 1940• “Why Study Home Economics,” 1955• “Are You Popular?” (1947)

Gender Roles in Yates’sGender Roles in Yates’s

Revolutionary RoadRevolutionary Road??• Women• Men

Betty Friedan, Betty Friedan, The The Feminine MystiqueFeminine Mystique, ,

19631963

• Link to Chapter 1• Article on Friedan and FM, The Atlantic Monthly• Another article, The New Yorker

Link: Film Trailer

Link: Film Trailer

Dissent – The BeatsDissent – The Beats• Kerouac, On the Road• Ginsberg, Howl, America, Supermarket in

CA [audio recordings]• Ferlinghetti, I Am Waiting• Ferlinghetti, Sometime During Eternity• Ferlinghetti, Constantly Risking Absurdity

• Playful, tongue-in-cheek style• Using popular culture, consumer culture, and elite

culture symbols and language in subversive ways• Subversive politics, sexuality, lifestyles

Dissent – The BeatsDissent – The Beats

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Sometime Sometime

During EternityDuring Eternity, 1958, 1958• Lawrence Ferlinghetti, "[Sometime During Eternity]"

(1958) •• Sometime during eternity• some guys show up• and one of them• who shows up real late• is a kind of carpenter• from some square-type place• like Galilee• and he starts wailing• and claiming he is hip• to who made heaven• and earth• and that the cat• who really laid it on us• is his Dad

Ferlinghetti (cont.)Ferlinghetti (cont.)

• And moreover• he adds• It's all write down• on some scroll-type parchments• which some henchmen• leave lying around the Dead Sea somewheres• a long time ago• and which you won't even find• for a coupla thousand years or so• or at least for• nineteen hundred and fortyseven• of them• to be exact• and even then• nobody really believes them • or me• for that matter•

Ferlinghetti (cont.)Ferlinghetti (cont.)

• You're hot• they tell him• And they cool him• They stretch him on the Tree to cool• And everybody after that• is always making models• of this Tree• with Him hung up• and always crooning His name• and calling Him to come down• and sit in• on their combo• as if he is the king cat• who's got to blow• or they can't quite make it• Only he don't come down• from His Tree

Ferlinghetti (cont.)Ferlinghetti (cont.)• Him just hang there• on His Tree• looking real Petered out• and real cool• and also• according to a roundup• of late world news• from the usual unreliable sources• real dead

ConclusionsConclusions• Total conformity?

Conclusions (cont.)Conclusions (cont.)