Transcript Traditionalism v. Modernism in the 1920s

Liberal Youth Culture in
the Roaring Twenties
Essential Question: What cultural conflicts arose
in 1920s America? What role did the emergence of a
new liberal youth culture play in these conflicts?
Urban v. Rural America
1920s: first time US population is more urban than rural
Urban – city (New York City is an urban area)
Urban Life: movies, concerts, speakeasies, museums, good wages
(more freedom and change)
Rural – countryside (farmers live in rural areas)
Rural Life: farming, less $, more traditional, more religious (less
freedom and change)
Urban stereotypes about rural Americans: they are stodgy,
backwards, and need to be more open to changing views
Rural stereotypes about urban Americans: they lack morals
and family values, they are materialistic, and fickle
Traditionalism v. Modernism
Traditionalism – the belief that it is usually best to keep
things the way they are
Traditionalists in the 1920s often…
Lived in rural areas and favored religion over science
Favored prohibition and found jazz and flapper culture distasteful
Viewed material culture and new technology as damaging to society
Modernism– the belief that it is often best to try new ways
of doing things
Modernists in the 1920s often…
Lived in urban areas and favored science over religion
Disliked prohibition and found jazz and flapper culture exciting
Viewed material culture and new technology as representing progress
Youth v. the Older Generation
Youth
Cars, music, dances, dating (for fun, not just to marry), radio
“Flappers” – women who wore their hair short, colored it, and
wore short dresses and make-up
Men often dressed as Rudolph Valentino’s “Sheik” character
Older Generation
Often viewed youth culture as reckless and immoral
Tried to control behavior in clothing, movies, books, etc.
Even some young writers and intellectuals believed this
new society was cold, materialistic, and impersonal without opportunities for personal fulfillment
Ernest Hemingway’s novel, A
Farewell to Arms, tells about his
generation’s contempt for war and its
desire to move on from it
F. Scott Fitzgerald explores the
shallowness of the youth culture in
novels like The Great Gatsby and
The Other Side of Paradise
“The parties were bigger… the pace was
faster… the shows were broader, the
buildings were higher, the morals were
looser and the liquor was cheaper.”
-F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tales
of the Jazz Age (1922)
Anything Goes
Who were these wild young women?
How could you recognise them?
Why did people disagree about them?
Origins
In 1920, Frances Marion produced a movie called "The Flapper.” Other movies
using the flapper name and image followed. Young women in America and Europe
adopted this new look and attitude. Prohibition created a gray area between the
law-abiding citizens and those who had a disdain for authority. The work of writers
such as F. Scott Fitzgerald also helped to popularize this new “look” for women.
Behavior
Flappers behaved quite differently than their mothers. They took jobs outside the
home and danced in provocative ways. They smoked cigarettes, rode bicycles, and
drove cars. They drank alcohol openly and dated anyone and everyone, which was
very uncommon for the time period. They flirted and went out all the time.
The musical innovation of the decade!
Started in New Orleans with African rhythms
and songs, followed the Mississippi to
northern cities
Both black and white music lovers frequented
nightclubs to hear Louis Armstrong, Duke
Ellington, Billie Holiday and others
18th Amendment
The Volstead Act
Prohibits manufacture,
transport, and sale of
all liquor after January
16, 1920
was enacted by
Congress to ensure
the proper
enforcement of
Prohibition
There was a place in America during Prohibition, where people
gathered to drink and dance and forget their woes.
Would-be customers were often met at the door of an unmarked
building by steely eyes peering through a small slot.
Once inside, these ordinary folks carried on with reckless
abandon and rubbed shoulders with notorious gangsters like Al
Capone and John Dillinger.
They called this place a speakeasy.