America: Opportunity and Inequality - Social and Cultural Developments Flashcards
1
Q
why was the 1920s often referred to as the age of ‘Wonderful Nonsense’?
A
- the 1920s was a decade of having fun and enjoying loud music, wild parties and new forms of entertainment
- millions became hooked on a complicated Chinese board game called mahjong before crosswords became all the rage
- when the crossword craze died out, marathon dancing and pole-sitting became popular
- people would see how long they could dance without stopping or how long they could sit on top of a pole without falling off
2
Q
why did leisure become important?
A
- the average working week dropped from 47.4 hours to 44.2 hours
- wages rose by 11%
3
Q
what was the sports industry like in 1920s America?
A
- the 1920s was a golden age for American sport
- for the first time, sportspeople achieved celebrity status
- Babe Ruth, a baseball player for the New York Yankees became a national hero after setting a home run record that lasted until 1961. By 1930, he was earning $80,000 a year, the equivalent of nearly £7 million a year today
- Radio broadcasts, newspapers and magazines helped bring major sporting events to a mass audience. Around 60 million radio listeners heard the coverage of the 1927 World Heavyweight Boxing title fight between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney
4
Q
why was the 1920s known as the ‘Jazz Age’?
A
- the loud lively music appealed to the young, both black and white, and it soon became the most popular musical style in the dancehalls, bars and nightclubs in some of the big Northern cities such as Chicago and New York
- Jazz provided great opportunities for black musicians too, such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Bessie Smith
- they made big money from nightclubs and radio performances and record sales
- new dances such as the Charleston emerged. Also the One step, Tango and the Black Bottom
5
Q
what was the cinema like in 1920s America?
A
- by 1929, Hollywood film studios were making over 500 films a year, giving employment to thousands and entertainment to millions who flocked to see comedies, romances, adventure stories and historical epics
- by the 1930s, Hollywood stars even had to compete with cartoon characters when Walt Disney brought Mickey, Pluto, Donald Duck and Goofy to life
6
Q
what is the star system?
A
- the star system was a term used to describe the way movie studios promoted their starring actors, not just the films they were in
- they made sure that the media had full access to the star, making them do magazine interviews, photoshoots, appear on radio shows and make public appearances
7
Q
who was Charlie Chaplin?
A
- born into a poor London family of music hall entertainers and made his stage debut as a child actor in 1894
- after a series of dancing, acting and circus jobs, he joined a touring group of pantomime entertainers in 1908
- on tour in America in 1913, he was signed to appear in his first comedy film. He soon developed a slapstick comedy character, called ‘The Tramp’. The character became an iconic figure of the silent-film era and earned Chaplin the first million-dollar Hollywood film contract, aged 28
- Chaplin went on to become a director, making films, such as ‘City Lights’ and ‘Modern Times’, and co-founded the United Artists Film Corporation
8
Q
what were the ‘Talkies’?
A
- until 1927, all movies were silent
- then the ‘Jazz Singer’ was released, the first of the ‘talking films’ or the ‘talkies’
- this boosted cinema audience figures to an all-time high because movie goers were desperate to her their favourite stars’ voices
- in fact, ‘talkies’ ruined the careers of many actors and actresses who looked great but had unusual voices or accents
9
Q
what was the ‘Hays Code’?
A
- the movies horrified many older Americans. They worried about the sexual content of some films and the impact this was having on the morals of the young
- The Hays Code, as the strict new rules were known, banned nudity and limited the time that an on-screen kiss could last to three seconds
- the code also said that no film character should ever profit from safe-cracking, arson or murder
10
Q
how were women’s lives before the First World War?
A
- Before the First World War, most women led restricted lives
- middle and upper-class women were expected to behave politely at all times and wore long skirts or dresses so as not to show too much flesh
- they didn’t play energetic sports and wore little make-up
- any relationship with a man was strictly controlled and a chaperone was expected to accompany any unmarried woman who went out with a man. It was unacceptable to be seen dancing with a man without wearing gloves
- poorer women usually had to settle for poorly paid jobs, such as cleaning, low-skilled factory work and secretarial work
11
Q
how did the First World War bring changes to women’s lives?
A
- when America joined the war in 1917, large numbers of men went away to fight. As a result, women began to take over their jobs
- they worked just as hard and as well as men, and the money they earned gave them a sense of independence - they no longer had to rely on their husband’s wealth
- partially as a result, American women were given the right to vote in 1920
12
Q
what was a flapper?
A
- some women decided to behave and dress differently with fewer restrictions. They wore more revealing clothes, went on dates without a chaperone and smoked and drank in public. These were known as ‘flappers’
- some rode motorbikes and went to nightclubs with men until the early hours of the morning
- all of this shocked more traditional members of society
- some worried Americans even formed an Anti-Flirt League to protest against the flappers’ behaviour. Others, particularly older Americans in rural areas, saw flappers as an example of the evils of modern life. They felt that family life, religion and traditional values were under threat
- the president of Florida University famously said that the short skirts of flappers ‘are born of the devil and are carrying the present generation to destruction’
13
Q
were the changes for American women in the 1920s for the better?
A
- flappers were mainly middle- and upper-class women from the Northern states.
- but for the vast majority, life went on as it had done for years. They were too busy working or raising families to go to wild parties and did not have enough income to buy luxuries
- despite gaining the vote, during the 1920s women were still not equal to men.
- they tended to work in the least skilled and earned less than men in the same job
