Popular Culture Flashcards
How Australia in the 1950s was influenced by American culture
- American culture began to influence Australian with the presence of US soldiers here during World War 2
- American culture also influenced our own as the two countries shared similarities in development after WW2
Accepted large numbers of refugees from war
Soldiers returning home to start families
Economic prosperity
Rise of youth culture
Expanding suburbia - This meant that often what was popular in America became popular here due to these similarities
This influence increased with the introduction of television in 1956
How American and British music influenced post-war Australian entertainment, such as rock ‘n’ roll
- Australia’s rock ‘n’ roll music originated from music that came from the United States and Britain in the
50’s and 60’s. Some examples of this style included acts like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, and Bill Haley and His Comets. - Aus influence: In 1958, Johnny O’Keefe’s recording of The Wild One gave him the first Australian single to appear on the rock’n’roll charts.
Surf Music and how it affected Australia
The style of music became popular in Australia and played a large role in Australian self-image
In 1963 American surfing songs such as Surfin’ USA were high on the Australian charts.
Effect on Australia:
- Anything to do with surfing has played a large role in Australians’ image of themselves.
- 14-year-old schoolgirl, Pattie Amphlett released He’s My Blonde Headed Stompie Wompie Real Gone Surfer Boy in 1963
Hippies in Australia
- The Australian version of the hippie musical Hair was first staged in Sydney in June 1969.
- It was anti-war, anti-establishment and had New Age ideas.
- Two years later, Australia had its first Rock Festival.
1970s 80s 90s American Punk
Often politicized and full of vital energy beneath a sarcastic, hostile facade, punk spread as an ideology and an aesthetic approach, becoming an archetype of teen rebellion and alienation.
Influence on Australia:
Australian musicians played and recorded some of the earliest punk rock. The Saints released their first single in 1976. Another popular band was Radio Birdman
The Beatles
- During the sixties, Britain was considered the center of music and fashion.
- The Beatles toured Australia in 1964.
- In Adelaide there was a crowd of 300 000, a third of Adelaide’s population.
- The Beatles tour to Australia opened the way for rock and pop groups in Australia to reach a wider audience
The Beatles Influence
- The Beatles became as famous for the infamous ‘Beatle cut’ as they did for their music.
- Teenagers all across Australia began to mimic the Beatle cut, which was longer than usual for men.
- In Australia, a boy who had a ‘Beatle cut’ could be suspended or even expelled from school.
Fashion in the 1960’s
- The 1960s was a time of social and political change.
Many of these changes were reflected in the fashions and culture of the time. - Clothing in the 1960s reflected a new movement towards comfort and rebellion.
- The major influences came from London
- During the 1960s London had taken over Paris and Milan as the fashion capital of the world.
- The 50s and 60s saw the rise in a youth style called ‘Mod’.
- Mods were young adults who could be identified through riding mopeds, wearing tailored and often bright clothing who listened to Jazz music.
- Mods were like the hipsters of the 60’s.
The mini skirt
- The 1960s was a time of shock and rebellion, and perhaps the mini skirt was the greatest shock.
- British fashion designer Mary Quant was one of the first designers to make mini skirts popular in England.
- Mini skirts became popular in Australia after 1965 after model Jean Shrimpton wore one to the Melbourne Cup.
- She shocked people by wearing a dress that ended 10 cm above her knee.
The Golden Age of Sport
- The 1950s and 1960s have been called the golden age of Australian sport
- Also the introduction of the five-day, 40-hour week and four weeks’ annual leave in 1947. Increased the amount of leisure time available.
- Another factor operated in the 1950s and 1960s — Australia did not suffer as Europe had during World War II. In Europe, many countries had been devastated by bombing and battles fought on their soil and would not recover until the 1960s. Sport for them was a lower priority.
How American and British music influenced post-war Australian entertainment
- Commercial radio playlists were dominated by mostly imported American and British music throughout the 1960s, quenching the teenage thirst for rock ‘n’ roll.
- Teenagers were infatuated with British acts like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Kinks and adopted the wild fashions and hairstyles of their idols.
- American films dominated Australian cinemas during the 1950s and 1960s for a number of reasons.
How advances in communication technology changed at least ONE of the following during the post-war period in Australia: music, film or television
- TV’s became normalized in Australian households after 1956
- Australian households purchased television sets in rapidly rising numbers, creating a powerful new medium for advertisers, in addition to the traditional media of print and radio.
- The arrival was a long time coming – the technology had existed in America since the mid-1950s but several factors delayed its arrival in Australia.
How colored TV affected Australia
- colored television that eventually burst across the Australian airwaves at midnight on 1 March 1975
- As with the start of the black and white imagery, the advent of color created a powerful new advertising medium and it also supercharged sports broadcasts with Rugby League in color, a massive hit, as was the telecast of the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
How overseas influences have affected ONE aspect of Australian popular culture
- Prior to World War II, Australia had a small but thriving film industry. After the war, however, the local film industry struggled amid an influx of mostly Hollywood-produced films. Most cinema chains were foreign-owned, and Australian films struggled to reach the screen.
- Local film industries are generally considered an important way for people to examine and share their own culture and heritage. Starved of local stories in the late 1960s, many people feared that Australia’s cultural identity was at risk.
- Very few quality Australian films were produced during the 1960s. While some films were shot in Australia, many were financed by British and American interests and featured foreign stars in the leading roles.
Why Hollywood films dominated Australia
- American films dominated Australian cinemas during the 1950s and 1960s for a number of reasons.
- Firstly, American film-making technology was the most advanced in the world, making it possible for them to produce many more high-quality films at a faster rate than their competitors.
- Secondly, the abundant budgets and superior technological resources attracted the best actors, writers, and directors to America. In many cases, this meant that the American creative output was of a higher standard than that of other countries.
Test cricket in Australia
In the early 1970s, the ABC held a cricket broadcasting agreement with the Australian Cricket Board.
◦ In 1976, Kerry Packer attempted to gain cricket broadcasting rights for Channel 9 but he failed,
◦ So he set up an alternative competition called World Series Cricket and contracted many key Australian
and international players (paying them large sums of money).
◦ Eventually, the Australian Cricket Board came to an agreement with Packer, but this dispute, (combined
with controversy over a tour of South Africa) weakened Australian cricket for some years.
◦ From 1989 to 2006–07 Australian cricket returned to its former greatness. (In this period they were
unbeaten in all the Ashes series against England except 2005, and won the World Cup series three times
in a row)
contribution of Australian men and women to international sport, eg Olympic Games and Test Cricket
◦ During the same era and into the early 1970s, Australia’s Margaret Court won Wimbledon three times, the French and US Opens five times each, and the Australian Open 11 times. Considered by some to be the greatest female tennis player of all time
◦ Players such as Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver dominated men’s tennis in the 1950s and 1960s. (sometimes playing each other in the Wimbledon finals. In the 1960s
Rod Laver won the Grand Slam twice)
the contribution of Australian men and women to international music, film, and television
- The Easybeats are regarded by many as the greatest Australian rock’n’roll bands of the 1960s
- Their songs reached the top 10 in England and top 20 in the US
- Skippy the bush kangaroo went international - it was an international success
- Crocodile Dundee became Australia’s highest-grossing film in 1986 due to its large international success
Americanisation
- Americanization is the huge influence of the USA on other countries, changing other cultures to become like America.
- Americanization commenced more prominently within Australia with the advent of the television in 1956 and has increasingly saturated Australia’s popular culture through film, Music, fashion
More americanization
- 1950’s and 1960’s were times of unprecedented change with Australia experiencing strong influence by American popular culture through various mediums such as: music, film, television and fashion. Especially affected the newly emerging defined social group the “teenager” who had started to grow up from being post-war baby boomers.
- Major advances in technology allowed for the advents of film and TV and for music to reach wide audiences, eg, the Beatles and the beach boys dominating the industry
Technological advances opened up a gate for popular culture from around the world to reach Australia affecting people’s views about their standing in the world.
nature of Australian popular culture today and the legacy of past influences
Australian music greatly diversified by the 1970’s and began to develop a sound that was recognized as distinctly Australian, eg, midnight oil, inxs, cold chisel, acdc.
Iconic Australian brands are being re-marketed for international markets
Random fax from powerpoint
- During the 2nd world war Australia was exposed to American culture for the first time as a result of the number of American servicemen stationed here.
- Consequently the Usa was to become our largest trading partner
- Rock’n’roll came to Australia in 1956, radios were playing bill haley & the comets and elvis, film, tv and magazines were influential
- Australians such as johnny o’keefe became stars as a result of their imitation of American culture
- 1960’s brought the ideas of the civil rights movement, women’s liberation, opposition to the vietnam war & flower power, the hippie culture of anti-establishment
- Tv brought the vietnam war into people’s living rooms, man’s first landing on the moon and more American culture to our ever shrinking isolation
