avisionofthe50s-blog

[avisionofthe50s-blog]

Rear Window Visual

            To create an accurate visual representation of brother jack, and a modern character we had to carefully consider each piece that was interpreted. We decided to focus on simple aspects so that there was more analysis that could be analyzed from our connections. We chose to connect the character of Brother Jack from the invisible man, and Putin, the president of Russia. We represented this connection in many ways throughout our visual. In the bottom corners of our visual, we have figures pictured with no faces. These people represent conformity and following a leader yet not having a personal identity, this connects to the themes of identity and power that are relevant to the invisible man. This also connects to Russia’s government, and how Putin has followers, but their identity is overshadowed by his. Another element that we added was the bookshelf, which represents many different things; One example is power through monitoring what the people see, and we can view this in both Russia’s government and the invisible man. Putin monitors the media that the people of Russia see, and Brother Jack tells the people of the brotherhood what to say and how to make it more scientific. Putin and Brother Jack have many similarities that may not be clear on the surface.  As we were searching for a modern figure, we knew that we wanted an influential politician that had a grasp of control over a group of people. This includes monitoring people’s opinions, encouraging conformity and having a final goal of money and power. these are themes that we can relate to both Putin and brother jack throughout the texts we have read and overtime in power. They both encourage their political views and exercise that control over a large group of people.             Within the 1950s many lessons can be learned regarding identity and conformity which are the themes we have been exploring in many texts. In my vlog post, I discussed gender norms and women’s rights in rear window, which is still relevant today. I also saw a connection to this in the video that we watched about college, where women discussed having to choose between work and having children. There is the discussion of college in general, and how we choose our future at such a young age. It is important to remember that teenagers in the 50s were our age and had many similar experiences that we can learn from, even if the period was different. They struggled with peer pressure, unfair expectations, rebellion and even more concepts that we have discussed throughout this trimester. We can look back at the past to identify how to navigate life, now, in college, or beyond.

[avisionofthe50s-blog]

1950s Lit Post 

[avisionofthe50s-blog]

conformity

Is our identity different depending on who we surround ourselves with? Within the invisible man, we see his identity change throughout and this encouraged me to look into how we develop our own identity. If we were to start all over with a new mindset, would we still be the same person as we were before? There are definitely moments in my life where I have said or did something because I thought that it was what others expected of me. I think that is especially true for women and other minorities. In the invisible man, the narrator says and acts as he is expected to in order to fit into a society against him.

We may also see this connected to other works that we have reviewed as well. For example, in rebel without a cause, there were moments where people questioned their identity and moral obligations. Judy acts like a different person in order to fit in, even though she does not want to be like the people she surrounds herself with. There is also the question of what is expected of everyone in society.

For the narrator, he is expected to conform and keep quiet. In rebel without a cause, they are expected to fit the image of the perfect family and not expose their genuine problems in their lives. We can see this in modern aspects as well where people are less inclined to ask for help when they are having a problem in order to maintain an image. If we were not expected to achieve what others expect of us, would we all be in the same place? If it were not encouraged for every person to go to school to get a job, would learning be different? These are questions that we must consider in our society both in the past and today.

[avisionofthe50s-blog]

Works Cited

“Civil Rights Movement.” ADL, Anti-Defamation League,

https://www.adl.org/education/resources/backgrounders/civil-rights-movement

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. Penguin Random House LLC, 1952

Ray, Nicholas, director. Rebel Without a Cause. Warner Bros., 1955.

Sengupta, Somini. “Protesting Climate Change, Young People Take to Streets in a Global Strike.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Sept. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/climate/global-climate-strike.html.

Siegel, Don, director. Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Walter Wanger Productions, 1956.

“An Introduction to the Beat Poets.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/147552/an-introduction-to-the-beat-poets.

[avisionofthe50s-blog]

A Pen to Protest

Protests are nothing new to American culture. There has always been something that has been fought to change and people want their voices to be heard. A modern issue that has been relevant in news recently is the global climate strike. Scientific reports have come out stating that if nothing changes with the way corporations are running businesses such as the oil company, then life may not be the same as it was previously. Greta Thunberg is a known activist in this community at just 16 years old. She has encouraged everyone to strike from attending school in order to get the attention of the government (Sengupta). The youngest generation has always spoken out, but now it is on a much larger scale

           A driving factor in rebellion recently and in the 1950s, is the government itself. As I spoke of earlier, the younger generation has proposed to work with the government in order to solve issues that are relevant to all of us. This is much different compared to the 1950s which had been portrayed as driven against the government entirely. The beat generation is a great example of this. They are a generation that protested against the government, particularly in written form because they believed it was not benefiting them. Their goal was to take down institutionalized ideas in America, and “By the mid-1950s, the Beats helped to spearhead a cultural vanguard reacting against institutionalized American values, materialism, and conformity” (An Introduction to the beat poets). Many authors during this time have left lasting impacts, such as Kerouac with On the Road.

[avisionofthe50s-blog]

Invisibility

 Invisibility. As much as many of us may like to be invisible for a day, it reflects a lifetime for many minorities living in the 1950s. Not only were there racial tensions, but also conflict regarding a woman's role in society, and LGBT representation within America. Although women were able to vote, they still were struggling with being represented as anything other than perfect. In a sense, their individuality was what became invisible.

The civil rights movement was also beginning at this time and we can see throughout the book invisible man, that minorities struggled during this time as well. There were protests against segregation in schools, and most notably Rosa Parks with her movement against segregated bus seating. Many attempted to pretend that these issues were irrelevant in the 1950s, but a change was needed in order for us to get to the point where we are today.

I mentioned all these themes earlier in a separate blog post, but it may be relevant to discuss how this interprets into modern American society as well. There are still those that are considered invisible or are struggling to be accepted, one major example may be immigrants in America. Although it has been a controversial topic for a long time, with Trump as president it has become even more relevant. 

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what were forms of protest during the 1950s, and were they effective at reaching their goal?

One particular example of a form of political protest that was maybe more subtle but interesting is the increase in films that featured “imposter syndrome”. For example in the film invasion of the body snatchers, people question if the people they thought they knew are actually aliens. many speculated that it could be a political piece meant to represent the rise of secret communists within American Society. 

[avisionofthe50s-blog]

With the end of world war two, and a booming economy the 1950s was seen as a time of prosperity and freedom. Although when describing the 50s as the “golden age”, many choose to ignore the strong themes of racism and sexism during this time. So sure, the golden age was pretty great, if you were a white male. A popular film at the time titled, Rebel Without a Cause, discusses some of the forms of rebellion against struggles that the seemingly perfect families faced. There was one scene that particularly stood out which depicts a young woman wearing makeup and getting reprimanded from her father. In this same scene, the brother is shown as being treated with respect by the father as well. She later acts out and rebels against society's expectations of her (1).  This represents many of the restrictions that women at the time were under.

Another minority that was facing many hardships during this time was black men and women. At the time, black women were rarely represented at all while black men had to work harder in order to get the recognition and respect that they deserved. There were many protests regarding this, including the black panther movement which began later in the 1950s. This was right around the time of the civil rights movement as well with Martin Luther king. As I have been studying this a particular piece that stood out to me was Invisible Man written by James T Ellison. They discuss the themes of how the black man must conform to an ideal image created by the white man. One quote on the page () stood out and it is a veteran stating to that white man that  “To you, he is a mark on the score-card of your achievement, a thing and not a man; a child, or even less – a black amorphous thing. And you, for all your power are not a man to him, but a God, a force” (Ellison, 1). Racism was built into the time period, but even so, the narrator rebelled and joined a union to find his own identity.

The 1950s was a time of discovering one’s own identity and place in society. Women had just begun to find their place in the workforce and even had gotten the right to vote in the previous years. Black men started protesting for equal rights and fair treatment within society. It was a time of change that impacted so many years to come, it unveiled problems with the way our system was built and was the catapult for change.