There were no time guzzling metal detectors at the airports. . . or the schools. There were no grouchy warning labels on the records and no ratings necessary on the movies. And TV shows were acceptable to the whole family.
Those were the sixties or at least part of it. Some of the 52 million sixties’ boomers called it the decade of peace, harmony and love mainly for the movement for peace and the “flower power” attitude. Others, a little more pessimistic, called it the decade of dissatisfaction because of the protests against the war and the race riots in many cities. For the teenagers it was the decade of sweet sounding, good-time rock n’ rollfrom the Beatles to the Kinks and many more in between. Still for others it was filled with totally far out acid trips and creative boom.
All in all it was a progressive decade from the race to the moon to the introduction of the first McDonalds Big Mac to the assassination of JFK. Although life has changed since the sixties, music, fads, and pop culture of that time has begun to resurface in our youths lives. During the sixties, film was changed forever. Throughout this era effective and continual advancements took place so the film industry is not that different from today.
But that doesn’t mean there weren’t ANY changes. “Cinema in the sixties reflected the decade of fun, fashion and tremendous social change”(Tim Dirks 2). However today’s themes can range anywhere from drugs to green ogres. Amid the sixties the film industry was at its lowest point which resulted in fewer movies being made and to filming outside the U.
S because it wasn’t as expensive. Today the film industry is booming. The film industry also makes more than 200 movies a year so they can usually film within the country. However both today and in the sixties film was in color and both decades targeted younger audiences. Movie ticket prices have also increased.
An average movie ticket in the sixties cost about thirty-eight cents, whereas today tickets cost between five and eight dollars. Literature techniques and topics chosen by authors reflected the social changes and interests of the sixties. Some writers focused on traditional issues, others reflected the cultural conflicts made by the Civil Rights movement, the coming of age of the post-war baby boomers and the war in Vietnam. Popular book genres of the sixties were romance, science-fiction, and fantasy.
Slaughterhouse Five and Stranger in A Strange Land are just two examples. Today people enjoy reading fantasy and non-fiction novels as well. Although they also buy dating books such as He’s Just Not That into You and dieting books like The Zone Diet. The sixties was a good decade for non-fiction in general. Both Growing Up Absurd and Feminine Mystique did well with readers.
Non-fiction and fiction today don’t really compete since they have separate bestsellers list. However both are doing well with the Da Vinci Code and My Life So Far on a Bestsellers List. Young Adult books in the sixties became controversial for their critical observations of adults like Catcher in the Rye by J. D Salinger for that reason and also because of its sexual situations.
Today young adult books still focus on the same topics like Gossip Girls but they aren’t viewed as controversial. The sixties was an era of enormous, often spontaneous, political activism of a very radical kind. So the music in the sixties reflected just that with songs like “Give Pace A Chance” and “Imagine” by John Lennon. However the sixties were also about having “fun, fun, fun” as the Beach Boys sang in one of their many hit singles. Early sixties music was all about love, dancing, and good times.
However today’s artists seem to focus on violence, sex, drugs, and cars. There are still many similarities between the sixties and today because most of the changes that occurred in the sixties are still in effect in society. Even though there is still rock, acid rock, and that smooth Motown, today has new genres such as rap and hip-hop. Technology has also had a major impact on the music business.
In the sixties music was played on about in. records whereas today we have about in. CD’s that can play twice as much music. Also you can now look up lyrics on the internet as well as MP3s but back then it was necessary to buy song books with the lyrics in them.
Today there are pesky metal detectors at the airports and even the schools. Today there are often racier commercials than most sixties television shows. There is a need for warning labels on CD’s and movies because of the rise of violence, sex, and drugs in the media where in the sixties it was all about “flower power and love beads” Patti Colemen. says. There is also a fear today that is generated by the media.
Instead of hearing only what was happening in your community as it was in the sixties, society now hears all the terrible tragic stories from all over the world due to the internet and other advancements in technology. Is it coincidental that the fads and pop culture of the sixties era have begun to resurface in youths lives? Especially at the same time our country has become involved in yet another war.
