Warm Up 2/7 What is escapism as discussed in LA yesterday? - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Warm Up 2/7

What is

escapism as discussed in LA yesterday?

Write it down and tell your neighbor.Slide2

February 7, 2018

Due Today

:

Alphabet Soup chart (pink sheet)Take out: Notes/Pen(cil)Agenda:EscapismSkills: Primary source Analysis

Learning Target

:

I can describe Escapism and the reasons behind it.

I can explain the rise of different escapist mediums.

Upcoming Dates

2/9

:

Great Depression

Tiz

2/9:

Unit 7 HWP/Warm Ups-8

2/16:

Escapism Creative ProjectSlide3

Escapism

The Great Depression was bleak and seemed never ending.

The psychological toll was severe

Self-blame and shamingConstant stress and worry over how to care for familiesFear that it will never get betterMany spiraled into depressionThis psychological toll would continue after the economy recoveredSlide4

Escapism

As a result, distraction became a lucrative business.

People needed something to take their minds off their troubles, even if only briefly

EscapismMental defense mechanismAs the brain reaches a high stress breaking point it will seek to shield itself by seeking distraction in things that remove one’s thoughts from situation and focusing on something farther removed from realityEnter….Slide5

Why do we need the arts?

Job creation & economic stimulus

But also…

Boosted moraleRestored confidenceCultural equivalent of the New DealPsychological stimulus packageSlide6

The Golden Age of RadioSlide7

Everyone needed a radio

Radio news

Variety shows (

Amos ‘n’ Andy)Daytime serials (think soap operas)Serious dramasOrson Welles’s adaptation of War of the Worlds convinced many listeners that we were being invaded by Martians.Slide8

The Golden Age of Hollywood

Film in the 1930sSlide9

1930s Hollywood

Sound and color revolutions

First color film debuted in 1932

, an animated Disney short1934 saw the first live-action full-color film, La CucarachaThe advance of the “talkies”Expanse of genresFirst drive-in theatre opened in 1933Despite the serious effects the Depression had on the film industry theatre attendance remained between 60-75 million a week, even in the worst days of the DepressionProvided a balancing act between cynicism & realism of the Depression and escapism of the artsSlide10

Themes

Vicarious exposure to pleasures of wealth, power, lawbreaking

Comic treatment of social disorder

Subverting gender expectationsExtravaganceSlide11

Rise of Disney

Focused on moral tales that stressed keeping order and following th

e rules

Ultimately that good always triumphsSlide12

Charlie Chaplin

Born in London, April 1889

Forced to support his family due to his father’s death and mother’s illness at age 10

Naturally talented actor, starred in first professional stage show at 12Travelled to America to continue his career as a comedian in vaudevilleSlide13

Charlie Chaplin

Independent

producer:

Writer, producer, director, editor, star, composer for most filmsSlapstick silent films, focused around social and political commentaryIronic portrayal to make humor out of sufferingSlide14

Modern Times

Modern Times

is Chaplin’s comment on the

desperate employment and financial conditions faced by many during the Depression. Chaplin believed these conditions were created by the efficiencies of modern industrialization.https://youtu.be/DfGs2Y5WJ14 https://youtu.be/7vRe56EwFf4 Slide15
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Cultural Significance

Based off of the children’s novel written by Frank L. Baum in 1900

Film made in 1939

Lost Best Picture to Gone with the WindDorothy Gale, swept away from Kansas in a cycloneTechnicolorUshering us out of the Depression and into the renewed prosperity of war time!Slide17

Cultural Significance

Twister:

Stock Market Crash, Dust Bowl

Wizard: Roosevelt & his New DealSlide18

Reflection Questions

How are the themes addressed in the Wizard of Oz similar or different to what you saw in Charlie Chaplin?

How are these ideas communicated differently? Is this more or less effective than Chaplin?Slide19

Superman: The Power of Comics

Escapism: 1930s-1940sSlide20

The Origin of Comics

The creation of the comic book reflected the Depression Era in which it was born, when

America was in need of cheap distractions

While illustrated weeklies existed in Europe, comics themselves are a uniquely American cultural creationThe first really popular comic book series was known as “Famous Funnies” and promised to entertain readers with “games, comics, puzzles, and magic!”Slide21

Comics of the Golden Era

Lasted roughly from the late

1930s-1959

In the Golden Era comics were not limited to children, but had mass appeal amongst adults as wellComic creators used their comics to advance very specific visionsThey served as entertainment, but also attempted to modify and shift cultural conventionsThe birth of the superhero reflected the desire to fix the wrongs of the Depression, captured the spirit of the New DealIf Americans were to be saved from the hell of Depression, they needed a heroSlide22

Superman!

Created by Jerry Siegel and John Shuster

Jewish Americans from Cleveland

Introduced in the first issue of Action ComicsFirst comic book character to be give his own title, 1939His story reflected the new American culture of the 30sHis adventures were based in the city, rather than the frontier (like previous American folk heroes)A hero for the common manSlide23

Superman: 1930s

Less idealistic

than the version of Superman we have today

A little rougher around the edges and a little less powerfulSeemed to thoroughly enjoy beating up bad guysThe early stories reflect his desire to right the wrongs of societyEarly Superman does not fight supervillains we have grown used to, but rather real villains of the New Deal era: bosses who do not provide safe working conditions, stock brokers who sell faulty stocks, even a U.S. senator who conspires with a munitions manufacturerSuperman represents Americans desire not just for escape, but for TRIUMPHSlide24

Why Create Superman?

“Listening to President Roosevelt’s ‘

fireside chats

’… being unemployed and worried during the Depression and knowing hopelessness and fear. Hearing and reading of the oppression and slaughter of helpless, oppressed Jews in Nazi German… seeing movies depicting the horrors of privation suffered from the downtrodden… I had the great urge to help… help the downtrodden masses, somehow. How could I help them when I could barely help myself? Superman was the answer.” – Jerry Siegel (co-creator of Superman)Slide25

Responding to Shifting Social Context (Comics in the 1940s)

As we move towards war time, comics served as a kind of

voluntary propaganda

A recovering economy contributed to rising popularity in comics (by December 1943 monthly comic book sales had climbed to 25 million copies!)If Superman was symbolic of the strength of the everyman during the Depression, he became symbolic of the American role in WWII and the need to extend that heroism to the oppressed in Europe and AsiaCaptain AmericaIf Superman represents the ideals of American culture, Captain America represented the nationalistic aims of a country about to enter a world warSlide26

Your Turn

As we move towards war time, comics served as a kind of

voluntary propaganda

A recovering economy contributed to rising popularity in comics (by December 1943 monthly comic book sales had climbed to 25 million copies!)If Superman was symbolic of the strength of the everyman during the Depression, he became symbolic of the American role in WWII and the need to extend that heroism to the oppressed in Europe and AsiaCaptain AmericaIf Superman represents the ideals of American culture, Captain America represented the nationalistic aims of a country about to enter a world war