Popular culture in the postwar period.

1. WHAT IS POPULAR CULTURE

2. LESSON OUTCOMES:
• By the end of the lesson students will be able to:
• explain ways in which Australia in the 1950s to 1960s was influenced by American
culture
• assess the way American and British music influenced post-war Australian
entertainment, such as rock 'n' roll
• use a range of sources to explain the nature and impact of television on Australian
popular culture

3. DEFINITION:
Pop culture (also sometimes known as youth or
mass culture) are the characteristics and
behaviours of a particular generation of people,
influenced by things like music, sport, film &
television, fashion, and anything else in the
public sphere.
Popular culture is continually evolving. It changes
as one generation challenges the practices and
beliefs of previous generations.
What images come to mind when you think of
Australian Culture?

5. POPULAR CULUTRE IN AUSTRALIA
BEFORE WWII
• Before the end of WWII, Australia's history, modes of entertainment, food,
fashion, sporting culture and social values & attitudes were largely
dictated by British culture.
• The period immediately following World War II (1939-1945) set the stage
for the development of Australian Cultural Identity for the next 60 years;
and the “moving away” from a British sense of cultural identity, to an
Australian one.
• The relatively wealthy generation of youth that became known as
the baby boomers defined this period, and the term teenager became
widely used to describe people who were somewhere between children
and adults.
• Popular culture was evolving at a rapid pace!

6. Popular culture post-war
In post-war Australia

7. TELEVISONS
Black and white television became available in
Australia in 1956, less than 2 months before the
Olympics began in Melbourne.
The first program was a news broadcast read by an
American, Chuck Faulkner. This was an indication of
how programs made in the US had already had a
major impact on Australian popular culture.
Advertisers seized upon the popularity of television
with young people and targeted this relatively
affluent audience with new products and fashions.

8. CONTINUE
Despite the enormous popularity of television, a small proportion of society opposed
it, mainly because the majority of programs were American productions. With more
than 80 percent of television content sourced from the United States, it was feared
that American content, themes, and culture would impede the development of the
Australian identity. This concern was alleviated somewhat when the demand for an
increase in Australian content led to the broadcasting of more Australian programs in
the mid-1960s, particularly Australian dramatic series.

9. MUSIC
The music industry was revolutionised in the years following World War II. The relatively low cost and availability of vinyl
records changed the way people experienced music forever.
By the early 1960s, between about 600,000 and 700,000 records were being manufactured in Australia every month. The
quality of records was vastly improved by the advent of stereophonic sound.
Teenagers soon formed the record industry's biggest growth market. In record bars throughout the country they eagerly
bought the latest rock 'n' roll records and, from around 1964, many could barely get enough of the 'surf sound'.

10. LET’S WATCH THIS
Watch
Lets’s watch Teenage culture in the postwar video
https://education.abc.net.au/home#!/digibook/618362/popular-culture-in-post-war-australia
ELVIS PRESLEY "Hound Dog" on The Ed Sullivan Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGZm7EOamWk

11. GROUP WORK
Examine a newspaper article
Helen Frizell, "'Please! No riots' says American rock-and-roll king," The Australian
Women’s Weekly, 23 January 1957, p.20 (via trove.nla.gov.au)
• https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/4934472
• QUESTION
Based on the videos and newspaper above:
Please answer a question in group:
Which type of audience rock n roll was targeting?
Why rock n roll was opposed during this period?

12. ROCK ‘N’ ROLL
• In the late 1950s, the arrival of rock 'n' roll had introduced a wave of
youth rebellion as teenagers moved to a beat that repelled many
among their parents' generation.
• This spike in record production coincided with the explosion of
rebellious youth-oriented culture, sparked by the rise of rock and
roll, the arrival of which in Australia is usually dated to the
theatrical release in 1955 of Blackboard Jungle; the movie featured
the hit single “Rock Around the Clock” by the American band Bill
Haley and His Comets, whose Australian tour in 1957 was a
sensation. Johnny O’Keefe became the first Australian rock singer
to reach the national charts with the release of his hit “Wild One” in
1958.
• With the exciting new music came the creation of expressive new
dance styles and trendy youthful clothing. Put off by the
accompanying changes in behaviour, fashion, and attitudes.

13. A GENERATION GAP
Commercial and social factors contributed
a widening of the moral and lifestyle gap
between post-war teenagers and their
parents.
Even though such 'generation gaps' have
always existed, this one was particularly
notable because teenagers were identified
a distinct economic group. They had
a valuable new market for television and the
latest fads in music, clothes and hairstyles

14. POPULAR CULTURE IN
AUSTRALIA IN THE POSTWAR
• Australia experienced an economic boom as a result of the war, its newfound
affluent position enabled Australians to embrace innovative new and now
more-affordable products and technologies, many of which were imported
from the more industrialized United States. American ideals and cultural
products, such as film and music, quickly dispersed throughout Australian
society, with an accompanying move away from the traditional restricted ways
of pre-war life to a more liberated and expressive lifestyle.
• Teenagers thrilled to what was considered the rebellious music of Bill Haley
and the Comets, whose hits were soon followed by the much wilder music of
Elvis Presley, Little Richard and others, including Australia's own Johnny
O'Keefe.
• Teenagers adopted rock 'n' roll music as their own and met in milk bars, dance
halls and other places that were soon blamed for rising 'juvenile delinquency'.

15. HOMEWORK
PLEASE PROVIDE SHORT ANSWER OF
100 WORD FOR EACH QUESTION:
Q1. How were teenagers
depicted in popular music
in the post war?
Q2. When you look back,
What do you think will
define the culture
of your generation?

16. RESOURCES:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/4934472
https://education.abc.net.au/home#!/digibook/618362/popular-culture-in-post-war-australia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGZm7EOamWk