Culture and Society of the 1920's

Historical events from 1920-1930

 In 1920, the first football league was formed and known as the American Professional Football League with Jim Thorpe as the President. It was later changed in 1922 to what we know it as today, the National Football League.

In 1920, Susan B. Anthony fought for women to have the right to vote and that right was given in August that year.

The first winter Olympic games were held in 1924. In 1925, the U.S. appointed its first woman governor Nellie Tayloe Ross in Wyoming.

The biggest historical event in the U.S. took place in 1929 when the stock market crashed which started the Great Depression (Americasbesthistory.com, 2011).

Literature

 In the 1920’s literature and reading was very popular and an important part of the American life. Since television had not yet come out, this was how American’s got their knowledge of the world with newspapers and magazines (Scott, 2005). Some of the popular literature of the 1920’s included The Great Gastby in 1925 written by Scott Fitzgerald (Unknown, 2000).

Magazines

 Magazines were very popular for women which contained short stories, recipes, decorating tips and fashion (Scott, 2005). Some of the popular magazines were Nash’s, Britannia and Birds Custard (Johnson, 2012).

Music

In the 1920’s both Blues and Jazz were popular forms of music. Some of the most popular songs included I’ll be With You In Apple Blossom Time, I’m Just Wild About Harry and Rose of Washington Square. Some of the popular artists were Bessie Smith, Fanny Brice, and Louis Daniel Armstrong (Whitley, 2011).

Art

 In the 1920’s a popular art form was dance. During this time the Charleston had become a popular ballroom dance. This dance was developed in the south and included some African styles. Some other dance forms included the Cake-Walk, the Turkey Trot and the Bunny Hug. With the creation and popularity of these dances, dance marathons were formed (Scott, 2005). 

Movies

Silent movies were a big thing in the 1920’s. Some of the popular actors and actresses included Rudolph Valentine, and Clara Bow (Whitley, 2011). Popular movies in the 1920’s included “Nanook of the North” which was a documentary film, “The Prisoner of Zenda”, “Four Musicians of Bremem” and “Adventures of Tarzan” all released in 1922. In 1924 budget films were created, those included “The Sea Hawk” and “Dante’s Inferno”. In 1927 the first movie that included sex appeal was called “It” with Clara Bow. In 1929 “The Cocoanuts” was released and it was the first of many Marx Brothers movies (Scott, 2005).

Reference Page

Americasbesthistory.com. (2011). The 1920- prosperity and its demise. Retrieved from

http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1920.html

Johnson, S. (2012). Womens magazines of the 1920's, 1930's, and the 1940's. Retrieved from

http://www.cyber-heritage.co.uk/women

Scott, R. (2005). 1920's art, artists and illustrators. Retrieved from http://www.1920-30.com/art/

Scott, R. (2005). Literature of the times captured the changes in society. Retrieved from

http://www.1920-30.com/literature/

Scott, R. (2005). Historical timeline of 1920's movie history. Retrieved from http://www.1920-

30.com/movies/timeline.html

Unknown. (2000). The jazz age and louis armstrong (the 1920's). Retrieved from

http://library.thinkquest.org/C005846/categories/artliter/artslit.htm

Whitley, P. (2011). American cultural history. Retrieved from

http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade20.html

Written Analysis 5

The theories that I found that most applies to body image and the media is that, the media is a strong force which can lead consumers into believing what they should eat or drink in order to have a certain body type. The second myth about body image is; a deeply entrenched negative body image won’t budge. This means that because so many women do not like the way their body looks, we tend to think this a normal for any women to think that way no matter what her body image is. However it is not normal because it is not natural. We are made to think that way with both mass and social media leading us to think that our bodies need to look a certain way which makes it hard for women to like the way they look (Tartakovsky, 2011).

One of the most interesting findings in my research was the effect the media has on body image for men as well. Most people think that this is something that only affects women but men are overlooked. I never realized that when seeing advertisements for men’s products or seeing the stereotypical male model with the perfect body is also putting pressure on men as well.  The other interesting thing I found when doing my research was the celebrities that have stood against the cult of body image, such as Kate Winslet who feels that it is important to look more like your true self, Johnny Diaz with his song about “More Beautiful You, Eleanor Roosevelt who told women not to let other make you feel inferior because of the way you look, and Gloria Steinem who reminded women to not let the media tell you how you should look.

I have learned that what the media portrays as a normal body image really isn’t normal or even realistic, and the emotional stress this puts on both men and women to try to obtain this perfect image. The way I think differently of body image is that since what the media tries so hard to put so much pressure on everyone to look a certain way that neither I or anyone else should buy into this stereotype. Before, I would look at pictures in magazines of celebrities or models and find flaws in myself and desire to find was to achieve that look, but now I have learned that it’s not healthy mentally or to my body.

Reference Page

Tartakovsky, M. (2011). 3 body image myths we keep on believing. Retrieved from

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/weightless/2011/07/3-body-image-myths-we-keep-on-believing/

Written Analysis 4

Body Image Formula

The formula of boy image in the media is for women it is portrayed that they should be a size zero, which causes a negative effect on women. For men it’s not so much about weight it’s about muscle. Body image is really how one see’s their own physical image which can be extremely different than how they appear to someone else.

The way this describes my topic is that the media doesn’t help people’s perceptions on their own body image. The media focuses on the models and celebrities that have the unrealistic perfect body image. What they don’t say is how hard these models or celebrities have to work for the body and the cost of it, also many celebrities are airbrushed in magazines to make their image seem better than what it really is. When a celebrity gains weight the media puts pictures of them in magazines like look how much weight this person has gained with before and after pictures, which is not only humiliating but also bad to the readers as well because they see that gaining weight and not having the perfect body is a horrible thing. Therefor when a person looks at their own body image, they may perceive that they should do a lot of work to have this image, but to other people that are around you may perceive your body image a lot differently. For someone who is a size zero, someone else may see that as you are unhealthy or too sickly because this is really not a normal appearance.  

The insights that I have gained is that if the media would portray people differently, such as women with curves and the average Joe as more of the ideal body then societies perceptions on body image would be different and men and women wouldn’t feel so pressured and feel that they have to strive to have that unrealistic body image. A person should be able to be confident in their own bodies no matter what the media makes them believe (NG Communications, 2009).

Reference Page

NG Communications. (2009, March 9). Body image. Retrieved from

http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Body_image

Journal Article Analysis

A Million Little Blogs: Community,

Narrative, and the James Frey Controversy

This article talks about how someone can misrepresent themselves when using social media such as blogs and what types of issues this could cause. This story begins back in 2003 with the story about James Frey, a man who published a book about his life struggles with alcohol addiction and how he was accused of misrepresenting himself.

This story about James Frey also involves Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, and the online community. After Frey’s book got published, he made an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show to talk about his book and his addition. After the appearance, a news site started doing some investigating on Frey’s past and on their website they published a story called “A Million Little Lies: The Man Who Conned Oprah”. Soon after, Frey made an appearance on Larry King Live with this; more and more viewers started reading Frey’s blog. From this a website called BigJimIndustries.com was developed that attracted other readers who were also struggling with additions which became somewhat of a support group for Frey. All of these events led to became somewhat of a scandal story because Frey misrepresented himself. As a quote from this article says, “the question becomes not a matter of what James Frey did or did not reveal or convey, but rather: how does the media event that propelled these communities establish and maintain a set of culture values and concerns (Nunes, 2011, pg. 357). In reference to the James Frey story, Elizabeth Bird made a comment saying “scandal stories, like other stories, bring changing more into sharp focus through media narratives and the popular discussion that takes off from those narratives, whether in homes, workplace, or on the Oprah Winfrey Show” (Nunes, 2011, pg. 351)

There are several other stories this article references about someone misrepresenting themselves online to deceive their audience is the Kaycee Nicole story, and the Joan/Julie story.

This article also references two different understandings of online communication. One being that online communication is a tool used for users to communicate with each other and be able to “speak from the heart” and used as a mode for self-expression. The second being that when communicating online you shouldn’t trust anyone because you don’t really know who you are speaking with, anyone can pose as being someone else. “We might think of this event as marketing a conflict in narrative within popular culture, a conflict that did not originate in or limit itself to the world of blogs, but which is best understood within this communicative context” (Nunes, 2011, pg. 357).

            I do agree with the main points in this article. I agree that it is easy for someone to misprepresnt themselves online through social media and blogs. I also agree that when it comes to celebrities like that of James Frey, the media can easily turn stories or events around to make them seem something more which in turn leads to misrepresenting the other person. For James Frey, he might have come out and wrote a book about his struggles with addiction but it was the media that turned it around and make it a scandal.

I think this article is important for the online community to learn from, both for those that may have misrepresented themselves to their readers through blogs or other uses of social media, for the readers of these articles online and anyone that may be may create an online blog about themselves. This just proves that everyone does need to take caution in what they read and write about themselves and what they believe to be true online.

Reference Page

Nunes, M. (n.d.). A million little blogs: Community,. (2011). The Journal of Popular Culture,

44(2), 347-363.

Body Image The Cult of Celebrities and Heroes

The cult of celebrities does have an effect on body image. A majority of Americans desire the perfect body image and they look at celebrities for this. The theory that celebrities are more widely covered by the media because of their seemingly perfect appearance than any other normal person; however, these celebrities don’t really look like what they do in magazines because they are airbrushed (Angelmother, 2008). Kate Winslet is one celebrity that stood up against her airbrushed look in magazines and said she feels no one is perfect and its more important to look like your true self (Chadwhick, 2011).

If we look back at the comic book characters who are heroes to young children, their body images have changed as time has changed, and this has an influence over children. In the earlier years, these characters were made to look a little heavier through the arms, legs and stomach and not very muscular. They were basically made to look like the professional athletes during that time. Now the comic book characters are made to look more muscular and fit with the unrealistic body types (Blum, 2012).

            There are some celebrities that are against the common unrealistic body image and they have voiced their opinions about it. To some people they would be considered an inspiration and heroes. One celebrity is Johnny Diaz, he is a Christian singer who wrote a song called “More Beautiful You.” The message in this song hit home for several women specially when its coming from a male (Chadwhick, 2009). Eleanor Roosevelt is also considered an inspiration to women during her time. Her popular statement to women was “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” She wanted to remind women that it’s only what you think about yourself that matters most. Gloria Steinem was also an inspiration to women. She wanted to remind people not to let the media or others tell you how you should look or that you need to look younger that what you really are (Chadwhick, 2011). 

Reference Page

Angelmother. (2008, March 26). [Web log message]. Retrieved from

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-cult-celebrity-its-effects-society-1319247.html

Blum, J. (2012, March 7). [Web log message]. Retrieved from

http://nudistnaturistamerica.org/nudism-body-image-comic-books

Chadwhick, D. (2011, March 13). [Web log message]. Retrieved from

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/youd-be-so-pretty-if/201103/body-image-heroes-

who-are-yours

Chadwhick, D. (2009, June 9). [Web log message]. Retrieved from

http://www.youdbesoprettyif.com/2009/06/an-unlikely-body-image-hero.html

Body Image Stereotypes

The media has a bad habit of creating the stereotypical body image for both females and males. It affects men and women differently on how they perceive the body image. So how does this affect us, and how do men and women differ when it comes to the media’s perception?

For women, the media and models usually set the standard for the stereotype of how a women’s body image should look like. The stereotypical woman is portrayed to be a tall, thin white woman with blonde hair. There are some women that look like this but it’s really not the standard image of a woman because most woman really don’t fit that stereotype even though the media makes it seem like they do because that’s what the media makes them think. Beauty magazine are one of the worst offenders because they put a lot of articles in them that tells woman what they should look like and how they should obtain that image. This also puts a lot of pressure on women who don’t look like this and think that they have to. The body image that models give to women is very unnatural, very hard to obtain and extremely unhealthy. Seeing this type of image, this causes a lot of young women to develop bad eating habits and become anorexic (Serdar, 2012).  

            The media not only affects women on body image but also men. The media also portrays men with an unrealistic stereotyical body image. There are shirt less men with perfectly fit bodies with a six pack chest, not a single hair on their chest and the perfect hair. Typically, this is not how the average guy looks. Usually people don’t think that men are affected by media body image but they are and it puts a lot of pressure on men as it does women. However most men won’t go to the extreme of eating disorders like anorexia like women, they are more concerned with the hair on their body, their odor and their muscle mass.  Magazine and advertisements are a major contributor in this, even on a deodorant commercial for men you don’t see your average Joe, you see a shirtless guy with the perfect cut body (Carefair.com, 2006).

Reference Page

Carefair.com. (2006). A man`s body image and the media – muscle isn`t always the "it" thing.

Retrieved from http://www.carefair.com/Men/Mans_Body_Image_1798.html

Serdar, K. (2012). Female body image and the mass media: Perspectives on how women

internalize the ideal beauty standard. Retrieved from

http://www.westminstercollege.edu/myriad/index.cfm?parent=2514&detail=4475&content=4795

Body Image Myths

Body image myths

            Body image can be anything from weight, size, shape, hair and skin type. How does social media portray these myths to women and what does it do for women’s esteem?

One type of social media that is mostly known for marketing the myth of body image perfection is magazines. With the modeling, and beauty magazines all portray women to have the ideal body image of very thin women whom are not physically fit and they make every women think that is what they should look like in order to look good. Social and mass media create a perfect image look to women that they have to look have beautiful skin or hair or have to be a certain size like the images of women that you see in pictures on the internet or in magazines which creates the pressure for women to want to look like this. When in real life these women really don’t look that way, the pictures are airbrushed to create that perfect image look, and this look is also very unhealthy and unrealistic (Unknown, 2012).

Some other myths about body image include; a positive body image means you’re also impervious to societal and media messages. This means that you are resistant to the messages that mass and social media are trying to tell you to lose weight. The media is a strong force which can lead consumers into believing what they should eat or drink in order to have a certain body type. The second myth about body image is; a deeply entrenched negative body image won’t budge. This means that because so many women do not like the way their body looks, we tend to think this a normal for any women to think that way no matter what her body image is. However it is not normal because it is not natural. We are made to think that way with both mass and social media leading us to think that our bodies need to look a certain way which makes it hard for women to like the way they look (Tartakovsky, 2011).

Reference Page

Tartakovsky, M. (2011). 3 body image myths we keep on believing. Retrieved from

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/weightless/2011/07/3-body-image-myths-we-keep-on-believing/

Unknown. (2012). Society, media, and body image. Retrieved from

http://personalispolitical.tripod.com/soc1.html