1:00-2:15P     TR     WH101

World War II changed everything.  In the fifteen years after the war
ended, fundamental beliefs in American society were challenged.  The
war had caused Americans to believe that they were a nation of good
citizens who defeated the evil empires of Germany and Japan and that
the postwar world would be a period of peace and prosperity.
Americans saw themselves as noble men who fought a good war, devoted
women who supported their families, and eager consumers who would
enjoy the material benefits of a consumer society.  After winning the
war the Americans saw themselves as patriotic, selfless, family
oriented people who were in store for a better life.

The events of the postwar period, however, upset optimistic visions of
the future.  New anxieties over the violent nature of all men who had
fought in the war, over the existence of atomic bombs, and over the
behavior of teenagers now worried citizens who had expected more
tranquility in the postwar era.  Old ways were suddenly under attack.
Barriers to racial integration were falling apart and the press was
filled with a sense of "panic" over revelations of sexual crimes and
violence in American society.   This changing culture was often
reflected in films of the late 1940s that reflected a more somber,
darker view of American society.  In this new postwar climate of
change, a new version of American manhood became popular.  Men like
Marlon Brando and Elvis Presley conveyed images of sexual excitement
and individual fulfillment that stood in stark contrast to the
veneration of marriage and sacrifice that characterized the wartime
era.  Elvis, in a sense, emerges in 1954 as a marker of a new age, one
less interested in the sacrifices that war and marriage had required.

The course will consist of lectures, films, discussions, and readings.
We will analyze American life from the era of World War II until the
late 1950s.   We will view films like Its a Wonderful Life, A
Streetcar Named Desire, and Blackboard Jungle.  Students will read
several books, including Peter Guralnick's, Last Train to Memphis: The
Rise of Elvis Presley.   There will be at least two essay exams and
some writing assignments that require the integration of material from
films, lectures, and readings.