26946							BODNAR

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 people who fought a good war, were
devoted to 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.