Our reading on theater suggests that the entertainment industry had a certain amount of independence from politics. That is, they could subtly insert a message into their writing to critique or satirize the Cold War or Communism. However, this is not permanent, as we see playwright like Arthur Miller face HUAC's interrogations.
But also, the government seems to be catching on to the large sphere of influence that entertainment (especially film and television) can have over American thought. How does the government start to adapt media-like policies to send its own messages across? Why, then, does the government focus so strongly on education? Does the government see it as having a similar influence to entertainment? How so?
It seems like the government used art as a method to do diplomacy business, and it is a way to express the feeling against other nations. The government focus so strongly on education in order to build a strong mind in kids that had absolute belief in the government. At the same time, entertainment at that time was used by the government for certain purposes and, of course some artists might have done their own art, entertainment is a both internal diplomacy and external diplomacy. That's all I want to say today, I am really tired :p
ReplyDeleteIt seems as if the government sends its message across in all kinds of media whether it was the increasingly popular television or art or anything else in this age because, as the article states, this era was a time of "accelerated consumerism" In other words, at this point in time people would buy into anything they heard or saw. Education was also the primary method of spreading the "american" thoughts/ideas because it targets the most vulnerable part of the population: the youth. This almost reminds me of the way the youth were exploited in Nazi Germany. Just like in Germany, the american children are extremely susceptible to all kinds of ideas and by educating children at a young age, government has the power to develop future generations that think and act in certain "americanized" and "anticommunist" ways.
ReplyDeleteI think more than sending a message the government simply scared it's people to the point where the media reflected what the people felt. A lot of these songs were based off of the idea of bombs, and fear of infiltration. I think that yes on one hand the government helped control what view point on Communism and how they could not out right say anything against it. They did this by adding actors and writers to the "black list" . Also, they had HUAC to help regulate it more. But honestly more than manipulated control I see fear being showed in the people. Fear of getting hit by a bomb, fear of the communists. This I believe the government did lead to by implanting that seed of fear since they were young. They showed them how to hide under tables incase of an atomic bomb for heavens sake. These people really did scare the children. Although their attempt perhaps was more too help them cope with the constant fear around them.
ReplyDeleteI think culture has free will in producing whatever they want. I think the government can try and regulate culture but that is about as much of an impact as they will have. In America, because of all the freedoms, people can pretty much express themselves however they want. But that is not too say that many of the entertainers had similar beliefs as those in government. Like the fear of communism can be indirectly shown through The Crucible and The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. There are also entertainers that have completely different ideals, and represent those in their films too. The government focuses so much on education because if they implement the right ideals, or what they think to be right, they don't have to worry about a future opposition. Education should help developing minds make and form the right opinions about certain standpoints.
ReplyDeleteThe government used media-like policies to send its own message across because by using media outlets, they were able to control the people’s knowledge, therefore limiting their reaction. The government focuses so strongly on education because it is a way to ingrain their message into children at a young age. This allows the government to have true, dedicated followers. I think education is used as a similar influence to entertainment because they are both ways to censor information being presented to the public.
ReplyDeleteI think that the government influences the culture and it just ends up perpetuating a cycle that can only be broken by a new political/cultural event. The media then began to be used by the government as a medium for influencing popular opinion. The government focuses so strongly on education as it is in the early years of learning that we get nailed into us the core ideas of this nation; in this case being that communism is bad. I remember when we were young and had to recite the pledge of allegiance to the flag every day (I still think we should) and listened to patriotic videos and songs.
ReplyDeleteI think the government starts to adapt media-like policies to send its own messages across to scare the people. I agree with Giselle the media reflected how the people felt. By creating these horror films and other television shows it created false senses and analogies for what would happen or what could happen if the communist took over. The government then focuses on education so strongly because they feel like they need to embed a good sense of values in the younger children. They want to teach the children what is right and what is wrong, they do not want the influence of the blacklist or communist to persuade them.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I think that the government starts to adapt media policies to prove to the people that the government has control over every aspect of life and that they can still control the people. I agree with Anni when she says that the government is trying to scare the people because if you look back in history, fear is the number one source of power that politicians used. When it comes to education, the government is trying to get the children while they are young and enforce their beliefs on the children of the country and try to persuade them that they are right.
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely a mutual relationship between the culture and government, even though the government tends to take more control over the culture. Each time there is a dissonance (possible pro-communist) in the culture, the government will quell it down. For example, movies like "The Grapes of Wrath" and books like "Naming Names" all "disappeared in the initial Cold War period." The government also indoctrinates the media with entertainments such as western movies and comedy. The government reacts when the culture dose not obey the government's direction; The culture is changed by the government when the government feels threatened. Therefore the government and the culture influence each other neutrally.
ReplyDeleteThe government also recognized the importance of education. It instigates many patriotic daily policies to rear children in an all american environment. For example, until 1943, the schools had the right to compel students to say the pledge regardless of religion or citizenship. The government's endorsement of these policies can be interpreted as propaganda or mind manipulation. The government realized that children is malleable and pliable. Therefore, it is pivotal to built their mind with a strong American basis.
I found a weird contradiction in the blacklisting of the 1940s and the 1950s. The American people were in a frenzy. In the middle of the Cold War, people hated communists, and they often feared that communists had already infiltrated American art, music, theatre, and even government. The HUAC was given the power to accuse everybody and anybody of being a communist without having any proof. Many playwrights, actors, and producers were blacklisted because of how their works were interpreted. However, the Crucible was made. This was a movie which used the Salem Witch Trials to acknowledge the frenzy that everyone was in, and criticize the power of the HUAC. It was made to show how bad things can get when you allow people to be accused and persecuted without evidence. Somehow, this production did not come under criticism by the HUAC. I just found that weird. On another subject, the government has always used fear, strength, and nationalism to control people. They tend to start this at a very young age. Education, they constantly teach us that most of what America does is right, and that any nation that disagrees is wrong. It's an ingenious plan, and probably one of the best ways to combat communism. Our foreign policy for it is contain it; domestically, we just discourage it. And if you are constantly reiterating and embedding the idea that "Communism is bad", you are growing a nation of people who will hate it, starting from when they're in elementary school.
ReplyDeleteThe government used media-like policies to get there point across effectively. They tried scaring the people into thinking that communism was bad and they wanted everyone to be aware and to check up on there neighbors. Because the government tried preventing communism within America.they tried targeting the children, but not obviously they tried hinting them throughout television and advertisement. Like everyone's saying fear was important, the government was informing the country with negative things about communism which scared the average person. They wanted to send a message to children and parents that there will be no communism.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Cold War, again people feared literally everything because of the Communism wave that was going on in the US. The government took advantage of that and used the media to scare people even more. Those type of films like were made in order to scare people even more and dramatize more the situation. They did not want communism to invade the planet and that was their way to get more people to their side. For instance, they made them believe that alliens would invade the earth if the communist block kept expanding.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, it is sort of contradictory that education was so important and was given a big value while they were teaching on the media wrong things like alliens invasions. Education was a big thing however because they wanted the younger generations to be against communism. Thus, the education was very biased obviously and ideological towards capitalism to gain more support.
the government and its control over the media and the people is far to prevalent. the media is constantly feeding the populace subconscious messages to curve the opinion and values of the public. this is a overbearing and morally wrong act that the government abuses to force its motives and priorities forth.
ReplyDeleteIn the late 1940's and beginning of 1950's, anti-communist hysteria was all over the united states. The whole culture was permeated with anti-communism. Not only did the film industry blacklisted communist sympatizers but also there were very few films defending the free speech of defenders of leftist political views. Plus, by late 1950's, movies were no longer attracting significant attention to the population. Movie goers declined by 50% and television watchers increased by 80%. Through television, the government promoted anti-soviet passions and supported the US defense and foreign policy. However, when soviet launched the Sputnik, the faith of US shattered. Therefore, the NDEA provided 300 million over 4 years for science, math, foreign language to enable the younger generation to defeat soviet technological process.
ReplyDeleteThe government used media policies to send its messages so that they could communicate to the people and control what they were seeing and hwo they would react to it. I agreee with everyone else that the media definitley effectted how people felt. Politicans definitley used fear to control the people and get the people to believe and go along with what they wanted them to believe. The government played it smart and targeted the young and staarted from the beginning controlling what everyone was seeing and belieinv.g
ReplyDeleteIt was a time where ever-increasing amounts of people were switching to household televisions. The written word as a form of mass media was already beginning to die. The government realized that this powerful new medium of information had to be controlled. It could spread Communism and dissent as easily as patriotism and support for the existing social order. So the HUAC rooted out communist producers, sifted through scripts, and generally purged any support of Communism out of the media. Since print was already losing popularity, it was safe from this witch hunt.
ReplyDeleteThe government also focused on indoctrinating the nation's children in public schools because the youth have malleable minds and could be easily swayed to support government policies. Public schools also held many immigrants, who by definition had questionable loyalties. So the forced inculcation of American values and history bolstered national unity, pride, and 'allegiance' among public school students. Just as the entertainment business has a strong influence on the general public's opinions, government policies in schools have a strong influence on the youth.
In the late 1940s, when cold war just started, the entertainment industries were definitely influenced by government and communism. At first, movie makers had the freedom to express what they wanted to say and how they feel about communist. However, many of them had the meaning of penetrating communism. Government saw the strong influence of media on people. McCarthy as the head, started to blacklist Hollywood actors and directors. Government even started to control media industry to "control" people's mind. Controlling education was definitely seemed as effective. Letting children learn how to react to nuclear war is a comfort to children since many singers sang H-bomb and spread fears about nuclear war. In that era, mind control was definitely significant on movie, television and education.
ReplyDeleteThe government took advantage of the popularity of films and movies after seeing the influence music had in the youth after 1956, and the great popularity on musical films of the 40s and 50s. Through music, they could reach the generation with the most potential power, and through movies, they could spread war messages in a family-friendly way. Vinyl records with war messages would be played over and over on portables and turn top tables, and people would come in masses to see movies with underlying war messages like Dr. Strangelove. Moreover, these movies had big household names like John Wayne, Henry Fonda, and Kirk Douglas, which encouraged people to watch them even more. It was celebrity placement.
ReplyDeleteThe government put so much focus into education, because that was their biggest outlet to reach out to all youth and teach them their messages. All children were required to go to school (albeit, the law wasn't as harsh on truants are they are today), so their messages could be wiped in their faces everyday. Messages about war and being drafted were spread in school. Popularity of the Boy Scouts came back for War Preparation. It's the same today, if not worse. At least 5 times a year, the local public schools are required to attend presentations on public health, "anti-drug education" and "anti-bullying", and every two months (and in middle school, once a month), students are required to go to lectures on school rules and what "subordination" is and the consequences. Students are given awards for things the government deems as elements of a satisfactory performance. Good grades are not based upon how intelligent you are, but how well you can memorize and recite things that are taught in school. It doesn't matter if you understand it-- as long as you repeat it and follow it. This is exactly what the government would like to see in a future, manipulable, silent, obedient citizen...in the 60s, and today.