1920 Culture

1920s were dynamic time in American history and often characterized as the “Roaring Twenties”. The early 20th century was an era of business expansion and progressive reform in the United States. Advance in technology played a huge role in bringing the great economic and cultural prosperity that America experienced during 1920s. Many inventions and discoveries changed American’s lifestyle significantly.

After the World War I and hard times, people had to find something to keep their minds off of what was happening in the real world. Films were one of the perfect solutions. Films were very popular in the 1920s among Americans and film industry also advanced during this time. The major studios who controlled the motion pictures were Warner Bros. Studios, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, RKO Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Fox Film Corporation (http://www.filmsite.org/20sintro.html). Films helped Americans to escape from the reality and gave imagination of their fantasy.

1920s were also known as the Jazz Age. Jazz did not conform to any rules that had previously governed music, and instead sought new directions and new way to express the changing face of the world (Philips, 2005). Jazz Age brought the beginning of a distinctive style of music, separate from its roots in ragtime and blues. Jazz was more popular in younger generations who created new fashions and hair styles. The young women set themselves free by wearing a short bob hair style and clothes that were shorter and expose their legs and knees who they called “Flapper”.

Invention of many new things such as automobile, electric iron, and indoor plumbing made women to spend less time working and more time for enjoyment. Flappers went to many parties, wore make-ups, smoked, and drank alcohol which was illegal by prohibition. That was how young women in 1920s expressed themselves through doing whatever they want. Of course older generations could not understand or accept the way they dressed or the way they behaved. I guess they have always followed the tradition and it was a kind of hard for them to accept the changes that had happened.

January 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment was put into effect and all importing, exporting, transporting, selling, and manufacturing of liquor was put to an end. Prohibition was meant to reduce the destruction of alcohol, seen by some as the devil’s advocate, and thereby reduce crime, poverty, death rates and improve the economy and the quality of life. However, The Prohibition amendment was ineffective because it was unenforceable. It caused more crimes than ever and increased