What was funny in the 1950s?
Tom Lehrer was a mathematician and musician. He wrote smart, funny songs. I've put the one where he sings the periodic table of elements below for those of you who are studying chemistry right now as well as humanities. Other good songs by Lehrer include a nice little waltz called "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" and a song that would go well with our current fascination for zombies called "I Hold Your Hand in Mine."
And how can I forget "I Got it From Agnes"? It was so naughty for the time.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled serious scholarly pursuits.
And how can I forget "I Got it From Agnes"? It was so naughty for the time.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled serious scholarly pursuits.
Contemporary Movie posters reinvented 1950s style
Thanks Stephanie for this great find! See the rest of them here.
Here's looking at you, doll!
It turns out that lots of the people we've studied in Star-Gazing have been immortalized in the form of dolls. Sometimes it's creepy. See who you can recognize below!
Quentin Tarantino Loves the 1950s!
If you love Tarantino you probably already know that he has a real retro side and loves the 1950s (and 60s, and 70s..).
Here is a list of all kinds of references to the 1950s that appear in Pulp Fiction. Next time you watch it, you are going to get all kinds of references you didn't get the first time around. And, btw, the term "pulp fiction" comes from the 1950s and referred to cheap paperback novels that dealt with kind of trashy or sensational subjects. Read more about them here. The poster for the movie was designed to look like the cover of one of these cheap 1950s novels. |
Fun stuff around the web
Retro-tastic collage video featuring images from the fifties (and the sixties). Thanks Anna!
Canadian recording artists' songs that relate to our course!
Arcade Fire made a video (and even a short film) about the suburbs, electropop group Creature wrote about 1950s "sex kitten" Brigitte Bardot (listen to the song here) and hip hop artist Buck 65 put out a whole album inspired by the year 1957. The title song has dozens of references to things that were hip, hot or happening that year.
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Why you need to proofread!
Didactic Films
Didactic or educational films were very popular in the 1950s The video which won the Audience Choice Award at the Sundance festival is a parody of didactic films about the dangers of drugs. The aesthetic of this film is more influenced by the 1970s than the 1950s, but I thought you'd like to check it out.
1950 Number One Hits
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