1950s Consumer Panacea
Posted in Discourse on Wed Sep 27, 06 by Kyle under Midcentury Modern and Film-Video.
A couple of posts back I looked at the concept of postalgia, a yearning for the future that never came to pass and presented a futuristic marketing film featuring an idealized panoply of mid-century modern goods and environs. In contemporary times midcentury modern design is often now considered as being emblematic of a clutter-free, pristine, meditative, and elegant era and existence. I have always thought that this was a curious characterization.
In my mind, albeit not having experienced it myself, the 50s was the decade when the tide towards the culture of consumerism and delight in acquisition of “stuff” was at its most eagerly accepted and heartfelt peak. If you look at preceding decades, privation was a much bigger part of peoples lives than in the 50s, even though popular styles of earlier decades were more elaborate. It makes me think that the coveted simplicity of midcentury modern pieces is really a foil for a vastly increased rate of consumption. Not that such pieces aren’t well designed or attractive, I just find it fascinating how styling is so good about twisting up and hiding aspects of an era and creating a sense of identity in people.
In light of that, as an interesting counterpoint to the perceived simplicity and restrained quality of design and the home in the 50s, I would like to show this film produced in the 50s by Redbook magazine promoting the suburban consumer lifestyle. Keep in mind that this film was produced as an extended advertisement for the magazine’s cross-promotional marketing campaigns and therefore is especially zestful in its glee for consumption. Even considering this, the film really does contradict the anti-clutter and anti-stuff aesthetic of today.
As with most propaganda films this particular piece of persuasive cinema has a hefty helping of ideology and loaded messages to analyze and unpack. Some of the highlights are the early efforts to create a lifestyle demographic, ie, “young adults” in the film’s parlance, the contrasting of the troubles of the world and city life with the peace and tranquility of the suburbs, and the fixed gender expectations and roles. And check out that housewife carrying out the 10lbs box of Tide detergent from the shopping mall!
The contrasting scenes of trouble are especially interesting having come out of nearly a decade of war and economic desperation in the 30s and 40s. Urban life is implicitly linked to these negative historic circumstances and events in the film. Here we have a parallel to the contemporary political buzzword/phenomenon of “security moms”. This is an attempt to create an easily identifiable and exploitable identity using a combination of a range of lifestyle and consumer choices with a smaller dose of social-political concerns.
On another side note, this film was sampled by Le Tigre in their song FYR on their album Feminist Sweepstakes. Listen for the “I wonder whether we could be happy in a place like that?” sample in the chorus of the song and the film. As for myself, I know the answer to that question. I wouldn’t be happy in a place like that. I’ll take the city with its crowding, old buildings, and no parking over the happy-go-spending suburbs any day.