Through the week, we discussed the topic of “Canada and Modernity” in the twentieth century. Within this topic, we focused on consumerism, pop culture, culture, and community throughout the articles we read. When reading these articles, it is evident that there is a link between gender and consumerism in a variety of ways, such as, automobiles and media in terms of film, radio, and books. In Jane Nicholas’ “Modern Girls and Machines: Cars, Projectors and Publicity” in the book The Modern Girl: Feminine Modernities, The Body, and Commodities in the 1920’s, Nicholas puts in perspective the idea of the “Modern Girl” being “cool by disposition, somewhat masculine in appearance, athletic, and mobile”[1]. In addition to this, how “the connection between women’s bodies, film, and the car… are woven together… [to form] a complex landscape that marked out both goods and bodies as modern and gendered”[2]. Nicholas talks about “a 1928 advertisement for Fisher car parts” which “reveals some of the connections between commodity culture, gender and the body”[3]. The advertisement uses car parts and the connection with female bodies and the key idea of “style” “as an advertising strategy”[4]. In addition to female’s bodies and cars, gender in the view of films was also evident in this article. “Movies… [exposed] a wide audience to popular fads and fashions… [and even influenced] how women behaved in public”[5]. The article suggests that “if movies lured young men and boys to violent actions”, then young women and girls would be influenced by sexual activity in films with the potential of the spread of venereal disease[6]. These points are also evident in the article “Popular Media in the Culture of English-Canadian Children in the Twentieth Century” by Neil Sutherland. Sutherland points out that the “sounds, and especially speaking and singing voices [of radios and family culture], swirl around [children], forming the context in which they begin to construct their growing sense of themselves”[7]and “acquired attitudes on gender”[8]. In terms of books, girls went away from the “gendered expectations and stereotypes… and envisioned themselves in active adventurous roles [in comic books]”[9]. Also in this article, Sutherland points out the difference in female and male’s outlooks on films and television; “boys identified themselves with leading male characters, especially when they were involved in vigorous activities”[10]. Whereas “girls… enjoyed the tender moments between romantic leads… [and] they carefully studied the hairstyles and clothing of attractive women”[11] which resulted in more interest of fashion and later consumerism. Both these articles have similarities to the article “Pop Goes the Culture” written by Mark J. Kurlansky. Kurlansky stated in his article that it is believed “that pop culture is manipulating us, reshaping our lifestyles, and molding our children”[12]. This statement echo’s some of the main points in the two previous articles, how new fads, consumption, advertisements, new technologies, etc. are manipulating our way of thinking, changing our overall lifestyle, and in addition, influencing the youth.
All the articles contribute to the main topic of discussion of the week, “Canada and Modernity” in the twentieth century. All three articles deal with the idea of consumerism, pop culture, culture, and community, which helps us to understand the Canadian past in the twentieth century, and in addition to this, contribute to the wider historiography on the topic “Canada and Modernity”.
Footnotes:
[1] Jane Nicholas, “Modern Girls and Machines: Cars, Projectors and Publicity,” in The Modern Girl: Feminine Modernities, The Body, and Commodities in the 1920s, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015: 184.
[2] Ibid., 184-185.
[3] Ibid., 187.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid., 193.
[6] Ibid., 195.
[7] Neil Sutherland, “Popular Media in the Culture of English-Canadian Children in the Twentieth Century,” Historical Studies in Education, 14, 1 (Spring, 2002): 5.
[8] Ibid., 6.
[9] Ibid., 15.
[10] Ibid., 23.
[11] Ibid., 23-24.
[12] Mark J. Kurlansky, “Pop Goes the Culture,” Taylor & Francis, 9, 6 (June 1977): 37.
Bibliography:
Kurlansky, Mark J. “Pop Goes the Culture”. Taylor & Francis, 9, 6 (June, 1977): 36-39.
Nicholas, Jane. “Modern Girls and Machines: Cars, Projectors and Publicity” in The Modern Girl: Feminine Modernities, The Body, and Commodities in the 1920s. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015: 184-210.
Sutherland, Neil. “Popular Media in the Culture of English-Canadian Children in the Twentieth Century”. Historical Studies in education, 14, 1 (Spring, 2002): 1-33.
