An Examination of The Impact of Bizarre Trends in the 20th century
by Samuel Walter, Nicolas Aldana, Joshua Grey, and Chandler Clemmons
American pastimes can become odd. The goal of this paper is to explain how these odd pastimes affect Americans on a cultural level. While a brief explanation of these wacky activities will be included, the other material (the video) is designed with the intent of explaining the nuances and histories of these trends.
Many activities today seem ludicrous and unnecessary. Aspects of popular culture, like heightened sarcasm and irony, seem to be perfectly paired with modern fads, like the latest dance move or viral video. However, it is not that the current attitude shapes the kind of trends that become popular, but that the plethora of trends that lean toward the current atmosphere of pop culture skew the environment into becoming what it has. This is the case for all times. While one could view six day racing or hunkering as windows into a time period, these trends played a more profound role as being part of the entertainment that shaped that time period. And, even though these trends seem bizarre and hilarious now, they were taken seriously by people then. After all, eventually all fads seem out of date and funny in the worst way.
The beginning of the 1900s predated the massive use of the radio, and as such the amount of culture constant across the US was limited. The main connector was a party game called “face book” which, besides being the name for a twenty first century website, created an atmosphere at parties which leaked out into social life. The goal of the game was for everyone to attempt to draw the faces of other guests, and, since not everyone could draw, bad caricatures became the punchline of the evening. This decade was the beginning of the progressive era under Theodore Roosevelt, but the day to day life had shifted. Now that fewer people were being exploited, more could afford to have small get-togethers. Because of this a party game for people of all economic status developed, face book, which in turn began to change the generation’s sense of humor. This was the era where the caricature style of political cartoons took flight, where many drawn aspects of popular culture became less artistic and more humorous. The game created a relaxed atmosphere about art, which exists to this day. While there is always a section of “serious” art, the existence of comic strips designed to convey a joke would not be as funny looking without the lasting effects of this bizarre game.
In the 1910s, the trend was a fashion based one. Hobble skirts were skirts designed to flow out, and then severely tighten around the ankles, forcing the wearer to walk as if on a tightrope. This constrictive trend fell from French fashion, and it revitalized the idea of a physically limited gender barrier. In the Colonial era, the “Cult of Domesticity” essentially ensured that women were to look pretty and do little, but as time went on, and people came to their senses about the absurdity of this, clothes became less restricting, and more and more rights were gained as well. In this period, while much work still had to be done to reach equality, a seemingly de facto imposition of the women descended in America, likely due to popular fashion being little better than shackles around the ankles.
18