Today’s Topic: The Beginnings of Pop Culture

Turn of the “Modern Century”1900s

1.) When & How did we become a nation consumed by Popular Culture?

2.) Who is the Father of Pop Culture?

In order to create Popular Culture….

People need:

More Free-Time!TO PARTICIPATE

IN POP CULTURE

More Money!TO SPEND

CONSUMING POP CULTURE

Late 1800s America:

In order for something to be popular, lots of people have to

know about it.At the Turn of the 20th Century (1900s):

Q: What are some things preventing people from taking part in pop culture?

• Long work hours = don’t have time for it• Low pay = can’t afford to be part of it• Uneducated = can’t read about it, can’t learn about it• Lack of movement = hard to spread ideas

True or False: Henry Ford invented the car.False!• 1672 = Ferdinand Verbiest created the first steam powered “vehicle”• Designed a steam propelled trolley as a toy for the emperor

• 1769 = Nicolas Cugnot designed the world’s first working self-propelled vehicle• Weighed 2.5 tons• 2 rear tires, 1 front• Seated 4 passengers• Speed: 2 mph

David Dunbar Buick

Karl BenzWalter Chrysler

Ransom E. Olds

• July 30, 1863 -- April 7, 1947• Did not invent automobile, but developed the first automobile that

Americans could afford• Helped to develop the assembly line technique of mass production• In 1914, sales passed 250,000. By 1916, sales reached 472,000. • By 1918, half of all cars in America were Model T's.

Henry Ford: The Father of Pop Culture

Mass Production

Henry Ford’s Assembly Line!

• Long work hours = don’t have time for it

• Low pay = can’t afford to be part of it

• Uneducated = can’t read about it, learn about it

• Lack of movement = hard to spread ideas

8 hour work day = more leisure time

Paid $5/day; provided housing

Hello, he invented the car

Better Pay = kids don’t work and go

to school

Detroit = Motor City

The “Sunday Drive”

96 people died in 1900 from car accidents

Cars influenced fashion:

Pre-1900s ideal woman: “Gibson Girl” (personification of the feminine ideal of beauty)

Before Cars

Hobble Skirt

Before Cars After Cars

The 1st Motion Pictures(Turn of the 20th Century)

Obj:• Describe early films of the 1900s

Pop Quiz! 1.) Who is Pop Culture’s Daddy?

2.) Explain why this person can be called the Dad of Pop Culture.

3.) How did the popularity of the car change women’s fashion?

4.) Name 1 other car manufacture in existence during the early 1900s.

5.) Define pop culture.

More Free-Time!

Turn of the centurypeople now had…

More Money!

FACTS 1900-1919Population:  92,407,000

Life:  Male 48.4   Female: 51.8

Average Salary  $750 / year Unemployed 2,150,000

Union Membership: 2.1 million Strikes 1,204

Attendance @ Movies 30 million per week

Divorce:  1/1,000 Vacation:  12 day cruise  $60

Whiskey $3.50 / gallon, Milk $.32 / gallon

Who made the first

movie??

Early Films…Let’s Watch

• The First Motion Picture Ever Made? The Horse In Motion (1878)

Eadweard Muybridge

Early Films…Let’s Watch

• Or was it… Roundhay Garden Scene (1888)

• Louis Le Prince

Early Films…Let’s Watch

• But undeniably the first popular moving picture show was

The Great Train Robbery (1903)

• Edwin S. Porter

1915:$110,000 to makeMade $10 million

D.W. Griffith

Early Films…Let’s Watch

• Or was it… Birth of a Nation (1915)• Silent drama film based on the novel and play The Clansman• Shows the relationship of two families in Civil War and Reconstruction-

era America (pro-Union Northerners and pro-Confederacy Southerners)• Released on February 8, 1915 and presented in two parts, separated by

an intermission• Film also shows the Lincoln’s assassination by John Wilkes Booth

• NAACP protested at premieres and riots broke out when film was shown• Basic message of the film:

• Reconstruction was a disaster• Blacks could never be integrated into white society as equals• Violent actions of the KKK were justified in order to reestablish an honest

government

• Film also suggested that the KKK restored order to post-war South