chosehumanity (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chosehumanity) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2009-09-29 11:31 am
chosehumanity) wrote in fandomhigh2009-09-29 11:31 am
World Wars in the Media, Tuesday
"The thing about the Great War was," Mitchell said, sounding both upbeat and subdued at the same time - no mean feat, "That nothing really got solved in the end. We saw a bit of that last week, but... there's a reason it's called World War I these days." He brought up his mug of coffee, and sipped. "Versailles might have ended it, but now everyone was looking to a world that was ruined, dirty, and messed-up. No wonder it spawned Film Noir - quite possibly the most cynical movie genre we've ever had, unless you count summer blockbusters - and the people who were young back then..."
He half-smiled. "Are now known as the Lost Generation. Everyone had scampered back home, and now we had to build things back up again. There's one thing to be said for it, though: the death of all of these men certainly sped up women's rights more than a bit." He cast the women in the room an amused look. "After all, all the factories had lost able-bodied workers, and who else were they going to turn to? The war had turned into the struggle at home, this struggle to reconnect, to find something that was as worthwhile as nationalism had seemed before everything went to pieces."
He put his mug down. "And that's how we got the Roaring Twenties," he said, once the noise of mug-to-table had reverberated. "Like all good times of prosperity, it was a time fueled by attempted repression. There had been a lot of lobbying for the prohibition of alcohol in the states already, and by the time they decided to jump into the world-wide conflict going on, most of the nay-sayers were being discredited. Why?" He looked around the class, then said, like it should've been obvious, "Well, some would say it's because a lot of those who disagreed had largerly German roots." He snorted. "Makes sense, yeah? So the bill passed, alcohol was outlawed, criminals and the surrounding countries flourished, all the workers got goin' in the factories, the European and American economies got all tangled up as everyone threw themselves into the rebuilding effort, and the world finally blossomed." He made a gesture like an expanding balloon.
Then he dropped his hands like said balloon was actually a souffle that flattened. "Right up until the stock markets crashed and we plummeted into the Great Depression. We're not here to talk about when times were good - or, if you're adverse to mass law infractions and the war on the mafia, highly lethal - but about war. This was a time of elation: music and dance flourished, film started to come into its own, people celebrated the fact that the bad times seemed to be over-- which is also a great recipe for missing the big things that are happening all around you."
He paused. "Today, though, I'd like you all to give it a try. Forget about your troubles. Forget about the German bloke lurking behind you in the hallway feeling like shit about what you've done, and plotting. Forget about the squabbles you might be having, the fact that there's illegality going on right where you're standing. Forget about war, put on some rose-coloured glasses, and dance. You've earned it."
That would have explained the dance floor, yes. And the instruction video he was about to put on.
"And then next week," he said, cheerfully, "We'll be talking about the German bloke we happily repressed to mute the whole time."
Yes, there was a lesson in here. Mitchell was subtle.
[[wait for the ocd up! ]]
He half-smiled. "Are now known as the Lost Generation. Everyone had scampered back home, and now we had to build things back up again. There's one thing to be said for it, though: the death of all of these men certainly sped up women's rights more than a bit." He cast the women in the room an amused look. "After all, all the factories had lost able-bodied workers, and who else were they going to turn to? The war had turned into the struggle at home, this struggle to reconnect, to find something that was as worthwhile as nationalism had seemed before everything went to pieces."
He put his mug down. "And that's how we got the Roaring Twenties," he said, once the noise of mug-to-table had reverberated. "Like all good times of prosperity, it was a time fueled by attempted repression. There had been a lot of lobbying for the prohibition of alcohol in the states already, and by the time they decided to jump into the world-wide conflict going on, most of the nay-sayers were being discredited. Why?" He looked around the class, then said, like it should've been obvious, "Well, some would say it's because a lot of those who disagreed had largerly German roots." He snorted. "Makes sense, yeah? So the bill passed, alcohol was outlawed, criminals and the surrounding countries flourished, all the workers got goin' in the factories, the European and American economies got all tangled up as everyone threw themselves into the rebuilding effort, and the world finally blossomed." He made a gesture like an expanding balloon.
Then he dropped his hands like said balloon was actually a souffle that flattened. "Right up until the stock markets crashed and we plummeted into the Great Depression. We're not here to talk about when times were good - or, if you're adverse to mass law infractions and the war on the mafia, highly lethal - but about war. This was a time of elation: music and dance flourished, film started to come into its own, people celebrated the fact that the bad times seemed to be over-- which is also a great recipe for missing the big things that are happening all around you."
He paused. "Today, though, I'd like you all to give it a try. Forget about your troubles. Forget about the German bloke lurking behind you in the hallway feeling like shit about what you've done, and plotting. Forget about the squabbles you might be having, the fact that there's illegality going on right where you're standing. Forget about war, put on some rose-coloured glasses, and dance. You've earned it."
That would have explained the dance floor, yes. And the instruction video he was about to put on.
"And then next week," he said, cheerfully, "We'll be talking about the German bloke we happily repressed to mute the whole time."
Yes, there was a lesson in here. Mitchell was subtle.
[[
Re: Dance!
After a moment she added, "What's spazzy? Another type of dance?"
Re: Dance!
Re: Dance!