1950s Youth Culture Essay

1950s nostalgia heavily influenced culture in the 1970s. The 1970s saw a big revival of 1950s music and films with “oldies” radio stations becoming popular, and people watching Howdy Doody again (Guffey, 2006). This revival was surprising resonate with teenagers who formed subcultures inspired by the 1950s revival media. Thus, the 1950s revival media impacted the fashion of the 1970s as these youth subcultures developed dawning 1950s styles of dress, and inspiring postmodern interpretations of 1950s fashion with the decade.

Youth Culture during the 1970s played a significant role in popularizing the 1950s through their mentality and commercial market influence. Youth culture strongly identified with individualism especially as it came to self-expression.

1950s music saw a revival on the heel of Elvis's comeback in 1968 and bands like Sha Na Na becoming popular after Woodstock. This expanded greatly in the early 1970s as performance media caught on and American Graffiti was released along with Grease debuting on Broadway (Ryan, 2015). For the older population, the revival was popular as it made them nostalgic for their childhood (Guffey, 2006). For teens, the 1950s revival played a different role in their lives. These pieces of media along in addition to music craze fulfilled the two things that were important to teens at this time: identity and escapism. The nostalgia framing of the revival allowed them to avoid “present realities for a sweetened memory of the past” (Shary cited in Brickman, 2014, p. 45). Teens perceived the 1950s as happier times before all the turmoil of the modern day (Guffey, 2006). On the identity front, Grease and American Graffiti provided 1970s teens with teen representation they could relate to. As on teenage girl told Life magazine, “those greasers were the first freaks,” (Life, 1972, p. 42). This sentiment highlights how teens found a sense of belonging and understanding in 50s revival media as a part of their search to define themselves. They saw themselves in the characters and that sense identification led them to replicate the characters in their fashion choices. University and college students, such as North Dakota State and the University of Chicago began to have greaser days, and sock hops, instead of traditional dances. Teen boys began slicking back their hair and styling it in the iconic greaser quiff. They also started to wear leather jackets and high-waisted slim-legged trousers for these events. Girls were seen wearing garments like retro-style cheer uniforms and letterman sweaters while styling their hair in a ponytail (Life, 1972; Malcolm,1971). Teens were having fun with 1950s fashion, and it wasn’t just in America.