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How Did Life Magazine Reshaped American Culture

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Americans are now in a time when news can be received instantly through televised news broadcasts, the radio, or countless social media apps. But that wasn’t always the case. In fact, it wasn’t too long ago that Americans were reading the newspaper and learning about current events through magazines. One of those magazines, called Life Magazine, greatly influenced culture in America during the 1900s. Life Magazine reshaped the American middle-class lifestyle by glorifying a suburban household. During and after its creation, Life Magazine focused on informing and educating the middle class through photographs. With the rise of urbanization and pop culture in the early 1900s, Americans were looking for new ways to stay connected and updated on …show more content…

During a time of political, social, and economic upheaval from The Great Depression, Life Magazine presented consumption as a form of escapism from American hardships. Life especially focused on interior decorating and home buying for the middle class. To do this, “Life commissioned model homes from architects who designed homes from traditional to contemporary” (Webb 30). These model homes were shown in different styles and separated into different class-based incomes. By doing this, Life Magazine was able to separate the classes and advertise for each specific group. However, because Life was mostly focused on the middle class, they encouraged other classes to become middle class. “…although the editors presented class boundaries as definable, they also showed how standards could be adopted; thus defined, they also became permeable, as once boundaries were marked, they could be crossed” (Webb 28). By solely focusing on the middle-class lifestyle, Life created the true middle-class ideal: a family living in a large suburban home. This ideal spoke to many middle-class Americans as it presented an opportunity in the middle of economic hardship. Life continuously presented the idea that “to purchase a home is to be a good citizen, to be patriotic” (Webb 29). By presenting home buying as the “American Dream,” Life created a new suburban audience that was driven by consumerism. With this new consumer-based audience, Life presented the readers with the “new” to decorate their

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