Television In The 1960's Essay

The television had become very popular in the 1960’s because channels had started to be broadcasted in color. This made citizens want to watch the television more. However, only “15% of American homes” had color televisions. Broadcasting channels became very popular because they not only provided information about social issues, they also had new channels such as PBS. PBS was created to give children something educational to watch, which was not being broadcasted in that time. In the 1960’s, television was a main way to share ideas and social issues. This had been a major way to spread important ideas and topics in the 1960’s. This essay will address segregation, communism, and political views which were changed by the new technical advances

This was a time when people in the United States were afraid of communism infiltrating their country. Americans believed that if communism was to take over their country, it would take their freedom as well. Since the Red Scare was revered, Senator McCarthy began to search the film industry. This was because he had allegations that film makers and actors were secretly making films, which contained communist messages. People in the United States were deathly afraid of the communist party. They would create slogans saying “Better dead than red.” Communism changed the way people acted around others in the 1960’s. America’s citizens were probably very afraid because they didn’t want anyone to mistakenly identify them as a communist. This made people begin to turn on each other especially in the film industry. There was a blacklist that was created that had names of Hollywood actors and actresses that were accused of being communist. This list was created in the 1950’s although it lasted until the early 1960’s. This list made the film directors, actors, and actresses lose work because they were identified as “having ties or sympathies with the communist party.” Overall, the Hollywood blacklist damaged the careers of the people who worked in the film industry. One of the main reasons screenwriters, actors, and actresses were being labeled as communists in the film industry is because they began to “break the social taboos of violence and sex,” this made viewers have major controversy with the content being showen. The viewers were so afraid of communism they even made movies about it. Characters would be seen running away from communism because it was perceived as terrifying and horrible. The movie The Sound of Music was released in 1965. This movie portrays a young girl, Maria who must save her stepchildren from communism and safely get them out of the