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| http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Leave-Beaver-The-Complete-Series/13428
The Life of a 1950’s
Teenager by Richard Powers discusses how ridiculously conservative American
adults’ views were toward teenagers. Powers discusses two phases adults used to
categorize teenagers. The first phase was marginalization. “Teens were
marginalized by the adults, who didn’t want to be bothered with the very
different values the teenagers held.” Adults felt that the teenagers were rebelling
and questioning. This rebelling and questioning was not how the adults were
raised, so they could not understand. When the adults of the 1950’s were told
to perform, they did so with no questions asked.
The second phase of categorization was condemnation of
self-expression that didn’t conform to conservative societal norms. Adults
blamed these ideas of self-expression on Rock and Roll or, as it was referred
to back then, the Devil’s music. This condemnation extended beyond individual
households to society as a whole. New rules, regulations and prohibitions were
established to limit teenage self-expression. If a male went to school with his
hair touching his ears he could be expelled. Girls were not allowed to wear
pants and guys could not wear jeans.
Despite these categorizations and limitations, life as a
1950’s teenager doesn’t seem to be that bad compared to what teenagers face
today. Those kids watched Elvis shake his hips and thought that was provocative.
Contemporary teens have thousands of television channels and the internet at
their finger-tips. On afternoon TV, it is not uncommon to see a drunken girl fellating
a banana, while half naked in a hot tub with multiple men. The 1950’s were a time of censorship, but they
didn’t have the social issues we face today: schools being shot up, kids being
killed for wearing the wrong color and kids just having a total lack of
respect. When I was younger I thought parental censoring was wrong, and I
always tried to push the limits. Now that I am a parent I try to censor what my
kids are exposed to.
Damn, when did I become old?
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