Natasha Germana

Opinion Essay on the 60s

“An Acid Test for the Sixties: What was the Most Popular Culture?”

1. State the thesis of this essay and give three main points that the author used to defend his position. (5 marks)

The thesis of the essay is located near the end of the introduction paragraph:

“An entire generation has been defined by the experiences of a relatively, small elite. Most children of the sixties were neither ‘turning on’ nor ‘tuning out’… [They were] more likely to be found listening to the Four Seasons or the Supremes rather than burning the flag and communing with the Grateful Dead.”

The counterculture was not popular or commonly known to the population in the 60s, though when examining the 60s in retrospect the counterculture is of popular knowledge and context.

In the fourth paragraph, the author identifies the affect of counterculture music, and how it often replaces what was truly popular music in the decade. Bob Dylan was not fairly known, yet “Allen J. Matusow deems 9The Times They Are A-Changin’] a ‘generational anthem’ – despite the fact that it was not well-known to the masses of youth in the period following its release.”

The author focuses on the counterculture being a highly romanticized and purely interesting part of the population: “The story of the counterculture is probably the most interesting youth story of the 1960s, [though] it is not the dominant story…the counterculture was virtually non-existent.” The portrayal of the youth in the 60s was greatly distorted by the media, leaving the true mainstream unknown to many.

The small population of drug-using, radical bohemians often defines the 60s because of the effect this counterculture had on music, politics, and social change: “Too many historians and journalists have ignored the alternative voices to the counterculture. These voices, which were statistically in the mainstream, were consigned to the dustbins of history.”

2. Summarize the essay for me in one page. (10 marks)

When analyzing the sixties, a common perspective is placed upon the decade’s youth as being revolutionary hippies who smoked up, listened to Janis Joplin, participated in demonstrations, and stood up against the “Man”. The media, attracted to the intensity of the counterculture, and utilizing censorship to its advantage, portrayed this small elite as a mass population and mainstream culture. They idolized the counterculture and made it “The Sixties” – providing a laidback notion that everyone was a hippie and invoked peace and love.

Artists described as great creators of their time were hardly known and separate from the mainstream music of the Top 40’s Charts. Not everyone protested against the Vietnam War and the government’s actions, a great majority were indifferent or in support of the “police action”. The counterculture portrayed as the norm of 60s society became popular with the occurrence of Woodstock and was truly the mass culture of the 70s, not the 60s.

3. Do you agree or disagree with the position? Give examples to defend your position using points gleaned from this course. (10 marks)

Though it is evident that the counterculture of the 60s was influential in aspects of politics, social culture, and music, it was not the culture experienced by the majority of society. When generalizing the significance of the 60s historically, the mainstream is ignored in favour of the enlightening hippie culture. I believe that, though political and cultural change emerged from this small population, it should not wholly define the society of that decade.

In class we watched Across the Universe and Forrest Gump, which conveyed images of important movements and events that took place in the 60s. The similarity between these two films: they both examined the difference between the mainstream culture and the counterculture of this decade. Across the Universe displays a romance between Lucy, a typical clear-skinned, blue eyed blonde leading a suburban life of the mainstream culture, and Jude, a bar-hopping Brit, a part of the nomadic lower class, submerged into the counterculture. In Forrest Gump, the two polar cultures are enacted through the lives of Forrest and his life-long love interest, Jenny. Forrest leads a conventional life, living in and out of Alabama with his mother, going to war in Vietnam, and coming back as a decorated soldier. Jenny, on the other hand, led a life of drug-abuse and anti-war methods, traveling and exploring the highs and lows of the subversive counterculture through unconventional means. This correctly shows the two distinct cultures of the 60s, though one is preferably mediated over the over.

I agree with the author’s position on the cultures of the 60s, and how interest or fascination of one particular aspect in an era should not be glamourized; it falsifies history with projected images of a limited perspective.