The eventful 20th century shaped modern world in the way we see it nowadays; and the eventful second decade of the last century mostly shaped modern America. The 1920s were marked by a great number of social, cultural and economic changes in the USA and this period is truthfully known as the Roaring Twenties. Victorian morality passed away, while brand new ethic and social types of behavior were gaining their strength. The economy was growing; the cities were expanding, becoming the megalopolises; automobiles became available not only for rich, and the phenomenon of mass culture has swept the country. The Roaring Twenties have had a direct effect on me too: while living in the 21st century, I am (and the whole global community as well) the representative of the society of consumption and the consumer of mass culture products.
The 1920s were indeed crazy and rich years. The decade has brought new fashion, hairstyle and clothing to both women and men. Women were given more rights as well as ethnic and sexual minorities. What happened in the scientific, artistic and social spheres of life was truly a revolution: new technologies included radio, washing machine, vacuum cleaner and sound movie; advanced engineering helped Charles A. Lindbergh to make the first fly across Atlantic Ocean; medicine presented insulin and penicillin; literature gave the society Francis S. Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, meanwhile jazz opened such great musicians as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington (“Roaring Twenties” United States History). Further, everything listed above (media and technology, literature and music, theatre and cinema, automobiles and airlines; drugs and vitamins) was becoming the products of mass consumption.
As soon as people felt free to purchase plenty of things – from the cinema ticket and to automobile – they started to fill their lives with these goods. And I fill my life with many of different things too – starting with mobile technologies (phone or laptop) and ending with the products of mass culture (new films and sitcoms, books and music). Nowadays society is united around the same things, goods and products, ideas and styles, and as a part of this society I want to conclude that the phenomenon when people have the same interests and are able to purchase the same things, thus consume them, is the merit of the 1920s. The Roaring Twenties not only invented new technological devices, models of behavior, and mass culture, they also made it possible for everyone to use all these inventions. Thereby, the impact of this historical period on me is complex, and in general it includes consumerism as a part of life and in particular - the consumption of the products of mass culture.
References
Roaring Twenties. (n. d.). In United States History. Retrieved from http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1564.html
