processes and new forms of transportation enabled consumer goods to be produced in huge numbers and distributed around a country or across the world these changes also enabled culture such as films and music to be circulated in the same way Before that time culture was aimed at wealthy people in cities who attended theaters or concert halls or was produced by people on a local scale to entertain friends and neighbors Mass media culture Pop culture as we know it today would be impossible without electronic mass media like radio and TV to distribute it to a wider audience Mass media means that huge numbers of people can be aware of cultural trends and products at the same time such as when hearing a song on the radio or watching a popular program on TV Postwar pop culture The 1940s and 1950s were an important period in the development of pop culture as we know it today World War II raged from 1939 to 1945 claiming millions of lives and bringing huge changes to societies around the world The outbreak of war had temporarily halted the development of a new medium of communication that would bring popular culture into people’s home as never before Televisions were very rare in the 1940s
but by 1959 they had become established as part of living rooms across the world The period also saw changes in technology and society that influenced and in turn were influenced by popular culture When World War II came to an end cinemas and dance halls were the main places to go for entertainment Did you know Today we take for granted that pop culture is often produced distributed and consumed using computers and the Internet In the 40s and 50s computers were huge machines used by governments and the military One of the first electronic computers unveiled in 1946 weighed 30
tons and had a tiny fraction of the processing power of even the simplest modern PC 2
Culture in the Shadow of War The 1940s were dominated by World War II Popular culture of the period was profoundly affected whether in reflecting the horrors of the war itself or in giving people a way to forget about the war and the dangers that they and their loved ones faced In order to win the war countries had to put all their resources behind the effort Some forms of culture like Britain’s early TV station were shut down for the duration of the war 1 Others including radio and many films were used to boost morale or deliver propaganda about the war effort The Holocaust The war cast a long shadow over popular culture Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jews had led many to seek refuge overseas before the war especially in the United States These Jewish immigrants were often highly educated and creative and they had a strong influence on postwar culture The Holocaust in which the Nazis murdered more than six million Jews homosexuals gypsies and others also had a big effect on culture in general as artists struggled to come to terms with and explain the Nazis horrific crimes
