History 2132A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Amusement Park, Illustrated Song, Social Relation
13 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
HIS 2132 MIDTERM
Readings
Sept 20/2016
HIP: The History
• Hip comes from:
o Hepi – to see & Hipi – to open ones eyes
o Hip is a term of enlightenment
• Hip represents the dream of America – a yearning to become
• Permeates mainstream daily life
• American autonomy
• Instant payoff
o A social relation
• Glorified self destruction
• Hip maintains some constant – a dance between black and white
• Hip thrives on juxtaposition
Hip has flourished in periods when it is needed:
1. 19th century
2. 1910/20s
3. After WWII
4. Urban collapse of 1970s
5. Internet
6. Now
Electric Dreamland: INTRO
• The amusement park and motion pictures
o Energized relaxation
o Calm fears about new technologies and living conditions of an industrialized society
• New technologically driven arenas for the consumption of pleasure in a modern industrial age
• Nickelodeon: venues that charged a nickel for continuous programs of movies, illustrated songs,
and live acts
• Movies made it possible to participate in shows that were both a national ritual of performance and
singular one time events
• Amusement parks and transcontinental railroads
o Entertainment also being able to travel around the country
• Amusement parks and movies helped “Americanize” Americans
o Brought urban modernity as a new perceptual experience to the population across the
country
• Modernity:
o Generally denotes the modern era
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Document Summary
Instant payoff: a social relation, glorified self destruction, hip maintains some constant a dance between black and white, hip thrives on juxtaposition. Hip has flourished in periods when it is needed: 19th century, 1910/20s, after wwii, urban collapse of 1970s. Its effects encompassed new economic and technological relationships for both cities and farms. Urban wonderlands: amusement parks helped to define a new concept of urban modernism, contained antidotes to the excesses of urban stimulation, amusement parks and segregation. Cinema of attractions : spectatorship of sensory fascination, movies excite the body without the accompanying threat of breaching the bodies integrity. Social discourses of the amusement park: audience participation, the interaction of strangers, and voyeurism were incorporated, new independent, unchaperoned, sexually relaxed courtship, atmosphere that encouraged loosening inhibitions, national adaptation to modern life. The spectacle of bodies on display: voyeuristic encounter with foreign otherness, live entertainment shows played to racist stereotypes.
