The 1950s in Pop Culture Versus The 1950s in Real Life

[TMC]

You often hear that the real 1950s was nothing like the 1950s portrayed in film and on TV and other forms of popular culture. Where was the disconnect? Were they trying to make the world brighter after the war?

I don't want to get too political around here, but since '50s were so long ago, was it really all about nostalgia from those that were alive during it, especially those that were teens or kids? It's kind of like how millennials today, like to romanticize the '90s (the end of the Cold War, good economy, pre-9/11, start of the internet, etc.). They remember it as some utopia when probably really it wasn’t.

I suppose that this started in the '70s, when the '50s nostalgia hit a high and people started to remember it as some utopia of "goodness and pureness" and no crimes, etc. And going back to the subject, this reason is why shows like Happy Days and films like American Graffiti were made.

[Vintage1947]

I was a kid growing up in the 50's and I remember it as a pretty happy time. Now grant it I was born in 1947 so it was my early years and I didn't reach my teen years until 1960 so the 50's for me were playing hopscotch and jacks and paper dolls with my girlfriends. It also was a time where parents didn't seem to be afraid to have a kid walk around to the Drug Store for them alone during the day. I also walked to school and also came home for lunch from school the first few years of school. It is because Mom stayed home. I remember getting excited when we would got out to dinner or take a trip. Of course there were worries in the world I suppose my parents dealt with everyday, but being a kid back then was fun.