Glenn Miller

Ross Kynast

Erika Kowall

Breanna Blaszczak

Taylor Warden

 

 

 

 

 

MYP Unit Question: How did culture, events and leadership shape and reflect post-WWII America?

 

Education

 

Education flourished in the 90s.  An unprecedented number of students enrolled into the public educational system.  30 million students were enrolled in public schools in the nation and more in private schools.  There were, however, many parents who would admit that, if they had the money, they would put their children into private schools instead of public.

 

 

            They wanted this because of the many underlying problems connected with public schools.  There were many school shootings in the 1990s, including columbine, and this rightfully worried many parents.  The debate on whether or not evolution would be taught in schools and this also divided many parents.  Affirmative action was turned down by voters and this debate is still volatile today.

 

         

 

 

 

Film and Theater 

      Film and theater in the 1990s included the start of reality shows such as the ever popular Beverly Hills 90210. These shows embodied realist lifestyles of high school students during the time. MTV became even more popular during this time period. Rupert Murdoch, a television

producer and a television station owner, was the media king of the 1900s. In the end of the 1980s and early 1990s he made the long difficult purchase of 20^th Century -Fox Film Productions. He then merged this corporation with several different other television stations that we owned and created Fox, Inc.

      Some popular television shows that made their first appearance in the 1990s were COPS, Beverly Hill 90210, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, ER, and Friends. These television shows were mainly sitcoms reality shows, and dramas.

      Some popular movies filmed in the 1990s were The Lion King, Titanic, and Dawson’s Creek. The films ranged from animated children’s movies to extreme dramas and love stories to teen-oriented films. In fact, the Titanic was the most expensive movie filmed at the time with a total cost of $200 million!!

     

     Theater and classical orchestra productions were also become quite popular to those people who enjoyed them. The most popular orchestra in the 1990s in America was the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra whose head conductor was James Levine. He eventually evolved his orchestra into a full theater show program. He also was able to get his orchestra on the television and the music was included in films within the time.  

      Theater in the 1990s was mainly plays. The types of plays ranged from dramas to musicals. One of the most popular drama that made Broadway history was John Guare'sSix Degrees of Separation , it was a play that described the relationship between physical closeness and mental behavior. There was also a strong message of AIDS and medical advancements and concerns in these plays. The play Angels in America directed by Tony Kushner was a play about AIDS. It was so informative and popular that it had to be separated into two parts.  There were also many aspects of culture and religion within these plays.

      Film and Theater in the 1990s created differentiating ideas within the media. The television shows, movies, films, plays, and orchestra productions created in the 1990s helped shape the pop culture of America in the 1990s. It also helped to evolve the media that we have today!  

 

 

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FASHION

   Fashion in the 1990s was mainly focusing on grudge and the last pieces of vintage. The style consisted of cargo pants, leather jackets, ruffle socks, bold colored clothes, petticoat dresses, miniskirts, high heels, short jackets, and tank tops.

      Many different specific looks evolved in the 1990s, mainly influenced by the type of music a person listened to during the time. In the 1990s clothes reflected the type of person you were and the type of things you enjoyed to do. These “looks” consists of: Punk, Goth, Sporty, and Baggy. All of these looks evolved from the music industry and made their way into the everyday lives of average Americans.

      Designer clothing was also becoming popular in the 1990s. Famous designers like Vera Wang, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger were climbing their way up into popularity in the American public. Designer fashion was considered in style and the 1990s was a time in which people showed off their style with expensive clothing.

      At the time casual wear became popular and acceptable to wear almost every day. This casual style consisted of jeans, t-shirts, sweat pants, blazers, cardigan coats, and knit wear. In the 1990s less was more!  

      Dark red wine colors and blues were popular for the colors of makeup during the 1990s. Jewelry was worn, but not in excessive. Hair Styles in the 90s were focused on angles, face-frames, and layers as well as big and sexy for women, and floppy, long, and wavy as well as shaved for men.

Fashion in the 1990s can be categorized as a change from in “huge” fashionable ideas into the “less huge” and sexier look. In the 1990s fashionistas were on the rise!

 

 

 

FOOD & DRINK

 

 

 

 

 

Print Culture

 

 

 

Printed literature during the 1990’s consisted of newspapers, books/novels, and magazines. Most of the context within these forms of print literature included information on immigration, racial tensions, historical memory, and politicization of sexuality. 

 

 

The availability of online books and audio books became increasingly popular with the American people over the 1990’s.  Not only did books and publishers make a move towards technology, newspapers also began to launch online editions to stay ahead.  More people were using the internet during this decade, causing a continuing revolution in online news media and novels.  Not only did the Internet progress during this time, the 1990’s was an important decade in the history of television.  With a larger variety of channels, news was easily accessed from television, instead of reading it out of a newspaper.  Literature took a turn from print, and added a new variation through the internet and television.  Even with alternatives, print literature still kept popularity throughout this decade. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPORTS AND GAMES

 

 

Sports became very competitive in the 1990’s. First, a female tennis player named Monica Seles was stabbed in the back during her match in Germany. Some key sports figures including Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, Cal Ripken Jr., Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Tiger Woods, and Lance Armstrong, all did very memorable things in the 1990’s. The Summer Olympics were also held in the Atlanta in 1996.  

 

        

   Jerry Rice caught his 100^th touchdown in November, 1992. Michael Jordan showed off his talents in multiple sports by switching back to professional basketball from professional baseball. Tiger Woods broke the record for best score at the Masters with 18 under par. Lance Armstrong, an American cyclist, comes back and wins the Tour de France, cycling’s major race, after battling testicular cancer. Finally, Michael Jordan is selected as the greatest North American Athlete of the 20^th century by ESPN.  

 

 

 

MUSIC 

 

Here are a few examples of different genres of music in the 1990s. Alternative Rock, Hard Rock, Hip Hop, and Pop.

 

 

Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden  

 

 

 

 

Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana  

 

 

 

Men in Black by Will Smith  

   

 

 

...Baby One More Time by Brittany Spears 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Way We Lived"

 

 

During the 1990s, many new concepts and objects were being created and utilized to their full potential. Among them being: The Internet. The 1990s led the "Internet Revolution". The so-called "Revolution" created the medium of E-Commerce. E-Commerce became big with names such as “E-Bay”, “Amazon”, and “Priceline”. In fact, online moguls believed that "the Internet will drastically alter the way business is conducted and affect every industry on the planet, primarily by empowering consumers in ways unimaginable before the advent of the new computer technology."

 

Additionally, the "Internet Revolution" led to cyber campaigning. “’E-Campaigning has been upgraded from novelty to necessity,’ wrote Howard Fineman, the political correspondent for Newsweek. ‘Candidates must now compete in the wilds of the Web,’ Fineman continued, ‘a world with its own rules. Politics and governing may never be the same.’”

 

Even with the Internet being as popular as it was, things that were not digital were also big. "Launched by H. Ty Warner in 1993, Beanie Babies emerged as one of the hottest collectibles for kids and grown-ups alike."

 

However, a pandemic was also striking the nation. A "luxury fever" which "was a 'national culture of upscale spending.'" And this fever caused the crazes of coffee (specifically coffee houses) and gambling. “Gambling and spending became two of Americans' favorite pastimes during the 1990s. Wagering enjoyed both phenomenal growth and spawned feverish protests.”

 

To make money and have luxuries, one needs a job. This was not always easy. “Throughout the 1990s executive pay and stock prices soared while wages slumped and jobs disappeared. As a result, average Americans worked longer hours, often at more than one job, just to keep their economic and financial heads above water.”

 

Unfortunately, the 1990s was not all a time of fun and games for the children. "Children of the 1990s were under more pressure than before due to an increased number of curricular and extracurricular activities." “The pressure on children to behave like adults became almost irresistible during the decade.” "'They are a generation stuck on fast forward, children in a fearsome hurry to grow up.'" Ultimately, the children of the 1990s were pressured into many things that they should not have been. 
 

 

 

Government & Politics 

 

 

Increasing tensions in Kuwait and Iraq led the United States to become invovled. Surprisingly,  “most of the lawmakers supported the president for fear that any other action would demonstrate weakness and possibly weaken U.S. credibility in foreign diplomacy." This led to direct attacks on Iraq.  “On 16 January 1991, U.S. missiles and warplanes began attacking the capital city, Baghdad, and other military targets in Iraq.” This series of attacks was knows as "Operation: Desert Storm".

 

In the 1992 election, Bill Clinton attacked George Bush on a variety of issues. "[Saddam] Hussein was one of the issues that Arkansas governor Bill Clinton used to attack and ultimately defeat Bush in the 1992 presidential election.” However, Bush's defeat could have been credited to Ross Perot.    “Many observers believed that [George] Bush would have won had [Ross] Perot not been the ‘spoiler.’” Perot was a third-party candidate.

 

 

 

Leadership 

 

Until 1992 President George Bush Sr. was in office.  In 1990 Saddam Hussein invaded the oil rich nation of Kuwait.  In response, President Bush began operation Desert Storm, a full military backing of the nation of Kuwait.  This began the war in the Middle East which would eventually lead to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and the current conflict.

            In 1996 President Clinton was elected and remained in office for the rest of the decade. He did oversee the largest economic expansion in history, but there were problems.  A sex scandal shook the White House and ultimately ended in his impeachment

 

 

Law and Justice

 

 

A majority of court cases during the 1990’s revolved around political issues, mostly regarding politicians.  One well-known example of this was the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1999.  It was only the second time in US history that the senate conducted an impeachment trial of a President.  In the end, the jury voted “not guilty” and President Bill Clinton stayed his full term, ending his presidency in 2001.

 

The murder trial of O.J. Simpson became a large ordeal, involving this retired American football player with the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.  This was one of the most notable court cases during this decade because O.J. Simpson was well-known for being an admired athlete and the news of him being involved in such a trial caught the attention of the American public.  The trial finally ended with the jury verdict of not guilty for the two murders.

 

There was also controversy over religion taking part in education.  Westside Community Board of Education v. Mergens was an issue taken to court by a young woman, Bridget Mergens.  A group of students at Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska wanted to form a Christian Bible Study club within their school.  To start this club, this group of students needed a teacher to sponsor them, but the school refused to allow any teachers to do so.  Bridget Mergens initiated the club and once she heard of the school refusing to let her club form, she argued that it was in violation of the Equal Access Act.  After the trial, the club was allowed to hold meetings, but the sponsor could not be paid because it would count as endorsement.

 

 

 

Religion

 

 

Christianity still dominated American religion in the 1990s.  And while the Jewish community remained small but powerful, and the Muslim community was on the rise, at this time America was still a dominantly Christian nation.  The number of people who claimed to go to church remained largely unchanged form previous decades. 

 

  There were many controversies with religion at the time.  A large controversy that still rages today is the debate over whether or not homosexuality is against religion, and this issue really has yet to be settled.  Televangelists were also on the rise and many people joined large, vaguely denominational churches.  These also have yet to be eliminated.  

 

 

 

 

 

  MYP Unit Question: How did culture, events and leadership shape and reflect post-WWII America? 

 

 

The culture of the nineties was definitely and interesting one.  Terrorism, heated debates, the new Generation X, and an increasing reliance on technology all defined the time.

            There was a period of large economic growth which really allowed things to soar.  New fashions took over, and the ideas of the new generation began to replace the old.  However, out of a mixed climate of comfort and terror, some of these ideas were very violent, and led to many of today’s problems.

            If there is one word to really describe the nineties it is Chaos.  The aging baby boomers’ ideals came into conflict with those of Generation X.  The increase of terrorism and shootings created fear in the hearts of many, while the economic boom increased comfort at home.  In the Chaos, however, something interesting happened that had never really been seen before.  People turned almost immediately to technology for the answers.  This need for better, faster, and stronger tech is what started the now technological era.

 

 

 

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"Angela's Ashes."Nonfiction Classics for Students:Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Nonfiction Works. Ed. David M. Galens, Jennifer Smith, and Elizabeth Thomason. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 1-26.Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 9 June 2010.

 

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