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A4 1990s Hedges

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Saved by Brian Hu
on June 7, 2010 at 2:18:33 pm
 

Brian Hu

Nisha Farooq

Tanmay Satam

Anna Zimmermann

 

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

 

The 1990s

                       

 

Business & the Economy

 

     During the 1990s, the economy was very strong. One of the many causes for this was the rise of the Internet. Many new businesses with comupter-savvy designers were able to advertise and spread their product to more people through the Internet, leaving companies without the means to advertise over the Internet in the dust. The enormity of businesses that were able to take off during this period can be seen in examples such as Google and Yahoo!.

 

     Worker tolerance was also at a high. People of different races were all earning the same pay and were not discriminated for jobs. Although women were taking large strides in securing jobs that before had been done by men, they were on average still making less than the average man./

 

Education

 

     Starting in the 1990s, violence in schools became a big issue, and parents were starting to worry about the protection of their children while at school. Large numbers of students and teachers were killed, and the nation was shocked. Communities started spending money on the security of schools, putting in metal detectors, and instilling routine locker searches. It got to the point where people started looking into new solutions, such as homeschooling, charter schools, and school vouchers.

 

     As well as student’s protection, schools also invested in the improvement of the actual education. Parents that had the financial standards sent their children to private schools, because they felt Private school education was better than that of public schools.

 

     Another big topic involving education was weather or not evolution should be taught in schools. Many religious groups and parents were opposed to it for obvious reasons, namely they believed in creationism, but others thought it was something that needed to be taught to youngsters and students. 

 

Fashion

American Fashion was altered in the 1920’s after ...

 

Film and theater

 

     By the 1990s, film had become an integral part of everyday American life.  With the advent of home video cassettes, CGI computer graphics, and the production of more films per year than during any other period of the American film industry, the 1990s was a new age of innovation, and progress for the movie goers of America.

 

     The 1990s saw the creation of dozens of blockbuster hit, with titles such as Jurassic Park (1993), Forest Gump (1994), The Sixth Sense (1999), Men In Black (1997), and Saving Private Ryan (1998) all grossing over $500 million world wide. James Cameron’s Titanic (1997), however, stole the show, generating over $1.8 billion across the world. Disney entertainment also saw its renaissance with a series of successful films, portraying classical cultural tales, with Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), and Tarzan (1999).

 

     Theater too experienced a new re-growth in the 1990s, borrowing ideas and operatic roots from the American film industry. By utilizing cinematic settings and play wrights from hit Hollywood movies, Broadway set out to develop a new string of hits that revolved around this new American insight. Disney’s Mary Poppins, Tarzan, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast were all transformed into musical hits that hit the streets of New York during the late 1990s. Acclaimed film actor and director Mel Brooks also turned his blockbuster films The Producers and Young Frankenstein into plays for the New York theatric scene. By the end of the 20th century, both film and theater were emerging and progressing into a new golden age of evolution.

 

Food &  Drink

 

American families had more disposable income...

Print Culture

Print media dominated...

Sports &  Games

 

In 1990s, the sports world.

 

Music

 

     Music had a strong influence on the attitudes and fashion of the 90s. Rock got harder and grunge became popular. Grunge started out as a style of music but as it gained popularity became a style and attitude as well.

 

     Rock increased in popularity as well, with bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Green Day starting. Kurt Cobain, the frontman of Nirvana, became an idol to many teenagers during the 90s. Previously popular songs of rebellion and revolt against the government turned to songs of personal struggles and rebellion against blue collar society, songs for the working class man. The era of protest and rebellion was over, but the feeling lasted, starting the trend of songs about people trying to find out what they should be doing, how they can affect the world, and about themselves. An example of this is found in the popular Green Day song, Chump, from their album , Dookie, released in 1994:

 

 

 

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"I don't know you
But,I think I hate you
You're the reason for my misery
Strange how you've become
my biggest enemy
And I've never even seen your face
Maybe it's just jealousy"

 

These lyrics show how the band embodied the spirit of the time in their lyrics about the struggles of the working class man.

 

Rap and Country also gained popularity, with singers like Tupac, MC Hammer, Tim Mcgraw and Garth Brooks.

 

Lastly, metal became heavier and turned into death metal. Softer metal became less popular and people turned their music louder. The lyrics of the metal songs often had to do with anarchy and satanism.

 

 

 

 

 

"The Way We Lived"

 

     Now that the times of great change in the US were over, people looked for ways to add excitement to their lives. Everyone was striving for the American Dream, to live in a big house with a big lawn and lots of money. People became competitive with the sizes of their houses. The size of one's house became a standard used to measure their success in life. They often tried to live in gated communities, as safety became a bigger issue. To get these large houses in good communities, they began working longer hours. In many houses, both parents worked full time jobs, a change from how previous decades.

 

     Marijuana had been outlawed and drug use became less popular. Cigars, however, were a large part of life in the 1990s. People enjoyed getting together with friends, smoking cigars and drinking coffee. There were new trends as well. Feng Shui, the Chinese art of positioning furniture and items in a room to direct positive energy, became popular and people became more superstitious. SUVs became the popular vehicle of the time, and visiting museums became a popular pastime, as did gambling. The number of gamblers in the US increased greatly during the 90s, as people were making more money. People used this money to buy their large houses, gamble and buy things they didn't need. Pets became popular, as did beanie babies for children.

 

     People living in the 90s noticed that people were getting meaner. People were less considerate, open and trusting toward one another. They wanted more security and gates to keep them safe from each other. There was more road rage, leading to more accidents. The term 'road rage' was coined in this decade. This decrease in courtesy is often attributed to the increase in knowledge due to the availability of internet access. People learned more about the bad things happening in the world around them and it scared them.

 

         Email was a new thing in the 90s. People were using the new technology for communication more than anything else. Cell phones became common and people were constantly trying to stay connected in one way or another.

 

 

Government & Politics

 

     By the 1990s, the United States found itself emerging in an entirely new era of political climate. With the dissolution and collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States suddenly and unexpectedly established itself the new sole super power in the world. In this new uni-polar political age, characterized by American and UN intervention, terrorist attacks at home, and immense political scandal, the United States experienced one of the most prolific decades of political action of the 20th century.

 

            The nineties saw for the first time an exponential increase in American involvement with leading peacekeeping missions around the world. In 1991, the United States lead a multination coalition against Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi military, after Saddam had lead an unprovoked invasion on neighboring oil rich Kuwait the previous year. With overwhelming force, the Untied States and its allies drove forcibly drove out the Iraqi army in just four days after the “Operation Dessert Storm”, restoring peace and stability to the Middle East region. Embracing its new found position as “World Police”, the America over the course of the next decade repeatedly intervened across the world to spread the ideals of democracy and ensure peace. In Somalia, where the United States lead a UN relief task force in 1993, in Hattie, where the United States in 1994 halted an attempted military coup, and again in the former Yugoslavia, where in 1995 the United States and NATO forces carried out repeated surgical strikes against the hostile forces Sprska, America extended its ability in shaping world events across the globe.

 

            Back home however, disillusioned and disenchanted Americans, and foreign radical groups abroad launched a series of terrorist attacks on American soil. On February 26th, 1993, The World Trade Center in New York was bombed by Islamic extremists, killing six people and injuring dozens more. This stunning attack, that left millions of Americans reeling in shock, was only accentuated further when, on April 19th, 1995, Timothy McVeigh, an American citizen and militia member, detonated a homemade explosives filled truck in front of the Oklahoma City Federal building in Oklahoma, killing 168 people and injuring 680 more. Suddenly, Americans found themselves at risk of not only foreign terror attacks, but domestic ones as well.

 

            In 1998, for the first time since President Andrew Johnson in 1868, an American president was tried in the senate under grounds of impeachment. President Bill Clinton, accused of perjury and the obstruction of justice, was the center of a growing sex scandal between himself and White House intern Monica Lewinsky, an extra-marital affair that swept through nation as the Clinton’s “Monicagate”.

 

Leadership

  

     The President from 1989-1993 was George Bush Senior. He was a leader of the time, as he was president for one term, during which he sent troops to Kuwait and Panama. The next President was Bill Clinton, who lasted for two terms, from 1993-2001. His most important actions included ratifying the NAFTA agreement and passing the Family and Medical Leave Act.

 

     As in many other decades of US History, the country became more liberal in the 90s, specifically with homosexuality. This was an important time for the gay acceptance and marriage movement. In earlier times, homosexuality was most often kept a secret and considered a bad thing socially. In the 90s, gay people, especially men, began to come out of the closet, exposing their sexual orientations in hope for acceptance. This was gay pride. Mostly, the homosexuality movement was low-key, but there were radicals that had gay conferences and drag shows.

 

     The women’s equality movement also grew during this time, as women began to take a strong stance against unequal wages. They held more and more jobs of high stature. One example of this was Hillary Clinton, The First Lady. She was a State representative and travelled to 82 countries, advising Bill Clinton. She was later elected as a senator and known as one of the most politically powerful women in history.

 

     Before the 90s, there was only one woman on the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor. During this decade, the second was added, Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

 

     Musicians were also leaders of the time. With the Women’s Movement, The Spice Girls and their girl power songs influenced many and brought out the idea of independent women.

 

 

Law &  Justice

 It was during the 90s that the US...

 

Religion

 

    The numbers of people in most religions remained similar in the 1990s as it was in past decades, however America was moving closer to total acceptance of all religions. This allowed minor religions, mainly brought to America by immigrants, to flourish. Religion did not play a major role in society or government in America during this time period. However, the late 1990s is when the threat of Al Qaeda first came to light, and religious terrorism would soon become a great fear for Americans, as seen in the September 11th attacks of 2001.

 

 

 

 

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

 

Yes, this is the most important question of this project.  At LEAST 3 paragraphs are needed.  See your teacher if you need more direction.

 

 

Works Cited

"Al-Qaeda." U*X*L Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Sonia Benson, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. Ed. Lawrence W. Baker and Sarah Hermsen. Vol. 1. Detroit: UXL, 2009. 35-41. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 7 June 2010.

 

"Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union.." The American Presidency Project. 2009. University of

     California. Web. 17 Jun. 2009 .

 

"The 1990s Business and the Economy." UXL American Decades. Ed. Julie L. Carnagie, et al. Vol. 10: 1990-1999. Detroit: UXL, 2003. 27. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 7 June 2010.

 

"Europe Divided on Familiar Lines To Two Speeches." Prescott Evening Courier 54(1948): 6. Print.

 

Cooke, Jacob E. "Washington, George." Presidents: A Reference History. Ed. Henry F. Graff. 3rd ed. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002. 1- 21. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Farmington Hills: Gale. Web. 30 Apr. 2008. 

 

Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America. Eds. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 3: 1940s-1950s. Detroit: U*X*L, 2002. Print.

 

 

 

 

 

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