American economy: structure, trends, and contemporary issues

American Economy

1950s Consumer Culture and its Vision on Film

The 1950s was an era of unprecedented economic growth leading to the birth of the middle class out of the depths of the Great Depression. The Second World War sparked great economic growth for the decade which proceeded it. Average salaries were high and production was at a maximum. Yet, the culture was at all at peace with it itself, as some of its most popular films portray. Billy Wilder's the Seven-Year Itch, and Nunally Johnson's the Man in the Gray Flannel Suit both show underlying frustrations which came with a massive push towards suburban consumer culture in the area of prominent affluence that was the 1950s.

The economic environment of the 1950s was the backbone of the growing consumerism. The United States had used the war as a catalyst to bounce back from the economic ruin of the Great Depression. The war spurred a resurgence in American production and therefore provided a new life line for the nation's cultural base; "Emerging victorious from World War II five years earlier, the United States I 1950 was reaping the benefits of a growing economy -- benefits actually derived out of the country's participation in the war," (Simbajon 2009). The war had brought the United States out of the depths of the Great Depression and provided the atmosphere for a growing manufacturing industry in the nation that was at first tied to armory manufacturing for the war effort. This massive new need for production was the exact answer to the country's economic problems which had plagued the nation since the stock market crash of 1929. Innovations of production technology first implemented during the war began to show more commercial uses, such in the production lines of American manufacturing plants. This automation of factories allowed corporations to meet the growing demand of an increasingly wealthy nation. Productivity was increased ten fold with the introduction of complex machinery in the workplace. These machines began to replace people on the assembly lines, and proved to do a better job in a fraction of the time in terms of production value. With the end of the war, consumers had once again regained their confidence in the market, and the economy continued to soar; "The victory relished by the nation brought about confidence in the government and the economy. The common consumer best exhibited this confidence as the strong consumer demand spurred economic growth after the war," (Simbajon 2009). The growth continued dramatically even after hostilities in Europe had ended. The Cold War, along with foreign investment, helped keep American manufacturing strong for the next few decades. This internal strength then provided the context for a new, and suburban, lifestyle within the American society.

At the same time that the economy was soaring, the country saw a massive growth of the middle class. There was a sharp increase in the average salary of American workers. In fact, the average factory worker saw a 50% increase in annual salary. With more and more Americans taking home more money, it was only natural for them to spend it. Thus, the 1950s saw the beginning of the middle class as the dominate class with the most buying power in terms of consumer products and economic impact on both foreign and domestic markets. With such comfort and financial flexibility, many individuals within the larger context of American society were allowed to pursue higher educations and the higher paying jobs which then accompanied them. More and more of the population went back to school and acquired college degrees. This was additionally aided by GI Bills which many soldiers used to pay for college. According to the research, "The 1944 G.I. Bill provided returning veterans with money for college, businesses and home mortgages," (Hoffman 2009). Thus, more average Americans were being exposed to a more affluent lifestyle, whether it was through investment in schooling, or directly spending their money from the war into the economy with business investments and down payments on residential properties. A large portion of the American working force moved from the factory into the office. With higher educations and annual salary expectations, it was clear that managerial roles were the next big money maker in the United States; and "by 1956, a majority of U.S. workers held white collar rather than blue collar jobs." (Moffatt 2009). The middle class version of the American Dream began to emerge within the era of the 1950s.

This giant surge in the middle class and the ability for American capitalism to cater to it, began an era of great affluence of the 1950s and rampant American consumerism. It was the good life, or so it seemed. Every family in the middle class existence had to have the latest must haves and the never ending wave of new and innovative home technologies; "Then came the cars. And the backyard barbeques. And the black-and-white TVs. Ozzy and Harriet, Lucy and Ricky, Leave it to Beaver," (Hoffman 2009). Yet with all this seemingly perfect existence, there was trouble brewing right below the surface. Part of the need to buy was this pent up frustration Americans were experiencing based on the constraints of living and working within a limited suburban existence. According to research, "pent-up consumer demand fueled exceptionally strong economic growth in the postwar period," (Moffatt 2009). Thus. This buying spree was more than the just the capacity to do so, it signaled some frustration with the Betty Crocker lifestyle that came along with it.

Several films of the period show this, one of them being the infamous Seven-Year Itch, which pits the beautiful Marilyn Monroe against a helpless married woman with extreme pent up sexual frustration. In the film with one of the most famous Monroe scenes, where she stands in her white dress atop a subway grate, the film pulls away part of the disguise of the suburban dream and looks at some of the major underlying tensions that were running rampant at the time. Directed by Billy Wilder, it shows a man of middle class status who is supposed to have it all. Richard Sherman has the money to send his wife and child away for the summer while he continues to pay for an apartment in the city to keep working. Thus, his character represented middle class life at its finest, it all of its glorious affluence and debonair style. Yet, the film also showed the underlying sexual desires of middle class Americans. There was an extreme separation between the familial group based on the need to work long hours to pay for the life represented by suburbia. Man and wife were divided, and wife was no longer the object of man's desires. In his pent up frustration, man began to look outside the home to satisfy his more lustful fantasies. The film was much more constrained than the novel it was based on, which had Richard actually have a sexual affair with his new neighbor. The lack of the relationship in the film shows the censorship constraints that were still in place during the 1950s. However, the middle class family is reaffirmed with the movie version when Richard does not break his vows with his new neighbor and is reunited with his wife at the end of the film.