Popular Culture in the 1930s (AQA GCSE History): Revision Note

How Did the Great Depression Impact US Popular Culture in the 1930s? - Summary

One impact of the Great Depression was the rise of escapism in popular culture. With people facing financial struggles and uncertainty, entertainment became a means of escaping from reality. Films, radio programmes and literature provided a form of distraction and entertainment. Despite financial struggles, these mediums continued to be popular in the USA.

The Great Depression inspired themes of resilience and hope in popular culture. Songs like "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" and movies like "The Wizard of Oz" reflected the struggles of ordinary people. It highlighted messages of perseverance and optimism in the face of hardship.

The economic struggles of the Great Depression gave new meaning to art forms.  Black Americans produced powerful blues and jazz music during the 1930s. These musical genres provided a means of expressing feelings of sadness and struggle. Many people across the USA connected with this music.

Artists in the 1930s depicted scenes of urban poverty, unemployment and social inequality in their paintings and photographs. These artworks served as a reflection of the harsh realities of life during the Depression. It raised awareness about the need for social change.

1930s Music

• By 1939, 80% of people owned a radio

  • This had doubled since the beginning of the 1930s

• Dance halls and ballrooms were very popular

  • Young people often attended with their friends to find a date

• Jazz, blues and swing music dominated the 1930s music scene

  • Swing

    • Swing was an escape from the Great Depression

    • Glenn Miller’s Orchestra was a swing dance band. They had 30 Top Ten singles during the 1930s

  • Jazz

    • Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong continued to be popular in the 1930s 

    • Until 1933, jazz music was commonly performed in speakeasies

  • Blues

    • Blues remained a popular musical genre for African-Americans

    • Blues musicians wrote about the harsh reality of the Depression

    • In Chicago, the famous blues musicians in the 1930s were Tampa Red and Big Bill Broonzy

    • In the South, Son House, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Memphis Millie were popular

• Harlem became a centre of cultural importance

  • Harlem was a district in New York predominately populated by African-Americans

  • African-American musicians flourished during the Harlem Renaissance

  • Savoy Dance Hall in Harlem was the first to allow black and white people to mix freely together (desegregated)

1930s Cinema

• When the Great Depression began, cinema attendance dropped by a third

• In the 1930s, the main film studios were:

  • MGM

  • 20th Century Fox

  • Paramount

  • Warner Bros

• People eventually returned to the cinema as an escape from the Great Depression

  • The main film studios created a range of films

    • US audiences enjoyed comedies, westerns and gangster films

    • Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers became famous for their dancing in multiple musicals

    • Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Modern Times’ (1936) reflected the economic and political struggles of the Great Depression

  • Walt Disney produced a range of animated cartoons

    • In 1933, Three Little Pigs was the first colour animation

• Technological advances greatly improved the cinematic experience

  • Technicolour was invented in 1914 but greatly improved upon by the 1930s

    • The Wizard of Oz (1939) is one of the most famous Technicolour films

1930s Comic Books

• Comic books became a staple in the 1930s

  • Comic books became cheap to produce

  • Many new comic book publishers emerged in this period

• Comic books fulfilled the desire for escapism

  • Superhero comics were a popular genre. In the 1930s, publishers created:

    • Superman (Action Comics, 1938)

    • Batman (Detective Comics, 1939)

1930s Literature

• The Great Depression inspired authors to write about the struggles of minority groups and migrant workers

  • John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men (1938) 

    • The main characters, George and Lenny, move to California in search of work

    • Steinbeck also shows the racist treatment of African-Americans through the character of Crooks

  • Steinbeck also wrote The Grapes of Wrath (1939)

    • The story is based on the challenges of a migrant family

• Other authors wanted to create escapist novels

  • Gone with the Wind (1936) by Margaret Mitchell focused on life in and after the American Civil War

  • In the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God in 1937

    • It focused on female empowerment through the protagonist, Janie Crawford

• The US government encouraged writers in the 1930s

  • The Federal Writers’ Project was part of the WPA in 1935

    • It employed writers to produce novels, children's books and historical studies

    • This helped rebuild authors' careers and provided them with an income that would not have received from other Alphabet Agencies

1930s Sport

• In the 1930s, sports players became very wealthy

  • Baseball played Babe Ruth earned a salary of $80,000 in 1930

    • This was more than US President Herbert Hoover earned

  • In 1935, boxer JJ Braddock became the world champion

    • Braddock used his winnings to repay the government benefit that he received in the early 1930s

• Black American sportspeople also achieved success in the 1930s

  • US athlete Jesse Owens angered Hitler and the Nazis by winning four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

    • Owens became the most successful athlete at the games

• The sports industry also embraced developments in technology

  • Radio continued to make sport an important pastime to most US citizens

  • In 1939, NBC televised the first American football game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Eagles