I disagree. I grew up in the 70’s and remember that it was pretty cohesive with a shared culture and Christianity was the dominant religion (even with the wretched hippies). It was starting to change though slowly picking up steam as demographics started watering down the culture.
I disagree. I grew up in the 70’s and remember that it was pretty cohesive with a shared culture and Christianity was the dominant religion (even with the wretched hippies). It was starting to change though slowly picking up steam as demographics started watering down the culture.
Tough to judge the time you grew up in. The world of a child is small. I suppose it all depends on how specifically you mean cohesive. You say Christian, but I am given to understand that the catholic protestant divide was considered huge for most of American history. It might only have been when people turned their backs on organized religion that most of us started to think of them as a common thing.
The Waltons was a series that had no qualms about praying or referencing Christianity. Admittedly things were starting to unravel but it was slow. You can tell a lot by looking at what was on media. Mostly straight arrow stuff until the late 70’s. Even looking at old films of the 40’s referenced a cohesive distinct culture.
Yes but the Waltons I assume were Protestants. Back in Walton times wouldn't the Protestants have voted republican and the catholics democrat? Did the city people have more common interests with the country people? The industrial north with the agricultural south?
The Waltons would certainly been Roosevelt Democrats. The show was set in West Virginia, starting in the thirties. That was only a decade or so after the Blair Mountain War.
I've never seen the show but I read up a little after reading your response. The author of the article said that the Waltons were a mix with some conservatives and some Roosevelt Democrats but that the politics of the show were progressive (duh)
Yes it was definitely of the times but more subtle messaging and certainly not in every episode. You have to remember it was out alongside Good Times, All in the Family, Maude etc. Most people were moderate conservatives, that included me. Liberals weren’t that different. Even ‘the graduate’ and ‘love story’ and ‘the way we were’ were films made by progressives but the characters in those films got married.
In 'The Graduate' the main characters did not get married. He broke up her wedding after she was married to the other guy and they escaped. The final shot implies they don't have a bright future.
In 'The Way We Were' wasn't it the same thing, brief affair then he marries someone else?
That said, obviously I agree that political messaging has become more ham fisted and it's one of the reasons for so much of it sucking.
Yes you are correct I suppose seeing her in a wedding dress on the bus fogged my memory. I also thought they did get married in twww, but perhaps you are right. I was going by memory. I’ll have to look that one up. They were getting married younger and at higher rates during that time.
The Waltons is interesting in that it came soon after the rural purge of the late sixties. I imagine it led directly to Little House on the Prairie. Traditional Americans still had some clout with advertisers fifty years ago.
Also WRT what you saw in film, the era's you reference were restricted by the Hayes code. Look at movies from the 1920s, pre code and things were a lot less straight arrow. Movies abandoned the code in the 1960s with predictable results. Broadcast television was under similar restrictions by the FCC.
Sure the whole decade of the 20’s was hedonistic for young people in the west some say because of the hell experienced from the war. However it was inevitable imo that would change and not just because of financial devastation of the 30’s. Old people weren’t typically hedonistic they were socially conservative.
I disagree. I grew up in the 70’s and remember that it was pretty cohesive with a shared culture and Christianity was the dominant religion (even with the wretched hippies). It was starting to change though slowly picking up steam as demographics started watering down the culture.
Tough to judge the time you grew up in. The world of a child is small. I suppose it all depends on how specifically you mean cohesive. You say Christian, but I am given to understand that the catholic protestant divide was considered huge for most of American history. It might only have been when people turned their backs on organized religion that most of us started to think of them as a common thing.
The Waltons was a series that had no qualms about praying or referencing Christianity. Admittedly things were starting to unravel but it was slow. You can tell a lot by looking at what was on media. Mostly straight arrow stuff until the late 70’s. Even looking at old films of the 40’s referenced a cohesive distinct culture.
Yes but the Waltons I assume were Protestants. Back in Walton times wouldn't the Protestants have voted republican and the catholics democrat? Did the city people have more common interests with the country people? The industrial north with the agricultural south?
The Waltons would certainly been Roosevelt Democrats. The show was set in West Virginia, starting in the thirties. That was only a decade or so after the Blair Mountain War.
I've never seen the show but I read up a little after reading your response. The author of the article said that the Waltons were a mix with some conservatives and some Roosevelt Democrats but that the politics of the show were progressive (duh)
Yes it was definitely of the times but more subtle messaging and certainly not in every episode. You have to remember it was out alongside Good Times, All in the Family, Maude etc. Most people were moderate conservatives, that included me. Liberals weren’t that different. Even ‘the graduate’ and ‘love story’ and ‘the way we were’ were films made by progressives but the characters in those films got married.
In 'The Graduate' the main characters did not get married. He broke up her wedding after she was married to the other guy and they escaped. The final shot implies they don't have a bright future.
In 'The Way We Were' wasn't it the same thing, brief affair then he marries someone else?
That said, obviously I agree that political messaging has become more ham fisted and it's one of the reasons for so much of it sucking.
Yes you are correct I suppose seeing her in a wedding dress on the bus fogged my memory. I also thought they did get married in twww, but perhaps you are right. I was going by memory. I’ll have to look that one up. They were getting married younger and at higher rates during that time.
Virginia not West
You’re correct, I should have checked. I remember watching The Homecoming as a little boy. My mother loved that show.
I saw Spencer’s Mountain a few years later and thought it seemed an awful lot like The Waltons with bigger mountains.
Pleasant memories.
The Waltons is interesting in that it came soon after the rural purge of the late sixties. I imagine it led directly to Little House on the Prairie. Traditional Americans still had some clout with advertisers fifty years ago.
Also WRT what you saw in film, the era's you reference were restricted by the Hayes code. Look at movies from the 1920s, pre code and things were a lot less straight arrow. Movies abandoned the code in the 1960s with predictable results. Broadcast television was under similar restrictions by the FCC.
Sure the whole decade of the 20’s was hedonistic for young people in the west some say because of the hell experienced from the war. However it was inevitable imo that would change and not just because of financial devastation of the 30’s. Old people weren’t typically hedonistic they were socially conservative.