"It was easy": How American culture turned the veteran into the man, 1944--1959
Item
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Title
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"It was easy": How American culture turned the veteran into the man, 1944--1959
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:132acc4613a7:12056
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identifier
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12765
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Creator
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Mock, Erin Lee,
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Contributor
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Marc Dolan
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Date
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2013
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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American studies | Film studies | American literature
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Abstract
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When millions of GIs returned in 1945, Americans tried to establish a brand new era, infused with optimism and prosperity, in which the war was decidedly over. In historic numbers, Americans married, had children, and purchased goods and homes, but they did so while mostly concealing their fear that the war was not over, at least not in the psyches of men. As such, the protection of society from men was the central concern of postwar American culture. Many scholars and historians have studied "shellshock," which illustrates this dangerous potential turned inward, but the apocalyptic possibilities of an entire generation of men erupting in violence are rarely commented upon, though they are quietly ever-present in period.;Furthermore, this terror of veterans deepened into a generalized fear and suspicion of men's "inherent" violence and hyper-sexuality, which defined masculinity thereafter. This dissertation engages with film, media, literature, earlier treatments of the period, and gender and sexuality studies to advance a new perspective on the artistic and cultural output of and about the "Greatest Generation," arguing that anxiety about men's violent and erotic potential emerged differently in different forms, genres, and media, but nonetheless permeated American culture in these years.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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English
