Beat Generation and Hippie Movement Summary

Beat Generation : Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg.

Beat Generation refers to a group of American post World War II writers, that became prominence in the 1960´s.

They saw runaway capitalism as destructive to the human spirit and opposed to social equality. In addition to their disappointment with consumer culture, they were against the repressive generation of their parents.

By the time, the taboos against frank discussions of sexuality were seen as unhealthy and damaging to the mind.

According to Literature and Art the Beats stood in opposition to the clean and almost antiseptic formalism (as they used to name it) of the early twentieth century modernists.

They fashioned a literature that was more bold, courageous, straightforward and expressive than anything had come before.

Underground music styles like Jazz were especially evocative for Beat writers.

The word “Beat” was primarily used after World War II by Jazz musicians and workers, as a slang term meaning “Down and out” or “Poor and exhausted” . But Jack Kerouac twisted the meaning of the term, explaining that “Beat” means “Beatitude” not beat up, Beat generation writers also used the term in connection with music, Kerouac often said; “You feel this, you feel it in a beat, in jazz real cool jazz”.

Other central elements of Beat culture included, experimentation with drugs, alternative forms of sexuality, an interest in Eastern Religion and the rejection to materialism.

The Beat Generation was a Literature and Cultural movement and the best known writers were; Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, these authors are considered the producers of the best work of the time.

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) was an American poet that opposed Militarism, Materialism and Sexual repression. Ginsberg is best known for his epic poem “Howl” where he severely denounced what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States. Howl is one of the classic poems of this period and was dedicated to his friend Carl Solomon. As all of the controversial Beat Generation writings, the conservative people saw it as dirty, vulgar and with obscene language. It seemed especially outrageous or shocking in 1950´s America because it represent both heterosexual and homosexual sex, at a time when sodomy laws made homosexual acts a crime in every US state. 

He used phrases such as “fucked in the ass” “cocksucker” and “cunt” as part of the poem’s depiction of different aspects of American culture, he used sex to criticize the emptiness and constant hunger that could exist in the lives of Americans.Ginsberg’s willingness to talk about taboo subjects made him a controversial figure during the conservative 1950´s and a significant figure in the 1960´s.According to his writing technique, he developed and individual style that was identifies as Ginsbergian. His choice to brake away from traditional poetic structure was fiercely criticized as chaotic and unpoetic, but for him it was an open excited expression of thoughts and feeling that were naturally poetic.

William Burroughs (1914 – 1997) was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. Much of his works are semi-autobiographical mainly drawn for his experience as a heroin addict. He write 18 novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collection of essays, but perhaps his best known novel in “Naked Lunch”, a work that along with the poem “Howl”, went to the court for being cases under sodomy laws. He was an analyst and a critic of the moral, politic and economic system of American Society.

His major works can be divided into four different periods:

-          Early Work (early 1950´s)

-          The cut-up period (mid 1950`s to mid 1960`s)

-          Experiment and Subversion (mid 1960`s to mid 1970`s)

-          The red night trilogy (mid 1970`s to mid 1980`s)

(The dates refer to the time of writing, not publication).

Drugs, homosexuality and death are the most common themes, along with Ginsberg helped made homosexuality cool and highbrow, providing a gay liberation.

Jack Kerouac (1922 – 1969) was an American novelist and poet. He is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as, Catholic Spirituality, Jazz, promiscuity, Buddhism, drugs, poverty and travel. Some critics have labeled his work as “slapdash” “grossly sentimental” and “immoral”.

He became an underground celebrity and with other beats, the progenitor of the Hippie Movement.

In 1969 at age of 47 Kerouac died from internal bleeding caused by cirrhosis, the result of a lifetime of heavy drinking.

Since his dead, his literary prestige has grown and several unseen work have been published, such as; “On the road” “Doctor SAX” “The Dharma bums” “ Mexico City Blues” “The Subterraneans” “Desolation Angels” and many others.

In the 1960´s elements of the expanding Beat movement were the legacy for Hippie Counterculture, which was a movement that arouse in the United States during the mid 1960´s and spread almost all over the world.

The Hippie culture spread worldwide through a fusion of Rock, Folk, Blues and Psychedelic Rock, it also found expression in Literature, dramatic arts, fashion, and visual arts including films, posters advertising rock concerts and album covers.

Hippies rejected established institutions, criticized middle class values, opposed nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War, embrace aspects of Eastern Philosophy and sexual liberation, they promote the used of many drugs, they create international communes or communities and firmly believe in Peace, Love and Personal Freedom.

The peace symbol was developed in the UK as a logo for the “Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament” and was adopedt by US Anti-War protestors during de 1960´s.

Hippies were often pacifist and participated in non-violent political demonstrations such as; Civil Right Movement, The Marches on Washington D.C, and Anti-Vietnam war demonstrations.

The degree of political involvement varied widely among Hippies, the Yippies were the most politically active Hippie sub-group.

In addition to the non.-violent political demonstrations, Hippie opposition to the Vietnam War including organizing political action groups to oppose the war, they refused to serve in the military and conducting “teach-ins” on college campuses, because that covered Vietnamese history and the political context of the war.

The Flower Power is a Slogan used by American counterculture as a symbol of passive resistance and non-violence ideology. It was implanted in the opposition movement to the Vietnam War.

The expression was first coined by the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in 1965, as a means to transform the protest into peaceful affirmative representations.

Hippies included the symbol wearing clothes with many flowers and vibrant colors, wearing flowers in their hairs and distributing flowers to the public, becoming known as flower children. The term later became a strong reference to the Hippie Movement.

 

The political ideals of the Hippies influenced other movements such as; Anarcho-Punk,

Rave Culture, Green Politics, Stoner Culture and The New Age.

Some of the most noticeable musicians and bands of the era were: Janis Joplin, Creedence, Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and many others.

Text: Natalia Gatica

Link to  same topic in our blog:
http://profesoresyalumnosisfd97.blogspot.com/search/label/Beat%20Generation

Looking for Modern Art in London

I´d like to share with all of you a video I made with pictures of great modern Art works I took last July, 2011 in Tate Modern, London. Hope you like it!!!

Pop Art & Opt Art

by Urquiza and Peña

Pop Art
The term Pop Art originated in the middle 1950`s in Britain ,and in the late 1950`s in The United States. It’s an international movement in painting, sculpture and printmaking.
It was the first pos-war art movement to embrace mass media, photography, imagery,popular culture ,consumer products, and photos of media stars.
Artists of this movement were looking for a more playful and ironic strategy.
Unlike abstract expressionism, pop art incorporated a wide range of media, imagery and subject matter that up to this moment it was excluded.
Pop artists cared a little about creating unique art object; they preferred to borrow their subject matter and techniques from mass media, photographs, icons and style into visual artefacts.

There are lots of artist such as Eduardo Paolozzi, Roy Kingenstein, Richard Hamilton. And the most important was Andrew Warhola (1928-1987) known as Andy Warhol. He was an American painter, print maker, and a film maker, record producer, author. He was a leading figure in this visual art movement known as Pop ART.
He applied the technique called "silkscreen”. Silkscreen is a technique that uses " woven mesh " to support an ink blocking stencil, the attach stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable material which can be presented through the mesh as a sharp -edged image onto a substrate. A roller is moved across the screen stencil ,forcing or pumping ink past of the woven mesh in the open areas. Through this technique we can transfer the same image.
Andy Warhol started doing silkscreens in 1962.One of his well-known painting using this technique is the one called " Marilyn Monroe”, it contains fifty images of the actress, which are all based on a single publicity photograph from the actress film " Niagara" (1953), twenty-five pictures on the left side are brightly colored while twenty five on the right side are black and white and also blurred or faded. The juxtaposition of the cold images with those in black and white is thought to symbolize to Monroe`s life and mortality.

The Press

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by S. Paulenko  and  D. Bellingeri

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Not to forget!!!

Civil Rights Movement

US Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Movements

Civil rights are personal liberties that belong to an individual, owing to his or her status as a citizen.

The civil rights movements aimed to eliminate slavery, racism, and social and religious discrimination. These movements had great, courageous leaders and participants who risked, and in some cases lost their lives for the sake of equality and racial justice. Leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela planned and led non-violent campaigns in pursuit of liberty and equality.

The pioneer of these movements was Mahatma Gandhi. His name means “great soul” in Sanskrit. He was born in India in 1869, when this country was part of the commonwealth ruled by the British Empire. Indian population was divided due to geographical, racial, social, cultural, linguistic, and religious reasons, but also it was divided into rich and poor

He knew about racial discrimination in South Africa, where he moved after graduating as a lawyer in London. It was then the idea of truth and firmness what inspired him “inflicting oneself the suffering one would impose to the enemy”. It demands great control, every insult, beating, imprisonment should be born patiently, make the opponent see their wrongdoing.

True to his belief in peaceful and non-violent civil resistance, Gandhi devoted his life to make India an independent country. By the time he died at 78 years old, India had already celebrated its independence.

Quotes from Gandhi: “They may torture my body, break my bones, and even kill me. Then they will have my dead-body not my obedience; “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind”.

Deeply influenced by the works of Gandhi, King made the struggle for civil liberty for African-American in the U.S.A. his sole motto. Although King became involved in the civil rights movement from his university days, his first major success came only in 1955 in Alabama. That year a black woman named Rosa Parks was arrested by refusing to surrender her seat to a white passenger. In protest, African-American activists boycotted the state’s transport system and chose King as their leader. The boycott continued 383 days until the U.S.A. Supreme Court declared Alabama’s racial segregation laws unconstitutional. In December 1964, King was awarded the Nobel Peace prize. Delivering his Nobel lecture he said: “Non violence is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it”. Four years later, he was shot dead.

As regard Nelson Mandela, he was a son of an African’s tribal chief, and he became leader of the African National congress, political party that called for racial equality. In 1964, after sabotaging the government many times, he was sent to prison; there he became a symbol of South Africa’s struggle against apartheid.

Civil rights movements were successful at least by some measures. The movements were also an inspiration; they evoked and embodied high moral ideas of racial equality and justice. Technology played a key role in these movements by making the struggles of protesters highly visible. The world could not help but recognize the righteousness of the protesters cause and the evil, violent repression necessary to subdue the wish for justice.

Students:

Cuello, Ana

Orieta Bertolotti, M. Cecilia


Other posts on the subject: Pioneer in India; A bird in a cage;   America also needs equality; Human Rights. 

Women´s rights. Women and young people as objects of consumerism.

WOMEN´S RIGHTS

Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.

In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behavior, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed.

Issues commonly associated with notions of women's rights include, though are not limited to, the right: to bodily integrity and autonomy; to vote (suffrage); to hold public office; to work; to fair wages or equal pay; to own property; to education; to serve in the military or be conscripted; to enter into legal contracts; and to have marital, parental and religious rights.

During the whole 19th century, women had no political rights though there had been some movement in other areas to advance the right of women. In 1839 a law was passed which stated that if a marriage broke down and the parents separated, children less than 7 years old should stay with their mother. In 1857 women could divorce husbands who were cruel to them. In 1870 women were allowed to keep money they had earned. In 1891 women could not be forced to live with husbands unless they wished to. These were very important laws which advanced the rights of women.

The First World War provided the first opportunity for women to take on traditional male jobs so it isn't surprising that in 1918 women over 30 were given the same political rights as men. But this change was not just a result of war - women had been campaigning for decades to be given the right to vote. During the 19^th century the right to vote was gradually extended in many countries and women started to campaign for their right to vote. In 1893 New Zealand became the first country to give women the right to vote on a national level.

 In the U. K., The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies - the Suffragists - was formed in 1897 and led by Millicent Fawcett. The group was made up of mainly middle-class women and campaigned peacefully. The organization built up supporters in Parliament, but private members' bills to give women the vote all failed.

The Women's Social and Political Union - the Suffragettes - was formed in 1903 and led by Emmeline Pankhurst. Although this group was also middle class, it heckled politicians, held marches; members chained themselves to railings, attacked policemen, broke windows, slashed paintings, set fire to buildings, threw bombs and went on hunger strike when they were sent to prison. One suffragette, Emily Davison, ran out in front of the king's horse during the Derby of 1913 and was killed.

The East London Federation of Suffragettes - formed in 1914 by Sylvia Pankhurst - was made up of working-class women. This group concentrated on social reform, and rejected the violence of the WSPU.

Women were not given the vote before the war. At the end of the war, in 1918, however, the Representation of the People Act gave women over 30 the vote, and in 1928 this was extended to all women over the age of 21.

The arguments for and against women's suffrage

For	Against
Women are equal before God.	A woman's place is in the home; going out into the rough world of politics will change her caring nature.
Women already have the vote in local elections.	Many women do not want the vote, and would not use it if they got it.
Women pay taxes.	Women do not fight in wars.
Some women (eg doctors and mayors) are far better than some men (eg convicts and lunatics) who have the vote.	The vast mass of women is too ignorant of politics to be able to use their vote properly.
Other countries have given women the vote.	If women are given the vote, it will not be the gentle intelligent women who will stand for Parliament, but the violent Suffragettes. Parliament will be ruined.