The shape of the sixties

Abstract

This essay is in essence talking about the idea of revolution. In the 60’s there was a great deal of hardship, be it from the Civil Rights Movement to the war in Vietnam. The 60’s were a very revolutionary time, people full of new ideas coming from different parts of the world. This essay will show you through music, film and speech how a revolution occurred in the 60’s.

The Shape of the Sixties

Jefferson Airplanes co-founder, Paul Kantner once said “If you can remember anything about the sixties, then you weren’t really there.” Sure, “The Sixties” may have been just been a decade long party, but there was a different side to this era. The counter-culture that was the sixties undoubtedly revolutionized the world that we life in today. The music was edgy, and heavily drug influenced but marked the beginning of a whole new sound. The sixties also marked a new age of film production based on both technology and content. The speeches were controversial but shaped a better world. This era was heavily filled with controversy, scandal and crime but through this it changed the world.

As Cat Steven’s sings in the song Peace Train, “I’ve been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one. And I believe it could be someday it’s going to come.” What Cat is trying to say here is that she can see change is coming, and the world is going to be a better place, a place of equality. However America in the sixties was a very uneasy time, with the Vietnam War as well as the Civil Rights Movement. Both of these were both huge catalysts for all of the protest in the sixties. At the end of the Civil War many groups were created in order to achieve this equality but the process was painfully slow. It wasn’t until this era however that hundreds of years of work finally began to pay off. The hippie movement stood up in agreement with this change, and with them came the support of the music. In 1963 Bob Dylan released the song Blowin’ in the Wind a non-specific song but very related to the uneasy times. This song is essentially a universal plea for humans to learn from our mistakes and to have freedom. The song has being covered numerous times and is a staple for any anti-war song. The second stanza of the song goes “How many years can a mountain exist, Before it’s washed to the sea? Yes, ‘n’ how many years can some people exist, Before they’re allowed to be free? Yes, ‘n’ how many times can a man turn his head, Pretending he just doesn’t see? The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind, The answer is blowin’ in the wind.” What Dylan is saying here is very clear, the people he is talking about is any group that has been oppressed or alienated should now be free, for everyone deserves freedom. The music of the sixties was not only groundbreaking and revolutionary, it was also changed the shape of music. Something happened in the sixties that was tokened as the “Britsh Invasion”, the British musicians essentially took over the American music industry and formed it into their own. This all started when The Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and took off into superstardom. In 1967 The Beatles released the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, a simply amazing record that was the anthem for the summer of 1967. This marked a new age and a new sound for what music was and will be. The sixties are when lyrics became edgy and people started to stand up against the government and oppression. In 1968 The Beatles released the song Revolution, a song with much apt to the current time. In the second verse it goes “You say you got a real solution.Well, you know. We’d all love to see the plan.” The Beatles are asking the government for their so called plan of action.1964, Dylan released“With God on our Side” this is another protest song that traces the history of America’s conflicts dealing with all sorts of past wars. The lyrics are a vicious attack on the attitude that claims a war is vindicated. Music played a huge role in making the sixties a revolutionary time, and without these extraordinary people much less would have been accomplished in this era.

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Through music you can see that media influence plays a lead role in bring about revolution, film in the sixties represented a decade of fun, music, fashion and countless social change. In the sixties was the first time that film began to really be about controversial subjects. The film Victim (1961) by director Basil Dearden was one of the first films to ever speak of the word “homosexuality”. This daring film was so groundbreaking and non-judgemental in that it talked about homosexuality in the early sixties. In fact when filming this movie Britain still had anti-sodomy statutes as law. Action’s like these are truly the ones that make our world a better place, when people can stand up and fight against oppressive laws and belief. Without people who have the courage to stand up we would live in a painfully oppressed world today, things like slavery, alienation, segregation and even to the extreme, genocide, would still be very active in our world today. In the film industry, just as in the music industry there was a “British Invasion” this came much from the new interest that American’s had in British fad’s, fashion and culture. The Beatles released three different films between 1964 and 1968, each of which was able to get across the music and its meaning to the viewer. Some of the controversial films that came out during this era are Billy Wilder’s satirical political farceOne, Two, Three (1961), Seven Days in May (1964), The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965). These films came out and really displayed a more bleak side of the war. These films allowed viewers to see a more realistic, less politically influenced perspective on what was truly happening. In the mid sixties a film company named (AIP) American International Pictures began to produce more youth orientated counter-culture films such as The Wild Angels (1966) and The Trip (1967). These films gave many a view of the counter-culture that was in America, it allowed people who were apart from the “hippie movement” to become a part of it. The Trip is about a television commercial director and his drug dealer; it is full of special “trippy” effects and is a truly psychedelic experience. Film in this era was unquestionably remarkable, it was a time of groundbreaking new ideas, and daring old ones that finally had the chance to come out. The sixties changed film for the better and allowed all audiences to view a different side to every story.

If you ask anyone about the sixties one thing they will probably mention is one of the most remarkable men of all time. On August 28th, 1963 Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech sparked a fire that would lead to the end of oppression against the black community in America. Mr. King is known today as one of the best orator’s and his speech was so successful because it dramatically increased awareness of The Civil Rights Movement. The third paragraph of King’s speech is this “But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.” King (1963). What king is saying here is very clear, blacks were promised freedom and oppression was going to be eliminated, as they stand there however, it is clear that this is not the case black’s are still being oppressed on a day to day basis. Martin Luther King’s power of speech was able to change this however, he confronted the world of its wrong doing and they realized it. King end’s the speech on some of the most powerful words ever written, words of change, words that brought about a revolution “When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!””. King (1963). Without this man, I wonder where the world would be today in terms of segregation. Would South Africa still have abolishment of the blacks? Would slavery still exist in America today? Would we still have political and social upheaval nearly every waking moment? Incredibly this was not King’s only subject that he talked on, he also delivered numerous speeches in an anti-Vietnam perspective. Martin Luther King was a man who really cared for everyone, he truly believed in equality. In a speech he gave to his church about Vietnam he says “Tonight, however, I wish not to speak with Hanoi and the NLF, but rather to my fellow Americans, who, with me, bear the greatest responsibility in ending a conflict that has exacted a heavy price on both continents.”King (1967). King believes that well in his words, “We must continue to raise our voices if our nation persists in its perverse ways in Vietnam.” King (1967). Sadly on April 4th, 1968 we were without this man, as he was assassinated in his soon to be free world. Martin Luther King was one of the most powerful speakers, he was able to use this to his advantage and could communicate his revolutionary ideas to a world-wide audience.

Many of the people who made the sixties the incredible time that they were are no longer with us today. Sure, some people may even say that the sixties weren’t in fact a good decade. Be it the war, or the oppression the abundant use of illegal substances or the growing counter culture. Regardless this era was simply revolutionary, even through hardship and trouble the people who lived in this decade changed the world. Music developed a groundbreaking new sound full of meaningful and powerful words. The influence of the sixties still lives in some of the great music that is being produced today. The Films were controversial and courageous in their content. This is still prevalent in modern films in that you can produce a film on just about any given topic. The Speeches, although only powerful by few were able to change nearly an entire worlds view. Martin Luther King made the first groundbreaking steps in the Civil Rights Movement and was able to lead the way. King’s words and power still live in some of today’s speakers and he will always be respected by the world. The sixties was an era that was able to push its way through numerous obstacles and turn them into something better, this decade was a revolution.