America in the 1920s: the Jazz Age
Introduction
The
Jazz age was a period from the 1920s to the 1930s. It’s called like this
because jazz dances and music gained popularity in the United States. The Jazz
age had a lot of cultural repercussion, and had played an important role for
the changes of that time. Its influence on popular culture continued a long
afterwards. The Jazz age occurred at the same time as the known as Prohibition
Era, that was when the sale of alcohol in the United States was prohibited. The
movement was largely affected by the introduction of radios nationwide. The
Jazz Age extended to Europe and began the European Jazz.
Music and dance
As the name of this era suggests, jazz music was very important in this time. This genre originated in African American communities in New Orleans, Louisiana. After WWI, some musicians moved from New Orleans to other cities in the US, such as Chicago or New York, and jazz music spread across the country. Throughout the whole decade, jazz became very popular, and it inspired a cultural change, especially amongst young people.
Along
with jazz music, some dances became very popular too. An example is Charleston.
This dance is named after a city in South Carolina, and it was popularized by
African Americans.
Art and culture
In
the Jazz Age art changed a lot, different new avant-garde started, such as
Surrealism and Dadaism. This time was very important for cinema. A lot of
important films were made in this time, like Metropolis. Also, at the end of
the 20s some cartoons started to have sound.
Some
important films of the 1920s were: Don Juan, 1926 (first film with a
soundtrack), The Jazz Singer, 1927 (first film with synchronized music and
speech), Lights of New York, 1928 (first all-talking film) and On with the
Show, 1929 (first all-color all-talking film).
Radio
became really popular and there were many more programs and hearings. Radio
gave the opportunity to listen to music for free. There were two categories of
live music on the radio: concert music and big band dance music. The concert
music was concert music by non-professional people, usually volunteers. Big
band dance music was played by professionals and was featured from nightclubs,
dance halls and ballrooms.
Another thing very significant from this era was fashion. Fashion shows had a really specific style, which is very famous. The dresses were long and plain and sometimes with fringes at the end. Hats and pearl ribbons for example were commonly used. They were very characteristic.
Flappers
were a group of “revolutionary” girls who wore shorter dresses and used to go
out to bars to dance jazz.
Another thing very significant from this era was fashion. Fashion shows had a really specific style, which is very famous. The dresses were long and plain and sometimes with fringes at the end. Hats and pearl ribbons for example were commonly used. They were very characteristic.
