Why I like the 1950s, part of the Disenchantment Era

I’ve always wanted to live in the 1950s. I consider people who were born in the 1980s or 90s unlucky because look at the world today. Look at the last decade. I don’t know what to think of it. I mean, it was declared “Hell’s Decade”. From 2001’s 911 crisis to the Financial Tsunami near the final years, this whole decade’s been a complete mess. Of course, the final years also made way for what could possibly be the beginning of a better era. Or not. Who knows, right? Barack Obama, the first American Black president, was elected. Stay tuned to see what that really means for the future. So far, we’ve got health reform.

Ok, back to why I’m writing this piece. I’ve always wanted to live in the 1950s. It was the time when the world was all for conventionalism. The time after they were beginning to realize that it was really uncomfortable watching horrendously fantastical stories, and then having to seriously make us believe, that we can make those stories relate to the general public of the time. Seriously?

The 1950s was well known, in cinema history, for having been very adept in characters and realistic films.

Now, I read extensively. Most of the books I read are well in my range of understanding, but of course I try to challenge myself with something that I can almost barely keep up with. I love any kind of story, because in reality, we only get to control one life. Our own. But story tellers, authors, they get to control whole worlds and characters, and how they interact with each other. That is why I’ve always wanted to become an author.

I’d read well known classics like To Kill A Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, and my personal favourite, The Catcher In The Rye. Of course, I’ve read “indie” stories, less well known stories. Usually short ones, like Jeffty is Five, which tells the story of a kid who doesn’t follow our normal timeline. In other words, he will always remain five years old. It’s waaaay sci-fi. Of course, you can imagine what could possibly happen.

But one story that hit home was a very short story that we actually studied in school, Lamb to the Slaughter, written by Roald Dahl in 1953. It tells the story of a pregnant woman who waits for her husband to come home, and she realizes that he’s cheating on her. So, she kills him with a frozen piece of meat. I know, right?

Mary, having commit a crime of passion, has to find away to slip past the police. Fortunately, she has something that places her in a very good position. She’s a woman. Using this fact, she talks and plays the part of “unsuspecting pregnant woman” outstandingly, and, who wouldn’t believe her? The police, as well as a lot of people at the time, wouldn’t suspect that if you look like that, you’re probably a good person.

The 1950s was a time when it was a conventional practice that men were the breadwinners and women were the ones who sit and smile at home. It was the time when there were only black and white films, and jazz was today’s rock. It was a simple era.

Personally, I think I started to lose interest when the Digital Era began, somewhere around the 1990s. The 60s to 80s were also cool, the Music Revolution.

To me, the 1950s was when they found out it was possible to break free from the conventional, to twist reality. It was, in reality, a time of recovery from the second World War, and the time of the Cold War. It was a gloomy period, but hey, I'm a gloomy person sometimes. All that was what makes the 50s real. But the idea of twisting reality through writings, and then having it have an impact on society, is something I will always aspire to do. I mean, now we have feminism.

On a side note, I’ve always been a fan of detective stories. If I couldn’t live in the 1950s, I would have chosen to live in the 20s or the 30s, when it was known as the Golden Age of Detective Stories. Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham were known as the Queens of Crime. And they were women.

But I still believe that the 1950s was a very satisfying result of the earlier times.

To me, the 1950s will always be remembered as a very important point of what I love to call, the Disenchantment era.

Disenchantment is a visually beautiful word. Never have I come across a word that looks amazing, but is so full of crap. Ok, maybe I’m a bit harsh.

Disenchantment, a term coined by Max Weber, refers to cultural rationalization and devaluation of mysticism of modern society. It refers to a society where scientific understanding is more highly valued than belief, and where processes are oriented toward rational goals.

To me, the essence of the 50s is the idea that it finds another way to let out the part of you that does not want to believe in reality. You can see why I am not a fan of disenchantment.

To me, the 1950s will always be remembered as a very important point of the Disenchantment era. What separates ancient history from today is the fact that we don’t know what actually happened before. This is how theories and myths were born. That is ancient history.

What separates later history from today is that they used to be content with believing in the unknown, making up stuff from thin air.

What makes the 1950s special is that it was a clear period which proves that there is always a way to meet something in the middle, where your head can be up in the clouds, but your feet firmly glued to the ground.

The 1950s. Mmhm.