The 1970s

The American value system in the 1970's was about efficiency, practicality, and pragmatism which means that solution is more important than ideology. Utility is more important than show. A key question to any idea is “Will it work?” The songs in the 1970's strongly represent this because singers were singing about the war and how they want peace in the world and solve the problem. The American value system has changed before and beyond the 1970's. Before the 1970's, the American value system was about ethical equality (all people are equal, both spiritually and in the opportunities they deserve) because of the civil rights movement where Black Americans fought for racial equality. After the 1970's, the American value system was more about change and progress because many Americans were inventing new machines to advance America’s technology. The politics are strongly expressed in the songs in the 1970's because the artists sang about many deep political views or things they want to change about the government like protests and wars.

Music in America 1970's by Eric Osipov

The songs in the 1970's were centered around war. One example of a song is “Singin’ in Vietnam Talkin’ Blues” by Johnny Cash. He wrote about his experience with his sons forced to go to Vietnam and how he visited with his wife. A memorable and important line in this song is: “We checked in and everything got kinda quiet but a soldier boy said “just wait till tonight things get noisy, things start happening bid bad firecrackers” this was an important line because its hows how scary it was for parents’ kids to go out to war without the parents knowing what happens to them. This was a very scary experience for many families because many soldiers were forced to go to war even at a young age.

Another iconic song about war in the 1970's is “Readjustment Blues” by John Denver. The song explains how there was anger in Washington D.C. after the Vietnam War ended and all the people who fought for America came back. A part of the song that shows this is “People carried signs I couldn’t read that they had made ‘till I got closer and my heart fell to my socks. There was a battle raging and the air was filled with teargas and rocks, there was the flag I’d fought against so often.” This shows that people started to protest against the war and for human rights after all the troops came back from war because of the protesters felt their rights being violated (the protesters included 12,000 federal troops, 5,100 local police, and 1,500 national guards, in all 12,00 people were arrested)

“War Song” by Edwin Starr was a very impactful song to Americans during the times of recovering from the wars and protests that were going on. Starr was trying to portray what a world of peace would look like and how much of a better world it would turn into with his album called “War and Peace” which was finished by 1970. This song even won Edwin Starr a grammy for the Best R&B Male Vocal. This song had many important lines like “After the end of the war I want to devote myself to my thoughts for five to ten years and to writing them down” and “Wars come and go, what remains are the only values of culture.” Overall, “War Song” was one of the most impactful songs of the decade.

“Ohio” by Neil Young is a song about a protest in Ohio where 12 were shot and 4 were killed, it is still unknown if the soldiers were told to shoot into the crowd or decided to themselves. An important line in the song is “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, we’re finally on our own.” This is an important line because it expresses how scared and hopeful people were for Nixon and how much people wanted to stop teenagers getting drafted into the Vietnam war and mostly dying at a young age.

Fortunate Son” is one of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s most thoughtful songs. It is a patriotic anti Vietnam war song, they focused a lot on the grievances of people during the Vietnam war which many songs in the era did not focus on which made the song very successful. The also focuses a lot on the differences between fortunate kids during the Vietnam war who did not have to fight and unfortunate kids who were drafted into the war as teenagers all depending on how wealthy your parents were (hence the name of the song).

Ads in the 1970's by Megan Tan

Ads in the 1970's were centered on promoting and bringing attention but their content usually came out as sexist. These ads listed below are just some of the ads shown in the 1970's that came out as sexist:

This ad was also popular in the 1970’s. However, this ad was also extremely sexist, as it states that women only know how to cook while the Chef (symbol for males) do “everything” important lowering the worth of women.

”Girls You Can Be Somebody” ad is another good example of how women were seen as. It’s caption speaks as if women aren't anything to society hence the “You Can”.

News In America 1970's By: Anthony R, Megan, Jillian, and Eric

The Kent State and Jackson State shootings were very big and tragic events in the 1970's. The Kent State shooting was on May 4th 1970 where 28 soldiers admitted to shoot into a crowd of many students protesting against Nixon and the unfairness of teenagers getting drafted into the Vietnam War. 4 students were killed and 9 were wounded. The Jackson State shooting was on May 15th 1970 where a crowd of about 100 black students were confronted by police who were called for by the firefighters at the university when they saw what was going on. The police started open firing into the crowd for 30 seconds straight because reportedly the group was throwing rocks at white motorists throughout the campus, in the end 2 students were killed and 12 were wounded.

On April 30th 1975,Vietnam war ended. Of course this was a huge event for everyone because the war had been going on for 20 years. Some people act as if the war is over while some are still mourning the loss of their loved ones as some are still recovering. Approximately 15 percent of the 3.3 million American soldiers who served in Vietnam were diagnosed with delayed stress syndrome, essentially extreme stress and even brain disorder caused by horrific moments and memories from the war. Many veterans that are still alive today also face problems such as alcohol abuse, depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and antisocial personality disorder. Vietnam changed America in a big way.

TV shows in the 70’s by Jillian Mustillo

How do tv shows connect to the topic of war? Well you would be surprised if you saw how many shows were based off of war. Lots of shows have to do with war in the 70s such as MASH, Baa baa black sheep, Roll Out, Once an Eagle, Hogan's heroes and more. War was an important aspect of the 70s because the Vietnam War ended April 30th 1975. Shows are a great way to get a message around, which is what most directors do, because you're telling a story when ordinary people turn on the TV everyday.

Politics are all over the shows in the 70s. The shows are based off Vietnam (1955-1975) because that's what was going on at the time. Some shows used the idea of war without the show being about the Vietnam war (shows about world war ll) and what is cool is they took something from the news and a whole variety of shows came from it about so many different things.

MASH is a show that first premiered on September 17, 1972. The show follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the "4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" in South Korea during the Korean War. This is one of the highest rated shows in US television history. The shows message is that hard-work, good moral values and dedication to one's profession can cure everything and if you're the best in something, you can get away with a lot. This was an important message to get passed along especially because of the Vietnam war.

Roll out is an american sitcom that first aired October 5th 1973. The show is about transporting supplies to the front line in World War II. The show stars Hillary Hicks, Ed Begley Jr., Mel Stewart, Val Bisoglio, Jimmy Lydon, and Garrett Morris. The show received a 7.8/10 on IMDb and a 4.8/10 on TV.com.

Baa baa black sheep is a TV show series that aired on NBC from 1976 until 1978. The show was based on the experiences of United States Marine Corps following Greg Boyington (aviator) and his World War II Squadron. The “black sheep squadron”. There is another show called “Once an Eagle” which follows two military men, from the outbreak of World War I to the aftermath of World War II. the nine hour series has a 8.3/10 on IMDb.

“The World About War” is a documentary about events during world war ll. the show went from 1973-1974. “Hogan’s Heroes” is a sitcom following a german prisoner of war camp during world war ll. The show stars Bob Crane and John Banner.

The shows show american values from helping in the war, to explaining life while war is going on. The values now aren't about war, but about a lot of politics, in fact Barack Obama says “America's values are at stake” because of Trumps travel ban. Many things changed throughout 57 years and we are still facing a whole lot of other problems such as unemployment, education, equal rights, and social statuses.

MOVIES IN THE 70’s

Star Wars was a sci-fi film that came

out in 1977 and was immediately a smash hit. The film’s success lead to 2 other movies being made in the 80’s and 3 more in the 90’s and 2000’s. There are still more being made today. The original plot follows a farm boy named Luke Skywalker who lives on the desert planet and goes on an adventure to revolt against the empire.

Jaws was a fiction film about a beach town that was terrorized by a giant great white shark. The mayor wants to keep the beach open to make money, but it is too dangerous so he sends some people out on boats to catch the shark. The movie portrays the shark as a mindless killer in order to increase tension. The movie was very popular and eventually got one sequel. It came out in 1975.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was a movie about a poor boy named Charlie who wins a chance to visit a world-famous chocolate factory, and then gets to take over running it after being secretly tested during the tour. It came out in 1971.

Rocky is a movie about a boxer who has to persist to win fight after fight. The movie takes place in real world Philadelphia, but most of the characters are fake. The original movie’s success resulted in the making of six more. It came out in 1976.

Alien was a sci-fi movie that came out in 1979. It is about the crew of a commercial space ship who get a distress call from an alien ship. They find eggs in it. Some creatures hatch and attack the crew.

Two overriding themes of these movies are escape and imagination. Escape from post-traumatic war stress, and imagining amazing things to take your mind off of it. I think the 1970’s has so many fiction movies because people wanted to escape thoughts about the Vietnam war. It ended in 1975, and with everyone coming back, there was a lot of stress about various things. Soldiers had to go back to their jobs, and they were scarred from the war. Both physically and mentally. Wives who had not seen their husbands in almost 20 years had no idea whether or not they would see them again. And what do you do to take your mind off real-world struggles? You imagine. This is why I believe there are so many fiction movies in the 1970’s.