Best American cultural decade of the 20th century?
Submitted by Marquee on Thu, 12/17/2009 - 14:23
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Limited to American culture because otherwise it would be far too broad a question.
Base your selection upon whatever criteria you desire.
Feel free to drop a line or two regarding why you rolled with what you did.
You ever seen this comic by Shintaro Kago?
Seen that very same blog, actually. Unbelievable, I've never seen anything like it. Completely off the wall.
I'm reading some Krazy Kat right now and really digging it. Do you have any idea what is up with all the idioms though? Did people actually talk like that around the 20s?
Doubtful, but I think the language is a great contributor to its charm, it's sheer poetry. Herriman's definitely a top five cartoonist, dude was getting name checked by the likes of e.e. cumming's and Picasso. Krazy Kat is transcendent.
Krazy Kat reminds me of so many other cartoons, like Roadrunner for example or that Almira chick from Animaniacs; except this pursuit is a lot more dynamic (did I just call Krazy Kat's pursual of the mouse...dynamic? christ). Regardless, thanks for the nod to the great cartoonist dahlink.
I immediately went for the 60s as well, just thinking about the cultural revolutions/movements that defined that decade (Civil Rights, Womens, Queer [Stonewall just makes it in 69] etc.) it stands out from any other. Even adding in other factors like music and film just boosts its status.
...I'm rolling with the 60's, somewhat cliched but whatever. But really, you had:
Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Stan Getz, Wayne Shorter, Joao Gilberto, Horace Silver, Anthony Braxton, Wes Montgomery, Eric Dolphy, Pharoah Sanders, Charlie Haden, Ornette Coleman, Captain Beefheart, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Frank Zappa, The Velvet Underground, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Tim Buckley, Beach Boys, Terry Riley, The Doors, MC5, etc all in music. Might have accidentally slipped in a non-American or two, whoops. The list go on and on... So many of the greatest 20th century artists at the top of their game.
Comics had things on lock... Jules Feiffer, Carl Barks, Robert Crumb, Charles Schulz, Peter Arno, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Pat Oliphant, Harvey Kurtzman, Art Spiegelman, Will Elder, Walt Kelly, S Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriguez, Kim Deitch, Gilbert Shelton, Robert Williams, etc... (really the whole underground movement)
I'll admit literature is a medium I'm not well-versed in, but on paper it looks pretty good.
Film had Orson Welles, John Cassavetes, John Ford, Sam Peckinpah, Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski, Sergio Leone, Billy Wilder, Arthur Penn, Stan Brakhage, Robert Mulligan, and all those good folks. I definitely would not say it was the high-point for American cinema, but a good few flicks were churned out.
Architecture had Richard Neutra, Philip Johnson, Alvar Aalto, Mies van der Rohe... okay those are all the names I know from the 60's.
Painting was Edward Hopper, Mark Rothko, Philip Guston, David Smith, Andy Warhol, Barnett Newman, whatevers. My painting knowledge is shoddy as it is, and mainly limited to Europe, so I'm sure there were others.
Paul Rand, Saul Bass, Russel Wright and the Eames were all in designing...
...yeah the 1960's was definitely a high point for American culture.
I just wrote a lot. Whoops.
Ya, I gotta go with either 60s or 70s. You make some good points and more importantly you make me want to live! By the way, point me in a way of a comic book that is worth checking out and I will be on that shit like a dick on dick, you whore.
As far as comic strips go, the best of the lot are George Herriman's Krazy Kat, Walt Kelly's Pogo, EC Segar's Thimble Theatre / Popeye, Charles Schulz' Peanuts and Jules Feiffers' Explainers.
As far as superheroes go, they're really not my thing. I have a few Ditko and Kirby Essential volumes, which are cheap and fun to look at, but there's very little there. Of course there are many intelligent people who would violently disagree. Alan Moore & Dave Gibbon's Watchmen is exceptional.
Essential books are, in loose order, David Mazzuchelli's Asterios Polyp, Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell's From Hell (I can see you liking this one, it's about a relatable fellow named Jack the Ripper), Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan, Dan Clowes' Ghost World, Joe Sacco's Palestine, Jaime Hernandez' Locas, Gilbert Hernandez' Palomar and Art Spiegelman's Maus. Robert Crumb, often considered the greatest cartoonist, recently released an illustrated Book of Genesis. He also has a Kafka book that you may like. His best stuff is his sketchbooks, though. Although his comics from Weirdo and Arcade are very fine as well. Didn't go into manga because my knowledge of it is so shallow, although I do like what I've read quite a bit.
The best resource for comics is probably this list. It's limited to American comics, but it's probably for the better considering how difficult it is to get ones hands on Moebius, Tardi, Munoz, Franquin, Pratt, etc over here. With that said, two of the very best comics in the world, Asterix (Goscinny & Uderzo) and Tintin (Herge), are European and easily accessible.
Start with From Hell. kthx.