To what extent did Australia develop its own responses to these influences?

After WWII followed a period of peace, which allowed for the development of what has come to be known as 'popular culture'. During the 1950's and 1960's especially, popular culture appealed to the younger generations, and in response to being targeted by this new way of living, the 'teenager' emerged as a defined social group. Popular culture encompassed many areas of recreational life. There were many changes in musical interests and tastes, with huge groups such as the Beatles and the Beach boys dominating the industry. Major advances in technology allowed for the advents of film and television to be brought to the masses. These advances in technology made one-way communication on a worldwide scale a reality, and therefore opened up a gate through which influences on popular culture from other countries could travel.

WWII changed many of the ideas that Australians had about their standing in the world. Britain being our “Mother Country”, and the vast majority of those living in Australia being British, or of British descent, we we

re very closely linked to Britain, and our allegiance felt towards Britain was very strong. In WWI, we had provided Britain with much needed military support, only to have our soldiers slaughtered in the Gallipoli campaign. When WWII occurred, the battle was much closer to home, and we found ourselves being bombed. Britain was also being directly attacked, and we realized that defending Australia was not on Britain’s priority list. We were less than 7 million people, defending almost 3 million square miles, and we needed a superpower to help aid us in defence. We developed an alliance with America, and so we had someone to help defend us.

Rock and roll was targeted at the younger generations, mainly the 10-20 year olds. This new recognition, and breaking away from childhood led to ‘teenagers’ becoming a defined social group in their own right. The new ‘teenagers’ started borrowing from the American teenage way of life, and got themselves part-time jobs to earn money for spending on fashion, movies, music, and other entertainment. Teenagers, now with enough money to do such things as have trips to the movies and buy commercial goods were a virtual minefield for the advertising and film industries, who pounced on the opportunity immediately. The films that were produced and targeted at the teenage audience only served to consolidate the teenage image even more, with films such as The Wild One (1953) and Rebel Without a Cause (1954) presenting a distinct image of the teenage rebel. Products, such as chewing gum, records, clothing, and cosmetics were targeted at teenagers specifically, and were designed to aid teens in attaining an appearance and demeanour almost identical to that of their film and music heroes. These products were also specifically designed to make the manufacturers much richer. Teenagers had begun to make themselves known, not only as a specific group, but a group with a specific appearance.

After the war, this newfound friendship opened the way for much communication with America. We found ourselves dominated by American music, dance, movies, television, food and fads. Radios designed for home use took off in the 1940s, and by 1947, there were 1.5 million licensed radio

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