Subcultures – ‘Flappers’Lesson 2 collective identity blog work

Sabiha Rahman

What is a subculture?

• Subcultures are groups of people who share similar likes, dislikes and characteristics who go against or follow different norms and values than the rest of society.

Flappers – 1920s women

• New breed of young western women in the 1920s

• First appearance in the USA: 1920 Frances Marion film

• Their behaviour was seen as unacceptable because they smoked, drank lots of alcohol, & treated sex in a casual manner

The media

• They had bob cut hair (became popular and all women started to copy it just because it was in films and all sorts)

• Wore short skirts (changed the norms of media and how women dress – gave more women confidence to do it too, so they showed their legs more)

• Listened to jazz music (the media has an influence on music choice and jazz soon became a popular music genre played in pubs, clubs and public places)

• Excessive makeup (Different brands, colours and women start to make it a sort of ‘essential’ – Marilyn Monroe’s red lipstick)

Flappers - lifestyle• Lots of casual sex• Drinking alcohol• Smoking• Starting to work outside the

home and challenged women’s traditional roles

Flappers – appearance

• Result of French fashions (especially Coco Chanel)

• Tiny skirts• Bob hair cuts• Hats• Bright white teeth

So how were they represented by the media?

• For women, it became an iconic symbol to be a flapper because you worked against the norms of society which, in some views of women, is patriarchal (male dominated)

• Working outside of home, creating your own fashion trend, being different & doing what men mostly do (like smoking) was being rebellious but also taking a stand for women

• On the other hand, a lot of people disagreed with the acts of flappers because it showed women to be ‘easy’ or ‘dirty’ and actually gave a bad reputation for women in the 1920s

Media representation - documents