the 1950s

In the context of this course we have spent time both analyzing theories of culture in both prior and post  times of mass media, for myself I find the most fascinating era of mass media in the 1950s. After the end of WWII the U.S was living far beyond their means, so much access to material goods, as well as jobs and entertainment. all I ever see from the 1950s are smiles and the choppy works of early colored film. Children playing in newly erected suburbs and stay at home mothers cleaning their homes of the future. Everything just seems so perfect. Was it the money available? was the the religious revival that followed WWII?  As I toss this question through my head i can't picture or quite understand the world prior to 1950s. Of course I know history, but from a text book. But since the 1950s there seems to be a new history depicted, this social history with a reliance on having more. When I look at the movie stars of this era, I first wonder what they have done in their careers, and then I try and understand my acceptance of who they are through what they own? was James dean cool because he wore a red barracuda jacket, Smoked Camels, and rode a Mustang? Yeah, thats what has kept his image alive for so long. Its hard not to look at the faces in mass media without their material goods being a extension of themselves. Kim kardashian finds that her family doesn't simply have emotional baggage, but rather louis Vuitton baggage.