History Main / The50s

* ''HallmarkHallOfFame''

One of the longest cultural "decades"- in many ways its tropes cover the period from V-J Day to the Kennedy assassination, 1945-63, with a shift in trappings in about 1955-57 as TV ownership reached a tipping point, tailfin cars got REALLY wild, RockAndRoll started getting serious radio play and the first wave of [[BabiesEverAfter Baby Boomers]] reached JuniorHigh.

* ''Series/{{MASH}}''. The show either takes places in the Historical Fifties or else in a PresentDayPast.

* ''TheDoctorBlakeMysteries'' is set in 1959 Australia.

* ''Series/TheDoctorBlakeMysteries'' is set in 1959 Australia.

** the good-hearted [[OfficerOhara Irish police officer]] who will most likely shoot you at sight,

** Creator/JohnWayne codified the genre of film set DuringTheWar ({{WWII}}, of course!) with a slew of films. Every boy who didn't collect baseball cards, collected toys and books about {{Old School Dogfight}}ing.

* TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks: From decent scenes to [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway wierd powers]]

* ''RichieRich''. First appeared in September, 1953.

Interestingly, the decade has triggered highly contradictory reactions among people who do not remember it well since the 1970s. Fifties cars are still admired aesthetically (in some areas, you can still find them on the street), Fifties clothes are enormously popular for costume parties, and Fifties music (at least, the sort that doesn't sound like holdovers from the Forties) will probably never be thought unfashionable. In addition, many seem to view the decade, with much sadness, as a forever-vanished idyllic time that was infinitely more conservative and family-friendly (although this is not what people actually living through the decade necessarily thought). At the same time, the 1950s is often treated as a sort of historical ButtMonkey by those left of center - an all-purpose dartboard on which anyone who is irritated by "social repression" can vent their frustration.

The decade was also a period of relative stability and unprecedented optimism, both probably enhanced by comparison since the period was bracketed by the horrors of WorldWarII and the upcoming turbulence of TheSixties. This was particularly prevalent in the US, which had not only triumphed in the war but, more importantly, was just about the only major nation to come out of the conflict with its infrastructure intact. With no rebuilding to do, the focus was on innovation; there was a strong belief in the prospect of limitless progress through science and industry, which led to a lot of gee-whiz science fiction that's now covered with {{Zeerust}}. It's no coincidence that the ultimate embodiment of optimism, {{Disneyland}}, opened in 1955, with its cornerstone of Tomorrowland, promising a "great big beautiful tomorrow." Compare AluminumChristmasTrees.

Interestingly, the decade has triggered highly contradictory reactions among people who do not remember it well since the 1970s. Fifties cars are still admired aesthetically (in some areas, you can still find them on the street), Fifties clothes are enormously popular for costume parties, and Fifties music (at least, the sort that doesn't sound like holdovers from the Forties) will probably never be thought unfashionable. In addition, many seem to view the decade, with much sadness, as a forever-vanished idyllic time that was infinitely more conservative and family-friendly (although this is not what people actually living through the decade necessarily thought). At the same time, the 1950s is often treated as a sort of historical ButtMonkey by those left of center - an all-purpose dartboard on which anyone who is irritated by "social repression."

TheFabulousFifties: An era of identical [[StepfordSuburbia pink pressboard]] [[{{Suburbia}} suburban houses]] filled with [[StepfordSmiler smiling]], apron-clad [[{{Housewife}} housewives]]. All the men [[StandardFiftiesFather wear slippers and fedoras and smoke pipes]], all the girls are teenaged and wear poodle skirts, and all the boys are cute, freckle faced scamps with slingshots in their pockets. Parents sleep in separate beds and only kiss each other on the cheek.

[[caption-width-right:300:[-The father is [[ArmouredClosetGay gay]], the mother [[StayInTheKitchen wants a real job]], the boy on the left [[TheNewRockAndRoll listens to rock & roll]], the boy on the right [[NewAgeRetroHippie smokes weed]], the little girl is [[WhereDaWhiteWomenAt dating a black man]], the baby is a [[RedScare communist]], and the unseen fifth child was [[InformedDeformity institutionalized for having a birth defect]]. ''[[HappinessIsMandatory But for God's sake]] '''[[StepfordSmiler don't say anything!]]'''''-] ]]

At least that's the popular view of the real Fifties. In media, there are three versions of The Fifties. The first is the Fifties Fifties, i.e. how the time was portrayed in many works that were actually made then. In this version, The Fifties were a suburban paradise where everyone was always happy, either forgetting the [[TheGreatDepression bad]] [[WorldWarII events]] that happened during [[TheForties the last decade]] or reminiscing the [[TheGayNineties prosperous]] [[TheRoaringTwenties times]] of previous decades, and there were no problems except for all those [[TeensAreMonsters juvenile delinquents]] running around. Unless the local college had some commies spreading un-American values or [[TheresNoBInMovie the flying saucers are landing]]. The fifties uptightness was linked to real world social anxiety and atom-bomb jitters, after all. Don't expect the civil rights movement to show up. Hell, seeing actual black people is a bit of a crapshoot. The Fifties Fifties are now a popular subject of TheParody.

Interestingly, the decade has triggered highly contradictory reactions among people who do not remember it well since the 1970s. Fifties cars are still admired aesthetically (in some areas, you can still find them on the street), Fifties clothes are enormously popular for costume parties, and Fifties music (at least, the sort that doesn't sound like holdovers from the Forties) will probably never be thought unfashionable. In addition, many seem to view the decade, with much sadness, as a forever-vanished idyllic time that was infinitely more conservative and family-friendly (although this is not what people actually living through the decade necessarily thought). At the same time, the 1950s is often treated as a sort of historical ButtMonkey - an all-purpose dartboard on which anyone who is irritated by social repression - ''especially'' if it concerns sex - can feel free to take out their frustrations. (Whenever you hear of someone described as having "Fifties values," it usually isn't a compliment.)

But those who wish to [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderize]] an entire decade should know that the 1950s were actually marked by great strides forward in social progress, sexual and otherwise, even if they still existed mostly on the theoretical level. (The Republican party's platform for 1956 included a plank calling for an end to sex discrimination. Yes, you read that right: the ''Republican'' party.) And in any case, [[FairForItsDay they were a lot less repressed than the eras that preceded them]]. The decade was also a period of relative stability and unprecedented optimism, both probably enhanced by comparison since the period was bracketed by the horrors of WorldWarII and the upcoming turbulence of TheSixties. This was particularly prevalent in the US, which had not only triumphed in the war but, more importantly, was just about the only major nation to come out of the conflict with its infrastructure intact. With no rebuilding to do, the focus was on innovation; there was a strong belief in the prospect of limitless progress through science and industry, which led to a lot of gee-whiz science fiction that's now covered with {{Zeerust}}. It's no coincidence that the ultimate embodiment of optimism, {{Disneyland}}, opened in 1955, with its cornerstone of Tomorrowland, promising a "great big beautiful tomorrow." Compare AluminumChristmasTrees.

* StayInTheKitchen

* ''TheFriendlyGiant''

* NostalgiaFilter: Throughout TheSeventies and TheEighties, and even into TheNineties, the 1950's were the go-to decade for nostalgia in the media, as well as the retro movements of the 70's and 80's. That being said, during the 1950's, the eras synonymous with nostalgia was TheEdwardianEra and TheRoaringTwenties. That being said, during the 2000's and 2010's, TheEighties has replaced TheFifties as the nostalgia filter era, namely because Generation X is replacing the Baby Boomers (kids of TheFifties and TheSixties) and Silent Generation (kids born in the TheGreatDepression and TheForties).

* The GoldenAgeOfHollywood wound down during the Fifties, drifting into formulaic musicals, HaysCode-approved thrillers, and big production numbers, leading to more adventurous directors refining their technique in romantic films and character dramas.

* ''ThePhilSilversShow''

* ''Radio/{{Dragnet}}'' was a PoliceProcedural that ran from the late Forties through the [[TheSixties Sixties]]. While there is Fifties conformity scattered throughout the series, the show is not completely clean, showing the ugly side of society as they solve each week's crime. Was somewhat made in response to the negative view of the police force during the time period.

* Though the decade is never properly defined, ''{{Fido}}'' is set in a kind of alternate-history Fifties where a ZombieApocalypse nearly wiped out humanity approximately twenty years before, and survivors live in fortress-like [[StepfordSuburbia Stepford Suburbias]] surrounded by zombiefied wasteland.

** Actually "gee whiz" is a GoshDarnitToHeck version of Jesus and Golly for "god".

But those who wish to [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderize]] an entire decade should know that the 1950s were actually marked by great strides forward in social progress, sexual and otherwise. And in any case, [[FairForItsDay they were a lot less repressed than the eras that preceded them]]. The decade was also a period of relative stability and unprecedented optimism, both probably enhanced by comparison since the period was bracketed by the horrors of WorldWarII and the upcoming turbulence of TheSixties. This was particularly prevalent in the US, which had not only triumphed in the war but, more importantly, was just about the only major nation to come out of the conflict with its infrastructure intact. With no rebuilding to do, the focus was on innovation; there was a strong belief in the prospect of limitless progress through science and industry, which led to a lot of gee-whiz science fiction that's now covered with {{Zeerust}}. It's no coincidence that the ultimate embodiment of optimism, {{Disneyland}}, opened in 1955, with its cornerstone of Tomorrowland, promising a "great big beautiful tomorrow." Compare AluminumChristmasTrees.

*** ''TheScarletPumpernickel'' (1950)

* ''CaptainKangaroo''