Authoritarianism and Rebellion in Popular Culture

Since World War II, Americans have been caught in a struggle between optimism and faith, fear and paranoia. Distrust toward government institutions and authority became the norm during the 1960s as a younger generation began to tear away from the mores and values of its elders. It was out of this struggle that popular culture symbolized this imbalance. Between the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love," and Iggy Pop and the Stooges' "Search and Destroy," from the Temptation's sunny "My Girl" to Marvin Gaye's incendiary "What's Going On," America was in a state of flux, uncertain of its future. Beneath the struggle was the underlying fear that things were not what they appeared to be, demonstrated by the social and political upheavals which defined the country in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s.