The 1950s is a decade perfectly formed in our historical imagination as placid, conservative, well-mannered, anti-communist and full of domestic confinement/bliss. In this course we¿ll blow the lid off of this stale version of the decade by looking at four areas of culture: television, film, radio and mass market magazines. In looking at major and minor texts within these four areas of culture we¿ll see that the labor movement was surprisingly vibrant in the 1950s, that women (and men) were not at all content with domestic dullness, and that the revolution in race relations was started by black and white disc jockeys on Southern radio stations. This course will also blend media theory, media history and media interpretation towards a greater understanding of how mass culture shaped the 1950s and how the 1950s remade mass culture for the American Century. Primary texts will include The Honeymooners, The Phil Silvers Show, Amos ¿n¿ Andy, On the Waterfront, Marty, The Pajama Game, A View from a Bridge, the history of the first all-black radio station, WDIA, and pulp magazines including True Story and True Romance.