My 1996 Doctoral Dissertation at Syracuse University (1 Viewer)

[PolarBear]

I was born in 1945 and I believe there are a number of Treefrog Forum Members who were part of the Boomer Generation who might find my dissertation of interest. Those who remember the many Cowboy and Soldier TV shows of the 1950s and early sixties and performers such as Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and John Wayne may find this brings back old memories. John Wayne played both Cowboys and Soldiers that we watched on TV or at the movies. My dissertation is Open Access so anyone is free to download it. At the bottom of the page is a link for downloading it.


"STILL DREAMING OF PARADISE": RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN ' S OKLAHOMA!, SOUTH PACIFIC , AND POSTWAR AMERICA

Abstract
Oklahoma! and South Pacific were Rodgers and Hammerstein's most successful and popular musicals of the 1940's. This study demonstrates their function as modern morality plays for their audiences. Specifically, the two musicals provided Americans with a prescription for a postwar Paradise. This was a Paradise based upon the American Dream of rebirth and renewal acted out in a landscape of second chances. The components of this Paradise are examined in topical essays that consider such issues as Americanism, consumerism, tourism, racism, and optimism. Each of these elements links what would otherwise appear to be disparate narratives: the American West at the turn of the century and the South Seas during World War II. The most significant connection between the two musicals and the basis for a postwar Paradise is the geopolitics of an expanding American frontier, paralleling the nation's evolution from a national to a global power in the years during and after World War II. Sources such as Western films and recordings of the singing cowboys, popular images of the Pacific Islands, travel literature and advertisements, anthropological and sociological tracts on race and ethnicity, the theology of Reinhold Niebuhr, and foreign policy publications are used to demonstrate Oklahoma!'s and South Pacific's connections to contemporary discourses and to provide historical and cultural contexts for understanding the musicals. Finally, Chapter 7 explores the relationship between the emergent postwar youth culture (the "Children of Paradise") and the issues raised by the musicals.

Download Dissertation: https://surface.syr.edu/oa_etd/2/

 

[jazzeum]

Randy, thanks. I look forward to reading it.

 

[hotel3alpha]

Randy,

I am going to download it as well. Reinhold Niebuhr's "Children of Light, Children of Darkness" shook me to the core when I read it and have read over and over. That work (to me) is an enlightening look into human nature and a "go to" to explain some of the reasons why people do what they do...think what they think...and act in this thing called life.

John from Texas

 

[PolarBear]

Randy,

I am going to download it as well. Reinhold Niebuhr's "Children of Light, Children of Darkness" shook me to the core when I read it and have read over and over. That work (to me) is an enlightening look into human nature and a "go to" to explain some of the reasons why people do what they do...think what they think...and act in this thing called life.

John from Texas

John

Hope you find it of interest. What I found was that these two musicals captured many aspects of Post WWII America and provided another way of looking at the period. My doctoral program at SU was interdisciplinary so I was able to consider a wide range of subjects including in addition to Fine Arts, Anthropology, Geography, American History. It was fun to write because this was the era I came of age in. My parents loved the theater, especially Broadway Musicals.Connecticut where I was born and grew up in had a number of good theaters. My wife and I go to East Haddam, CT each summer to see the Broadway musicals at the Goodspeed Opera House. (Below)
Randy