Seperates real 1950s from tv 1950s
If there's ever been a film that really brings out the topic of what 1950s America was really like verses the idealic 1950s from shows like Leave it to beaver and The honeymooners, this is the one. A lot of people who were not born yet in the 50s have often have a misconception that in the 50s people were exactly like in those tvshows. That people and their neighbors all got along so beautifully and were one big happy family, everyone smiled and were friendly to everyone whether it was on the street, in a store, at work, at home, everywhere. That everyone was very moral. That everyone saved sex until marriage. That physical fighting and violence was practically unheard of.
In reality in the 1950s, all that I mentioned above was a little closer to 50s life than to 21st century life, but not that close. In the real 50s, not everyone got along, not everyone saved sex til marriage, there was hatered, and there was violence. One thing, a big thing, was actually much worse than today. Racism. Especially in the deep south. The segregated buses, bars and resteraunts, schools, bathrooms, and water fountains. So the deep South of the 50s was extremely different than the sitcoms. The rest of America was not quite as bad but antisemitism and hate was still there, and Leave it to beaver was still a fantasy world. One great film that much more accurately portrays the real 50s is "School ties" with Brendan Frazier dealing with bigotry at his school for being jewish. "Stand by me" also shows some real behaviors of the 50s, such as the Kiether Sutherland character and his friends mashing mailboxes for fun and bullying the smaller kids, not to mention the issue of a dead body in the woods. "Mississippi burning" shows a quite realistic portrayal of racism in the 50s deep south.