{"id":4874,"date":"2026-01-27T18:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/?p=4874"},"modified":"2026-01-27T18:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:18:12","slug":"my-impressions-of-the-1920s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/blog\/2026\/01\/27\/my-impressions-of-the-1920s\/","title":{"rendered":"My Impressions of the 1920’s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Typically, when I think of the 1920s scenes from the Great Gatsby<\/em> immediately cross my mind. Loud parties, fancy cars, extravagant flapper dresses and people in a euphoric state wherever you look. I think that the 1920\u2019s are typically portrayed within mainstream media as being a lawless-urban jungle booming with radical change. Oddly enough I also think of the show Peaky Blinders, a series about an English gang from the early 1900s, the entire aesthetic of this show I think demonstrates the underbelly of the 20\u2019s that\u2019s so often romanticized. Stories of gangsters, mobs, bootleggers and corruption often tantalize the imagination of the public, with names like Al Capone and Lucky Luciano often coming to mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To me the fashion of the 1920\u2019s is some of the most iconic and recognizable designs in the history of fashion. The boxy and flowy flapper dresses were a symbol of freedom and rebellion for the young women of the 20\u2019s, they were a representation of the rejection of previous standards society placed on women\u2019s fashion. They also demonstrated a time of liberation for women, many of whom rejected the traditional livelihoods that previous generations lived by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the 1920s are stereotypically seen as a time of glitz, glamor and (romanticized) danger, this era of history was far from being perfect or safe. After the first World War I could imagine that there was a great sense of patriotism and nationalism, however this unifying feeling often results in the exclusion and discrimination of others. With the large wave immigration coming from Europe there was a sense of \u2018us vs. them\u2019. Often the subject of discrimination would change based on the political, economic and social issues of the time, for example there was a time in which the Irish were heavily discriminated against. Within these new urban jungles there was also an issue of intense overcrowding, which became the perfect breeding ground for disease, crime, and violence. During this era, I also often think of political corruption on both local and federal scales, the size and influence of organized crime was rampant.  Overall although the 1920\u2019s are often publicly romanticized and visualized into entertainment like The Great Gatsby<\/em> or Public Enemy<\/em>, when in actuality it was a time of chaos and radical change.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A group of women dance while men play musical instruments. (Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The photos I\u2019ve chosen whilst briefly browsing through images I believe further collaborate with my idea of the 1920\u2019s. Often the images that first appear when searching for the 1920\u2019s depict parties, dancing, fashion and musicians. Although unusual these images reminded me of the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog<\/em>, specifically when one of the main characters, Naveen, is singing about all the parties he plans to attend after he becomes human again (he was transformed into a frog at the beginning of the movie). The style, tune and swing of the music as well as the aesthetic of New Orleans within this movie is very reminiscent of what the 1920\u2019s is stereotypically visualized as. As a whole the images presented on google images further demonstrate what people typically think of when they\u2019re asked about the 1920\u2019s. it\u2019s only when and if someone decides to dig deeper do they see the true nature of the 1920s.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Typically, when I think of the 1920s scenes from the Great Gatsby immediately cross my mind. Loud parties, fancy cars, extravagant flapper dresses and people in a euphoric state wherever…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}