HIST 1302 Reflection Three

PROMPT: Post WWII prosperity in the United States centered on the suburban home, and the heart of the suburban home was the kitchen, a place Americans typically understood as the housewife’s domain. 

The source for this activity consists of a 1955 promotional comedy “A Word to the Wives.” Funded by numerous corporations and industries that benefited from suburban homebuilding, the movie sought to make the argument that state-of-the-art appliances not only made women’s domestic duties easier, they raised the standards of home cooking and entertainment, and ushered in a modern suburban society that associated the home, rightly or wrongly, with leisure and entertainment than hard work. 

Discuss the differences between the “modern kitchen” of the 1950s and the kitchens you know from your family life.

What are the major differences?

How realistically did the movie portray the suburban couples of the 1950s?

What is probable, and what is wishful thinking?

As you consider the kitchens of the 1950s versus your interpretation of a modern home today, what changes in design preferences tell you about gender relations, family structure, and cultural values? 

“A Word to the Wives” (1955) link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7EN8CkMY0A

1960s Futuristic Homes and Kitchens link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZgDhktjWPs

Guidelines for this assignment: 

1. All writing is to be done in complete sentences with proper English grammar and mechanics. This includes, but is not limited to, proper nouns, subject/verb agreement, spelling,sentence construction, and punctuation.

2. Your response must answer the questions asked. 

3. The reflection response you submit must be a minimum of 500 words. The word count should be included in your reflection response. 

4. The response must be your original work. You may not copy from the internet, your text, or other students.