Beat Pt II

Michael McClure, Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg at City Light Books, 1966.

Counter-cultural movements excite me.

The Beat Generation assembled in the conservative society of 1950s post-WWII America. The underground movement called for spontaneity, free expression and an end to psychological repression. These ideas were alarming and presented a significant contrast to the current American society, the majority of which was searching for reassurance and restoration of order following the turbulent worldwide conflict.

Prior to the establishment of the Beat Generation, artists in fields such as jazz music were pursuing self-expression through abandonment of control, as evidenced by the improvisational elements of jazz music.

In following years, members of the Beat Generation were dubbed “beatniks”. The term was coined in 1958 using a portmanteau of the words “beat” and “sputnik”. It was created with reference to the intense American fear of the spread of Communism by the inclusion of part of the word “sputnik”, the name of a then recent Russian satellite. Use of this term suggested that members of the Beat Generation were pro-Communist, again providing a contrast to the attitude of wider American society. From 1956 onwards, American troops fought in Vietnam in an attempt to stop the spread of Communism to the Western world. “Beatniks” became a widely publicised stereotype of the Beat Generation, emphasising only the most superficial of their characteristics such as their appearance and sexual experimentation.

During the 1960s, the Beat Generation was overtaken by the Sixties Counterculture. This change came with a shift from usage of the term “beatnik” to “hippie”. Hippies are widely associated with the protest movements of the 1960s against issues such as American involvement in the Vietnam War. The members of the Beat Generation were known for “playing it cool” and keeping a relatively low profile in relation to world issues. The hippies, however, were known for “being cool”, i.e. displaying their non-conformity and voicing their often controversial opinions. The Beats were generally politically neutral, whereas hippies joined civil rights and anti-war movements. Aesthetically, hippies presented a significant contrast to the beatnik stereotype. Rather than the sombre, dark shades and goatees of the beatniks, hippies generally had long, flowing hair and wire colourful, psychedelic clothing.