The Girls

In the 1960s and 1970s, America underwent major cultural upheavals as political and social changes reshaped much of the American psyche.

Buoyed by their victories in World War II, both the United States and the USSR (today known as Russia) developed their economies, militaries, and culture in the 1950s. The United States, a capitalist republic, and the Soviet Union, a communist regime, targeted one another’s ideologies, and conflict ensued. The concern for each nation was the global influence of the other. The Cold War was essentially a war of power, in which both the Soviet Union and the United States wanted to be seen as the better, more powerful nation. The USSR expanded into Eastern Europe and inspired and funded communist regimes throughout Asia and South America, and the United States interfered with these smaller communist regimes whenever they could. Another cause of the Cold War was America’s continued development of atomic bombs, a weapon employed in World War II against Japan. At this time, the USSR also started developing nuclear weapons. The fears of a potential nuclear war with the Soviet Union consumed Americans. The Cold War lasted from 1945 to 1991, but tensions escalated in the 1960s as school children were taught nuclear bomb drills and many Americans were convinced that a nuclear bomb was imminent. The name of this war is the “Cold War” because there were no military campaigns between the two countries. Instead, both America and the Soviet Union cultivated a culture of fear and mistrust of one another. This tension added significant stress on the American psyche.

Another stressor of the American psyche in the 1960s was the Vietnam War. The United States became involved in Vietnam’s civil war in 1965 to prevent the communist upheaval in Vietnam from overtaking the nation. When President Lyndon B. Johnson first entered the war, Americans supported the effort to avert the spread of communism, but the war was a years-long disaster. The United States military was fundamentally unprepared for the chaos and nuances of war in Vietnam. More than 58,000 American soldiers died in the Vietnam War, with no victory to show for it. As the years of the war dragged on, it became clear to many Americans that the government was not being honest about how badly they were losing in Vietnam. Antiwar protests became widespread in America, especially among young people, who watched their peers get drafted into a war no one wanted to be a part of. In 1968, antiwar protests swept up college campuses across the US. This year was a watershed in separating the generations. Older Americans tended to be conservative, supporting their government, while younger Americans, who were losing their peers and their own freedoms to the war, became disillusioned by their government and the very structure and idealism of their nation’s ethos. College protests were seen either as heroic or seditious, depending on who was asked. The Vietnam War and the subsequent protests divided Americans on cultural and generational grounds.

The civil rights movement also embroiled the nation. Ending informally in 1968, the civil rights movement made enormous strides toward establishing equal rights for Black Americans. The laws that ended segregation of public spaces and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 forced white Americans to confront the country’s legacy of bigotry and institutionalized racism. The civil rights movement didn’t end racism in America, but it began to dismantle racist institutions and laws. Mass protests in support of the civil rights movement brought white and Black Americans together in profound ways, but it also separated many white Americans on generational lines.

These protests of American imperialism, racism, and government dishonesty inspired new movements in art, music, and film. American popular culture reflected the new ideals. In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held in Upstate New York. This festival launched musicians, such as Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix, who changed the ethos of American culture. The festival capitalized on the spirit of free love, experimental drugs, and communal spirit that young people had embraced and promoted in the 1960s.

The 1960s were a decade of radical change, insecurity, and inspiration. The Girls examines this period by focusing on Evie’s teenage coming-of-age story in 1969 through the important theme of Social Disillusionment. Evie’s attraction to the commune, its ideals, and its people wasn’t uncommon for the time. According to writer Benjamin Ramm, between 1967 and 1971 more than half a million people, many teenagers, ran away to live on communes. These communities

would be free of hierarchy, patriarchy, racism and the ‘false needs’ of consumerism and organised religion. The ‘replacement society’ would eliminate alienation and provide community for young people who, like the teenager in [The Beatles’ song] She’s Leaving Home, felt they were ‘living alone for so many years’ (Ramm, Benjamin. “Why thousands of teens ran away from home in the 1960s.” BBC.com, 2017).

Evie learns that communes inevitably “removed rules that restrained human behaviour, and strong personalities came to dominate” (Ramm). Russell, as did Charles Manson, typifies an extreme version of that dominating personality. Violence and murder are the result of Russell’s powerful hold on the commune, and adult Evie hasn’t escaped the trauma of her teenage experiences.