Archeologie en zinsbegoocheling. De media en de jaren zestig

Samenvatting

This essay considers the relationship between the media and the 1960s, pointing out that what many know of this historical period is partly a media-created myth. In fact, this was true in some respects during the 1960s. Transnational diffusion as well as the suggestion of a simultaneity of events -- the myth of 1968, for instance -- can be explained by understanding of the editing and cutting techniques used by visual media, eg, film and TV. Further, many typical 1960 phenomena like pop music, the counterculture, and the protest against the Vietnam War owe their transnational features to radio and TV. The specific contribution of the media to the 1960s revolution consisted of speeding up the process in which marginal cultures like Beats and Rockers turned prescriptive for average youths. The author poses the question of whether the coinciding of two revolutions -- of the decade itself and of the media -- have laid a new and, in sophistication, unequalled totalitarianism upon us. Adapted from the source document.