“COOL” IN POSTWAR AMERICA

Speaker: Mick Chantler, MA

Thursday, March 10th, 2022

The word “cool” once held a powerful emotional charge. Unlike its current use, a synonym for “nice,” cool once had radical political and social implications. The concept arose after WWII in Europe and America when many people were groping for a new vision for the future, protesting racism, sexual repression, and social conformity. “Cool” people in the ’40s and ’50s were fed up with bourgeois mediocrity and searched for new ways to express their rebellious independence. Cool came to permeate music, film, literature, and philosophy. Mick Chantler, MA will take us on a deep dive into the concept’s development and show how it has impacted the “post-cool” world.

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