How Did Pop Culture Influence Australian Popular Culture

Australian Popular Culture defined by Richard Waterhouse (Historian) as ‘that which is widely practised, watched, heard and read, generally accepted and approved by the majority’ (Oxford Insights History pg. 82) has been influenced by numerous forces, such as Sports, Children’s literature, Radio, Film, Fashion, Music and Television. These forces have had and is still having a significant impact on Australian culture, changing and continuing it from the 1940’s to today.

A predominant force that impacted Australian Popular Culture is Sports, such as Cricket, Baseball and Rugby. These sports were instrumental in bringing about normality to the Australian people after World War 2 and succoured them to resume the Ashes with the “mother country”

It was highly salient amid the 1960’s were people dramatically changed their decorous outfits to carefree clothing’s. Before the 1960’s people wore clothes that were trim and decorous such as suits for men and long skirts for women which were up to their ankles. As the 1960’s approached fashion changed dramatically, people started wearing ‘crazy’ clothes such as miniskirts for women and hot pants for men that was all about youthfulness, comfort, independence and rebellion. Continuities that have resulted from this is that fashion is still changing and more and more new outfits are being made every year. Another continuity is that the miniskirts and suits back in the 1960’s is still popular in today’s society and is a growing trend. Changes include the fact that women are wearing more revealing clothes such as the booty shorts and bikinis which amid the 1940’s would have engendered an outrage. In short, fashion was a force that influenced Australian Popular Culture by making the Australian public perceive outfits in disparate

In the 1950’s as a result of Music, teenagers in Australia began to have a disparate outlook towards life which subsequently drew a line with their parent’s generations who had experienced extreme hardship such as World Wars and the Great Depression. Music also had an impact on Australians as they became amicable with America as many of the popular songs were written by Americans such as Elvis Presley which strengthened the ties between the two nations. Continuities that have stayed the same is that America still has a great influence on Australian people and is one of their strongest Allies, Australian people are infatuated by certain types of music for example back in the 1960’s the Australian people were infatuated by the Beatles and now Australians are infatuated with One Direction and Justin Bieber. Changes include the fact that there are sundry types of dance moves that are performed by the singer during the song, there are women singers and aboriginal in the world. All in all, music was imperative as it changed people’s outlook towards life which subsequently drew a line between the previous generations as they had experienced extreme