Thomas Jefferson High School - Aristocrat Yearbook (Denver, CO)

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Avi . '- J 9 4- 985 And What Does the Future Hold? The world has survived the dire predictions of George Orwell in his book published in the 40s and again became a best-seller in 1984. George Lucas' film Star Wars became more than a film, it became a watchword of the Pentagon. Renewed academic interest, a surge of patriotism enhanced by the '84 Olympics, sense of purpose in the student body predicted a return to the l'normalcy of the golden years of education. A landslide election of President Ronald Reagan seemed to indicate a voting public 'satisfied with the status quo. A futuristic movie had .as its theme the next 25 years- 2010. As Thomas jefferson High School continues to be an outstanding Denver public high school, what will the next 25 years bring? lf we only knew . . . Media Have Created a Fad, Fad orld Orlando Sentinel ls there anybody left who hasn't heard of Michael jackson? ls there some remote patch of American soil where inhabitants have not yet witnessed break dancing? Could there be a soul somewhere who has not yet ut- tered the words 'Where's the beef? Back when there were more homes with indoor toilets than with television sets, the nation's fads may not have reached everyone. Today, however, even people who don't have access to the mass media are exposed to fads. lnvariably they know so- meone who watches television, listens to radio or reads newspapers and magazines-the media that disseminate news of the nation's passions. llOne of the things that causes fads to be different now than in the past is our mass culture with its access to instant images, says Thomas Plaut, assistant chief of behavioral-science research at the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, D.C. A month and a half ago, if there were 10,000 people who knew who Mary Lou Retton was, that was a lot. Now there are hundreds of millions who know who she is. Fads can spread rapidly and become a part of the shaped culture. By exposing an entire nation to fads, the mass media both pro- mote fads and hasten their burn- out, says Ralph Lowenstein, dean of the University of Florida's com- munication school. Mass communications ac- celerate fads because of the speed of bringing forth the visual image. A fad that might have taken a long time to build up to a peak 100 years ago can become a sensation overnight and disappear very rapidly, says Lowenstein. lf the Hula Hoop craze came in to- day it would last half as long as it did then. Evidence of the nation's suscep- tibility to fads and crazes is found in the junk drawers, closets and toy boxes of American's households. There you find the ar- tifacts of our diversions: Rubik's Cubes, feathered cowboy hats, Smiley buttons, white disco suits, E.T. toys, Pet Rocks, Farrah Fawcett posters and Cabbage Patch Kids dolls. With almost predictable regularity, America becomes enamored with certain articles of clothing, styles of dance, phrases of speech and types of amusements. Taken together, the fads of any given period provide a snapshot of society. During the Depression, for ex- ample, the 'Prosperity Club chain-letter craze produced 95,000 extra pieces of mail a day in Denver. The Oiuja board, patented in 1892, first caught on during World War l when Americans were desperate to learn anything, in any way possi- ble, about the fate of their relatives overseas. Oiuja sales dropped after the war and didn't pick up again until World War ll. Similarily, the fitness-conscious 19705 and '80s have seen the rise and fall of numerous diets and ex- ercise fads. Fads provide a common ex- perience for millions of people and, often, millions of dollars for the purveyors of the short-lived interests in American life. Cabbage Patch Kids dolls earn- ed 580 million for Coleco ln- dustries last year to help offset the millions the company lost on its home computer. ln 1958, 30 million people bought Hula Hoops. Another million people paid S4 each for Pet Rocks in 1975. At its height in 1982, the Cambridge Diet was taking in nearly S500 million a year. Crazes, fads and fashion are variations of the same collective- behavior response. All three deal essentially with the popular discovery of a new idea or the rediscovery of an old idea by a small group. Crazes- such as get- rich chain letters and land-boom schemes - generally involve some element of economic opportunity and the belief that the chance is fleeting. Fads are usually spon- taneous, sporadic movements that often challenge established values or styles. Fashion is institu- tionalized, continuous change that is more predictable than fads. Fashion tends to trickle down from the upper class, while fads frequently originate in the middle or lower classes. Although the duration of fads varies, all fads go through similar stages. Fads begin with new or rediscovered ideas, but novelty isn't the only criterion. Fads that catch on often involve the oppor- tunity for innovation or for varia- tions on the fad's basic theme. For example, uWhere's the beef? spoke to a common concern of fast-food customers, but its use became epidemic when applied to stituations that had nothing to do with hamburgers. No one has been able to predict what will become a fad, since the dynamics of what makes something catch on vary tremen- dously. A single fad may appeal to different people for different reasons. But there are certain characteristics that make one society more susceptible to fads than another. Silver Anniversary - 29

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9100 Seniors 1985 x 4' Q- A-7 Y' , A This division page is from The Aristocrat, 1970, which had as its theme, Is Life just a Came?