Concluding Thoughts
By diving deeper into the role these mediums played in the lives of average Americans during the 1930s, I feel they reinforce my initial argument that things such as religion, folklore, and pop culture were viewed as a kind of solace from the harsh realities of life during the Great Depression. However, I also feel that simply referring to these as means of escapism underplays the true impact they had. Consumption of and participation in these narratives inspired people to live fuller lives of their own, and the repercussions of that are still felt in America today. Chruches that were founded as houses of refuge from the Depression are still standing today. Some of the first folk songs that arose out of the Depression are now standard-issue in any American songbook, giving us "a sense of the informants' cultural milieu, those pieces that document the migrant experience" [1]. Books like "Of Mice and Men" are still taught in schools today, and movies such as "The Wizard of Oz" remain classics that have had a profound impact on popular culture. Perhaps, in America seeking a means of escape into these mediums, there was an exchange of the ideas contained within them escaping out into the greater world.
