A.E Manning - "Moral panic burns bright but short".
Cult
Bodgie and Widgies
Punishments Proposed
REACTION OF AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY...
Manual Labour
Confusion
Violent
Moral Panic
Corporal Punishment
Viewed as...
Hyperbolic Newspaper headlines
BODGIE AND WIDGIE FASHIONS...
[American Influenced]
Post WWII Australia...
Styles, Hobbies, Attitudes and Values of Bodgies and Widgies DISCRIMINATED
BODGIES
WIDGIES
Sexually Immoral
Drape Suits, Pegged Trousers & Winklepicker Shoes
Loose 3/4 Sleeved Blouses
Economic Transformation
Bill Haley - "You only need a couple of teenagers to give the whole lot a bad name".
Represented Social Criticism
Rolled up Jeans
Tight Black skirts
Leather Jackets, Denim Jeans, Studded Belts & Boots
KEY EVENTS...
Greased Ducktails
Short Hair
Liberation of Youth
Sydney Rock 'n' Roll Riot
Brisbane Rock 'n' Roll Riot
Emergence of Distinct Youth Subcultures
Social Change
Bodgies and Widgies
November 20 1956
November 22 1956
Jiving in Albert Street
OBSESSIONS...
‘one youth smashed a bottle on a police car’
Changing values of the new generation.
Rock 'n' Roll
Music
“Wild dancing in the street took place, with those defiantly dancing outside police headquarters charged with offensive and indecent behaviour”
‘a policeman was hit on the head by a stone’
Dancing
VALUES AND BELIEFS OF THE BODGIES AND WIDGIES...
Early Australian Counterculture
WHAT CAUSED THE BODGIE-WIDGIE SUBCULTURE?
IMPACTS OF THE BODGIES & WIDGIES...
Short Term
Long Term
Rebelled against what was 'accepted'.
WHAT WAS A BODGIE?
New Young Adult Target Market
Division of Generations
Sex, Drugs and Drinking
Appearance highly valued
‘a male youth, distinguished by his conformity to certain fashions of dress and larrikin behaviour’
Reasonably Significant -
Struggling for liberation
Rock 'n' Roll
Very Significant -
Defined Short Chapter of Australian History
Continuation - $5000 per teenager/ year
Australia's First Encounter
Elvis Presley - King of rock 'n' roll
fAKE AMERICANS
Australia's own artists...
Johnny O'Keefe
Col Joye
Billy Haley - 'Rock around the Clock'
WHEN DID THE SUBCULTURE BEGIN TO FADE?
THE FIRST BODGIES
'The Blackboard Jungle'
No Mass Media Attention
1959
Late 1940s
Promoted Promiscuity, Drug Use & Rebellion
Australian Ex-WWII sailors, impersonating American comrades
Modification of rock 'n' roll
Blamed Parents
'Young Ones'
Unsuccessful Futures
Explicit Police Actions
Parental Alcohol Consumption
MAINSTREAM
Widgies Female Counterpart.
Lack of discipline
Joined youth gangs for self-esteem
Prominent in mid - 1950s.