blog #9

After reading the introduction of American Literature from 1865-1914 I noticed a lot of connections from the entertainment people had during this time period to the entertainment people enjoy in today’s culture.  Besides having novels, poetry, and newspapers to read, people were introduced to magazines which “exploded, from 700 during the Civil War to 2400 in 1880 to roughly 3,500 at the turn of the century… (p.26). Today, people still read magazines religiously.  At every grocery store you can find a multitude of magazines ranging from politics to health guides to gossip magazines.  Magazines are even in the hair or beauty salons we go to or in the lobby of the car repair shop.  I found it interesting that some magazines have survived for over 125 years, specifically the magazine Good Housekeeping. The text also describes how people were “attracted by the colorful covers, lavish illustrations, and modest cost of magazines… (p.26)” when they first became popular in the late nineteen hundreds.  Today people are still drawn to purchase magazines due to the catchy titles of the articles on the cover or because of what celebrity is on the cover.  The illustrations in magazines are still a big influence on people buying magazines, but now the photos we see are professionally done by photographers and have most likely been altered to make the person being photographed look their best and their body shape has been “touched up” to make them look a little more tone or thin.  Illustrations in magazines also consist of a wide variety of advertisement and coupons for what is hot and trendy in our current culture, but the original influence is still present.  Although not all magazines are “modestly priced” today, I think the magazine is one of the biggest connections from the reading to our day and time.