At home, Opie is getting into another scrape in the televised world of Mayberry. In theaters, magnificent panoramas of an untamed West capture the imagination, as the narrative of the legendary pioneers unfold. On air, the Beatles create a stir with Please Please Me. And everywhere, brightly colored advertisements cajole patrons to regain their youthful vitality and innocence in a bottle of soda pop.

Though taking place in February 1963, these snapshots of popular culture could easily be displaced back to February 1953. As change came loaded with negative memories of the great depression and world wars, mainstream culture in the early sixties continued to reinforce the hegemonic ideologies of the fifties. Conflict arose in doing so, however, as vast socio-political upheavals abounded at the dawn of this decade. If it could not be averted, change could certainly be ignored, as these displaced messages emanating from the mass media made evident.

Taking a close look at the mainstream culture embedded into the daily life of the average American in February of 1963, Tradition in Transition scrutinizes the disconnect between the social and political anxieties dominating news headlines and the carefree optimism replicating a 50s sensibility in a variety of popular entertainment forms.