Exposé woodstock anglais

WOODSTOCK’S PRESENTATION

The late 60’s is a complicated period for the United States. Indeed, the war in Vietnam was devastating not only for the civilians in Vietnam but also for the American soldiers for too long and the public opinion realized little by little the horror of the situation. Meanwhile, the cold war is still going on. There are rebellions all over the world which stood up for human rights such as equality, peace and tolerance (like May 1968 in France, for instance). It’s from those protests that Woodstock’s born. Woodstock is a festival, yet we can say that today it’s become more. We can wonder how Woodstock became one of the biggest festival of the history which is often imitated but never equalled.

I; Woodstock in context :

A. The counterculture movement

By the mid-1960's, young Americans were feeling frustrated by the societal system in which they had been brought up. They'd witnessed the subjugating of their mothers to traditional roles which suppressed their human need to express their individuality. They'd witnessed horrific hate crimes against people of color for many years, and alongside that they witnessed the failure of the government to provide any legitimate prevention of these crimes. They'd witnessed their country enter into a pointless and violent war all the way across the world. These things that they had seen caused them to feel frustrated and alone. They began to rebel against the ideas that had been passed down for years and forge their own path. They began to dress in colorful, light clothing; listen to expressive, rootsy music; and subscribe to a host of political and spiritual philosophies that their parents and grandparents had never heard of. The members of this generation became known as  hippies.

B. The organization of the festival

It’s during this period and the birth of this new movement that we got to read « Young Men with unlimited Capital » on the New York Times. This announcement was written by John Roberts and Joel Rosenman, two business men counting an inheritance of an amount of 250 000 dollars (1M dollars nowadays). After loads of answers they decided to collaborate with the planner of the Miami Pop Festival, Michael Lang and Artie Cornfield who wanted to create a recording studio in Woodstock. Woodstock is a small town 150 km far from New York where numerous artists, such as Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin, live. To promote this new project, they decided to set up a festival because they felt like it could have great success during this period knowing that 70 000 people were present at Monterey in 1967, and 100 000 people attended the Miami Pop Festival in 1968. Before the festival was even promoted, small talk and chitchats took over the event which became the center of all attentions, with growing rumors that even Bob Dylan might come and perform.

II. The immediate success of Woodstock

A. An unexpected success story

After long months of struggle and after getting denied access to the Woodstock area, they finally came up with a place to actually put up the event, thanks to a farmer who provided his 243 Ha wide field 60

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