Tupperware seemed to be custom-made for a post-war Americans in love with modern conveniences. “Tupperware!” charts the origins of a small plastics company that unpredictably became a cultural phenomenon. It reveals the lives of women with very few options who remade themselves and built an empire based on plastic dishes. Their funny, straightforward, often poignant stories tell us a lot about the history of selling, the changes in expectations for women, and the importance of “living the dream” in all of our lives.
Click here to watch the Tupperware documentary:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/026bk5wat175diw/PBS.American.Experience.Tupperware.HDTV.720p.x264.AC3.MVGroup.org.mkv?dl=0
1. How has Tupperware, directly or indirectly, affected you? Do you have any memories of tupperware in your lifetime?
2. What do you think of the Tupperware story?
3. What's your opinion of the postwar consumer boom, the rise of plastics, and other events of the 1950s?
Tupperware has been around my house for as long as I can remember. It has been used to pack my lunches, transport water and store leftovers. For many years, I thought "tupperware" was a generic term for a plastic box or cylinder (or whatever its shape was) that can be vacuum shut. I can't imagine life without Tupperware.
ReplyDeleteThe Tupperware story is a sad one. I was quite surprised to find out Browning didn't commit suicide, and that she actually outlived Mr. Tupperware. I know this was a different time, but if I worked as hard as she did to build up an enterprise, only to get fired and have every trace of me erased from the company, I don't know what I'd do with my life.
---Claudia Maxwell