The supposed idyll of “Pleasantville” was masterfully deconstructed in the film Suburbicon.
Here’s just one example of how rotten the 1950s and early 60s could be under the surface. This was the golden age of commercial aviation, and one of the most glamorous jobs was for a young woman to become a flight attendant, or as they were called in those days, a stewardess or airline hostess. But having this job came at a price. Typically, the airlines had many rules for stewardesses, among them such things as retiring when you were 25, resigning if you married, and not having children. I read in one book that circa 1960, there was a Pan American stewardess who was a single mother. She kept this a secret for 3 years. Then the airline found out (I wonder how? Did they have people who spied on their stewardesses?) What do you think they did? They gave the woman these options: either be terminated, or put the child up for adoption! Can you imagine a business making such a request of a woman? That is not virtuous! That is satanic! So much for the good old days!
As a human being, I wouldn’t want to be alive to experience any year before 1968.