The notion or concept of "The American Dream"

Seeing as i didn't wake up until 12 oclock last tuesday, i missed out film studies lesson on hollywood and films which portray the american dream. therefore; independant study and shit.

The term American Dream was coined in 1931 by JAmes Tuslow Adams in his book "Epic of America"

"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."

But y'know alot of people at the time wouldn't have kinda gone along with the whole "be happy with what you got" way of thinking because it was a time revelling from the great economic depression. so! people were most likely more focused on obtaining jobs which paid well in order to live out a happier more beneficial life for themselves or their families. But with changing times and attitudes, the american dream nowadays and it's whole concept is more open to interpretation or personalisation due to how a person feels, how they were raised, or what their long term goals are.

General overlook:

The american dream is basically the notion of freedom and hope that allows all peope of the US to seek out their goals and aims in life and succeed in them through hard work and determination. Ultimately being able to choose and shape their own fate and reach the highest goals possible if they put the effort in; without having any restrictions as to their ethnicity, class, religion gender, or sexuality.

It's a widely known term used to describe the ideology of the United States.

Throughout the years the sole long-term aim of the american dream was money. Although some facts i've read claim that it all started with the whole notion that everyone is equal, anyone regardless where you come from can succeed blah blah blah. But for the majority of people who were born and bred in America, i feel that the concept of the american dream is born out of a longing for a easier life, which ultimately comes when you have money. Because in-the-end, we all need money to survive, because money is the thing gets you far in life, and provides an easier way of living. A good example of the american dream is the book "of mice and men" in which the two main characters constantly speak about the prospect of owning their own piece of land one day, being able to make their own living and not have to continue working for other people. To achieve this though, what would they need? - money. But overall the message in this book is one that the american dream is futile, because one of the pair dies and along with him dies the hope of ever achieving that dream. Although it's a book and not a film, i felt it was a realistic interpretation of the American dream. (back to films and information now)

"The phrase's meaning has evolved over the course of American history. The Founding Fathers used the phrase, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." it began as the opportunity to achieve greater material prosperity than was possible in their countries of origin. For others it is the opportunity for their children to grow up and receive an education and its consequent career opportunitie"

"Some say, that the American Dream has become the pursuit of material prosperity - that people work more hours to get bigger cars, fancier homes, the fruits of prosperity for their families - but have less time to enjoy their prosperity. Others say that the American Dream is beyond the grasp of the working poor who must work two jobs to insure their family’s survival. Yet others look toward a new American Dream with less focus on financial gain and more emphasis on living a simple, fulfilling life."

Some believe that the messages behind the original American dream were changed during the radicalistic hippie period of the 1960's. In which the whole "dudeee, love, peace, be happy with treeeeeees" stuff came along. And along with this era came a new way of thinking, and some changed their "dream" to one of spiritual gain, and since then the american dream has evolved into a phrase which can become more personalised to suit ones own feelings, beliefs and long term aims.

I think that the overall message behind it is one of "HOPE" and in moden day culture a great example would be President Barack Obama. Who was born a black man of kenyan decent, and through all of his hard work and determination he came out ontop to become the first black president of the USA. This kind of situation doesn't just give hope to black citizens of America but any and all citizens, albeit the whole "yes we can" is pretty much a sham, because obama did recieve private tuition and went to good schools, which a "typical" black american probably would not recieve. But as a hopeful realist i do somewhat see why it's good to have hope that you can succeed as long as you put your mind to it, but on the other hand if you think about it realisticly... you most probably won't come out ontop of your life long ambitions no matter how hard you work because YOU DON'T GET WHAT YOU WANT IN LIFE THE MAJORITY OF THE TIME. and this is probably the largest criticism of the american dream, because it can be seen to encourage naivity and give the people of the US false hope, and the outcome could always go downhill for them because life is unpredictable innit.

but there we have it, a general overview of the american dream, now onto hollywood and it's interpretations of the american dream in cinema.

I found an essay online which explores the American Dream and how it is presented in Hollywood media, and instead of re-writing it in a mediocre sense i'm gonna paste it on here for you to read, so take note. NOT MY WORK:

The American Dream is an often mentioned and well-known term used to describe the ideology of the United States of America. Despite the common usage of the term it is not always completely understood and so requires, at least, a brief introduction and definition. P Mueller in his writing Star Trek and the American Dream claims that “…to some the American dream is just "from rags to riches", to others it includes the realisation of high flying ideals as old as mankind itself.” Mueller then goes onto say that the term was coined in 1931 by James Truslow Adams and identifies three main roots: mythical aspects (leading back to the ancient dream of a perfect society and as paradise even before the continent was discovered), religious aspects (which Mueller describes as dealing with the puritan vision of a city upon a hill) and political aspects (arising from the declaration of independence and the constitution). It would seem that the most important of these three themes is arguably that of the political nature and various commentators have defined the American Dream in this way. Martin Luther King claimed “It [the American Dream] is found in those majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, words lifted to cosmic proportions: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by God, Creator, with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." This is a dream. It’s a great dream.” Jim Bickford concurred with this view within his writing The American Dream: Our Heritage of Hope (in which he goes onto to identify several examples of the American Dream in practice throughout history) when he claimed “America was built on dreams” and went onto to discuss the importance of the declaration of independence in creating the dream by stating “Our ancestors chose to take the risk by putting their lives on the line and fighting for freedom” .

In respect to the medium of film it comes as no surprise that the American Dream has filtered itself, both consciously and unconsciously, directly and indirectly, onto the screen. America, and in particular Hollywood, is the dominant producer of film within the world today. Where Hollywood leads other filmmaking nations follow. The American Dream is largely presented within film in the sense of the political context: life, liberty and (in particular) the pursuit of Happiness but there is no uniform depiction of this. There are various distinct ways of presenting the American Dream within film and not all of these correspond to each other. For example, for every glorious and gratifying presentation of the USA and the American Dream there is arguably a cynical and misanthropic representation, criticising America and it’s society. Situations such as this lead us to question the methods of presenting the American Dream. What forms can this presentation take? What agendas do the filmmakers have? And do the films come with any particular political, social or ideological comment intended?

The most common thread of the American Dream within film is arguably that which Mueller identified, the rags to riches story. Mueller describes this as the most basic definition of the American Dream and its simplicity may be one of the factors in increasing its appeal to filmmakers. Mueller also lists key elements within the American Dream such as “manifest destiny”, “the frontier” and “the melting pot” and it would seem prudent to include another key element, that of “the land of opportunity”, which whilst not specifically mentioned by Mueller is often held to be interlinked to the American Dream. Mueller transposes these notions onto the long running television series Star Trek and cites such elements as the ship “boldly going” and the role of space as “the final frontier”. However, he does not comment as to the motion pictures of this franchise and the difference of the two mediums (most notably reception and presentation) could make the comparison difficult. Whilst it is highly feasible to suggest that that these ideas could be applied to film it seems prudent, for the sake of both clarity and originality, to concentrate upon other examples.


REST OF THE ESSAY FOUND HERE: http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=26161

i'll add examples of films and analysis and other stuff later on tonight, i just gotta do some other stuff. x