American Dream

This dissertation analyzes the postfeminist tendencies and biopolitics in contemporary media practices by considering the pop culture exemplar, the Kardashian-Jenner family.

This dissertation received First Class Honors from Trinity College Dublin.
Vanessa graduated with Distinction in B.A. English Literature and Media Studies.

The aim of this paper is to provide and explain the historical development of the concept commonly known as the American Dream with a view to examining its gradual transformation from Franklin's self-made man to ready-made success promoted on social media platforms such as Facebook. Comparing prominent stages in American history, the paper will study the contribution each of them made to the legacy of the American Dream. Finally, we will attempt to answer the following questions: Are the fundamental concepts of the American Dream, such as upward mobility, still present in the digital age? Have the virtues commonly associated with the achievement of any aspect of the American Dream become obsolete? What constitutes the American Dream in the era of social media?

Sports media depictions of the Yankees and Red Sox have produced ironic team personae that can best be understood through the lens of Fisher's (1973) materialistic and moralistic American dreams. In this article, the author traces the interaction of Burke's first three tropes—metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche—in sports news coverage of the Yankees and Red Sox from 2000–2010 to explain the discursive construction of the teams' ironic personae. Collectively, media emphasis on money metaphors, the Yankees' lucrative 21st century stadium, and a militaristic owner align the team persona with a materialistic, aggressive economic competition model, whereas the Red Sox are represented by metaphors of frugality, a classic stadium, and familial “Idiots” to create a moralistic, cooperative image of the organization. The teams' personae are ultimately created and sustained through the tropological cycle and the dialectical interaction of the rivals.

Notion ancienne, le « rêve américain » compte une forte dimension démographique, car il est indissociable des courants migratoires liés aux États-Unis. Or, l’élection de Barack Obama est inséparable de cette notion, puisque le président a déclaré dès sa première campagne qu’il souhaitait « maintenir le rêve américain en vie ».

Pamätaj, že zomrieš. Omamujúci gýč, únavná selanka zo sveta unudenej americkej buržoázie? Kdepak. Filmové spracovanie Velký Gatsby prostredníctvom Warner Bros, rozhodne nie je dielo pre hlupákov. Aj keď sa to možno na prvý pohľad nezdá, ide o filozofické veľdielo spochybňujúce celú ideologickú podstatu súdobej spoločnosti.

In semem Buch «Screening History» stellt Gore Vidal fest, Hollywood sei zur Lingua franca des 20. Jahrhunderts geworden. Freuds berühmtes Diktum umformulierend, erklärt er: «Heute, wo Literatur war, ist Kino geworden.» Von der kulturellen Brisanz des Mainstreams Hollywoods ausgehend, lässt sich vermuten, dass wir in einer Zeit leben, in der historische und politische Realität immer aufdringlicher in Fiktion umgeschrieben und als solche kulturell vertrieben wird. Eine historische Erinnerung lebt – vielleicht nicht nur, aber vornehmlich – durch ihre filmisch-fiktionale Aufbereitung weiter. Qhne den Kulturpessimismus eines Horkheimer und Adorno zu bemühen, ist doch die kulturelle Brisanz populärer Kunstformen unübersehbar geworden, scheint es dennoch zweifellos wichtig, den Begriff des «reality check» in die unsaubere Schnittfläche zwischen politischen Realitäten und deren kultureller Umsetzung wieder einzuführen. Und weil diese Realitäten immer im Zusammenhang mit Phantasien stehen – im imaginären Bereich ausgehandelt und umformuliert werden –, scheint es heute zudem wieder von besonderer Dringlichkeit, den Traumcharakter jener Werte, an denen wir im Westen unser Leben und unser Handeln messen, hervorzuheben. Deshalb sollen die folgenden Überlegungen zum «American Dream » als Bestandteil jenes vitalen kulturellen Transformationsprozesses verstanden werden, den man eine Globalisierung der amerikanischen Unterhaltungskultur nennen könnte. Denn obgleich man heute eher geneigt ist, für den Dialog zwischen Amerika und Europa eher die Differenzen und Unstimmigkeiten zwischen diesen beiden Kulturen herauszuarbeiten, ist es doch offensichtlich, dass auf der Ebene der Populärkliltur ein fast nahtloser Austausch existiert.

In my analysis of "Two Kinds", a portion of Tan's larger work, "The Joy Luck Club," I look at how the emphasis on the American Dream in Jing-Mei Woo's life hinders her identity development and ultimately causes her to be selfish and value material wealth more than character.

“America’s Bicentennial Poem: Robert Hayden’s ‘American Journal’.” Presented May 23, 2015 by Christopher Buck during “Memorials of the Faithful” weekend. Desert Rose Baha’i Institute. Eloi, AZ. (May 23–24, 2015.)

During America’s Bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence in 1976, Hayden served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, in the first of his two-term tenure (1976–77 and 1977–78).

That same position later became known as “Poet Laureate of the United States” in 1985.

As America’s Bicentennial poet laureate and the first African American poet laureate, Hayden rose to the occasion by offering a poem about America.

That poem is “American Journal” (1976).

“American Journal” may thus be regarded as America’s “Bicentennial poem.”

Implicit in Robert Hayden’s “[American Journal]” is this thesis:
Social maturity is coefficient with human solidarity.

This thesis unifies the various kinds of identity that this compressed and kaleidoscopic poem treats.

As a literary tube of mirrors, “American Journal” implicitly describes social identities that render the American experience decidedly multidimensional.

Internal evidence suggests that Hayden treats American identity in nine dimensions:

(1) Landscape Identity;
(2) Alien (Individual) Identity;
(3) Racial Identity;
(4) Political Identity;
(5) Class Identity;
(6) Material Identity;
(7) Religious Identity;
(8) American (National) Identity;
(9) Human Identity.

In the modernist collage of anecdotal scenes and sustained ironies that comprise “American Journal,” these nine dimensions operate as a multifaceted prism of American mentality and potentiality.

On viewing Hayden’s “[American Journal]” through this dimensional prism, America emerges as a work-in-progress—episodically revised by crisis after crisis—an experiment through which the meaning of humanity may be universalized.

This “work” will progress until it reaches a stage in which the interplay of competing identities is seen as a stable matrix—an ideal array of integrative identities (reflecting Hayden’s general orientation as a Bahá’í).

This optic will apply to the inarticulate yet implicitly unitive moral of “American Journal”—a message in a bottle, as it were.

America, in the poet’s musing, is caught up in a socially adolescent identity crisis. America has yet to mature until it resolves its fundamental identity crisis. This, in the broader context, is a defining social problematic of the world at large.

Our special thesis is that “America” itself—as portrayed in “American Journal” and as analytically illuminated by the nine dimensions previously described—operates topically and tropically as an emblematic problematic in humanity.

The problem is not with any identity in particular. It is when particular identities alienate.

In composing “American Journal,” Hayden—who is acutely aware of this “strangering” or schisming dynamic—contrives a reconnaissance mission involving a fictive visit by a man from Mars.

An inverse of NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched in 2005, Hayden launches his own probe of planet Earth, to explore American alienation through the eyes of an alien from outer space, who defines the core and refines the crux of American identity.

The main purpose of analyzing the symbols in the novel «Of Mice and Men» is to assist readers beyond the surface story of Steinbeck's novella. For this thesis paper required descriptions of the author's personal experiences as examples supporting her basic argument. John Steinbeck is one of the greatest storytellers of the 19th century. The winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, he has been called "a giant of American letters". His works are widely read abroad and many of his works are considered classics of Western literature. His amazing novellas Tortilla Flat (1935), Of Mice and Men (1937), The Red Pony (1937), The Grapes of Wrath (1939), Cannery Row (1945), The Pearl (1947) .etc. not only introduce readers realistic cost of characters, real surrounded life, but also tell intriguer stories of the lives of real people. Steinbeck's characters are not rich men and women with plush and with decorated lives, but are the homeless, migrant workers, poor fishermen, farmers and even forgotten American people. However, each of these people is important story to tell; a story which filled with love and pain. His stories tell us not only of the lives of the poor who seek to live in the seacoast of California and Mexico with fascinating boom days, but also the struggle of all poor people. Steinbeck's first commercial success as a novelist came with the publication in 1937 «Of Mice and Men», his most famous novel, a tragic saga of migrant laborers from Oklahoma. «Of Mice and Men» is one of the only published novels written from an obscure point of view called the objective third person, in contrast to the omniscient third person. So the readers can read the minds of all the characters… Such approach is typical which helps to explain why «Of Mice and Men» were easily adapted. Of Mice and Men is more complex of Steinbeck's short books is a simple short story with rich meaning. It's simple short easy-to-read plot, during story themes are more visual and characters make it most compatible for more mature readers. It is an excellent choice for the readers to experience the difficulty, reading complex and being capable to mature material… The author searched that, like most tragedies, this story also has a climax and tragic conclusion. When «Of Mice and Men» opens, we meet two migrant guys just coming off road trip to Salinas, California; George and Lennie. They are opposite but with unique relationship. Actually, Lennie the tragic hero is simple minded, George is the brains. Two opposite relationship have a dream about owning a farm together. The trouble is in beginning. During introducing themselves Lennie become George's cousin. During two chapters all important and main characters have been introduced. Throughout the entire story George and Lennie travel around together. " …They had walked in single file down the path, and even in the open one stayed behind the other. Both were dressed in denim trousers and in denim coats with brass buttons. Both wore black, shapeless hats and both carried tight blanket rolls slung over their shoulders… " [1, 4] Everyone who sees Lennie-strong, tall from such appearance he understands wrong that to harm. George each time says " …I didn't mean any harm, honest I didn't, I jus' wanted to pet 'um a little… " Lennie is still smiling over his delight.

I gave this paper at the 2015 meeting of NeMLA (Northeast Modern Languages Association) in Toronto, ON on a panel looking at contemporary American redemption narratives. My contribution sought to trouble the notion of redemption through individual heroism or strength--the framework in which it is often posed.

An examination of Lin-Manuel Miranda's 'Hamilton: An American Musical', and it's use of the American Dream ideology of writing ones way out of their circumstances, in relation to the historiography of Founder's Chic.
Written as my final paper for my Media Criticism course at Queens College.

Este capítulo analiza en qué manifestaciones se encarna la idea del fracaso y a través de qué mecanismos dramáticos éste se supera en los últimos cuatro largometrajes de Alexander Payne: A propósito de Schmidt, Entre copas, Los descendientes y Nebraska. Se comprobará que Payne se distancia de las connotaciones materialistas del sueño americano y reafirma por el contrario algunos de los vectores inmateriales que también sustentan este mito. En su planteamiento esencial, estas películas ilustran una dialéctica entre las manifestaciones de aislamiento del individuo y su proceso de arraigo en la vida de otros. Se trata de relatos de segundas oportunidades, entendiendo por tales la gestación de relaciones personales auténticas en las esferas de la amistad, el amor romántico y, sobre todo, la familia. A través de la revitalización de las relaciones entre padres e hijos y entre esposos estas películas apuntan a una refundación del hogar que permitirá a los personajes protagonistas satisfacer su anhelo de dejar un poso o una huella, una forma de pertenencia que dé sentido a sus vidas.

This thesis analyses the theme of forbidden love as it is captured in William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s "The Great Gatsby", comparing its significance in the two tragic story tellings. The theme of forbidden love holds equal importance in both texts, constituting the driving force behind the main characters' actions and by ultimately determining the two stories' finale. From the first encounter of Romeo and Juliet, and, of Gatsby and Daisy both happening at a party, to the denial of reality, the misfortunes of fate, the hatred prevailing in the society, the imminent feeling of revenge, the unconditional love, to the end portraying the death of the infatuated characters, the two narratives are comparable on many levels, even though it is not explicitly obvious at a first glance. Arguing forbidden love to be clearly dominant in both these literary masterpieces, in one and the other, the theme is clearly addressed through the presence of contrasting elements; light and darkness, public and private, fast and slow, past and present, language and reality, life and death, love and hate, and at last, fate and free will. Although the theme of forbidden love can be sustained to be less relevant in "The Great Gatsby" than it is in "Romeo and Juliet", this paper argues that by sharing common elements, the theme of forbidden love is at the core of both these works which stand as two pillars of the global literature landscape in time.

Grade: A

This study aims to analyse the theme of dreams and hopes in the novella Of Mice and Men (1937) by John Steinbeck. Characters in the novella are trapped in different situations, as they are bound to other persons or to circumstances that impede them from reaching freedom. However, these impediments do not prevent them from continuing to dream and to have hope, since it is the only way to cope with life. Each character has their particular dream and, at some point, they think that their dreams could come true. Nevertheless, they soon understand that their dreams are not always possible, and they have to learn to live with this knowledge. This Final Degree Essay tries to analyse this fact in the novella by focusing on the situations that make characters feel confined, and on their different wishes, as well as on the socio-historical context surrounding them, which is, in part, an important factor that influences their current situations. Finally, it focuses on Steinbeck’s use of the natural and animal worlds as a prediction of the end of the novella.

The seminar paper deals with the topics of ambiguous life-style of the characters in the novel The Great Gatsby written by F.S. Fitzgerald, the connection between their abundance and immorality, as well as the results of that kind of behavior on other people’s (and their own) lives. The main focus is on the characters of Tom, Daisy, Gatsby and Nick, the relationship between those characters, and different point of views on their (im)morality. What is more, the reader will easily notice the novel’s link with the age it was written in, but also the link with the present. It also deals with the complex emotional entanglements between the members of different classes and, eventually, the consequences of such behavior. Many researchers have hinted at absolute morality of Nick, but, unlike that, it is questioned here, but not excluded when compared to the others. In the end, this paper gives answers to the questions (1) what the result of affluence is, (2) what influenced the immorality, and (3) what is the result of such conduct.
Key words: The Great Gatsby, immorality, affluence, life-style, characters, Roaring Twenties

Promising upward social mobility, the American Dream epitomizes freedom, opportunity, ambition, and individuality. This thesis explores how Broadway’s portrayal of the Dream during the twentieth century evolved from a happy-go-lucky idolization of the Dream to an enlightening reflection on American politics. It examines how fourteen Broadway shows portray three aspects of the Dream: 1) the Dream’s unequal treatment of ethnic minorities; 2) its path to corruption; and 3) its fleeting nature. This thesis argues that, before the civil rights movement, ethnic minority characters functioned solely to enable the Dreams of their white counterparts. By the late twentieth century, however, minority characters were re-characterized as undefeatable troopers, effortlessly conquering every obstacle. Through such utopian characterizations, Broadway ignored real-life social inequities. Further, this thesis displays how no character nor American could achieve the Dream without resorting to alcoholism, prostitution, gambling, or drug abuse. These tropes were pinned on ethnic minority characters especially, exemplifying how ethnic minority stereotypes fed into Broadway’s “White Way.” By examining fame’s ephemerality in Broadway’s mid-twentieth century works, this thesis also argues that the Dream does not provide one with the lasting upward social mobility it promises. Ultimately, this thesis analyzes how each show’s book and score characterizes the Dream, and evaluates primary reviews and advertisements from each show, as well as comments from the cast and creative team. In doing so, it shows that Broadway’s portrayal of the American Dream transcends mere entertainment, and is, instead, a rich response to American politics.

Movies like DANGEROUS MINDS and FREEDOM WRITERS are both films in a long Hollywood tradition of showing how non-white students are saved from the harsh lives in the ghetto’s of American cities by white education. (Giroux, 1997:47) The movies are often appealing due to the surprising encounter between the white teacher and the racially mixed, non-white class. The contrast between their cultural habits and the asymmetry of their power relations is often evened out by education, which sends out a message that anyone can make it in the American society, as long as they are willing to train themselves intellectually and adopt ‘American’ values.
In this paper, I to analyze how the encounter between the white teacher and the non-white students is visualized. This clash of values and cultures forms the departure for the narrative, since it constructs an asymmetrical power relation that enables the idea that the students should en can pursue a more successful life.

The Harlem Renaissance marked the first extended period of time that a group of black poets, writers, and artists in the United States coalesced to express themselves as representatives of their race. This singular situation had two contributing factors: the American Negro’s first large-scale contact with other blacks from different parts of the world, who offered alternative ways to conceptualize what it meant to be black; and mass migration of blacks from the South to major northern industrial areas, one of which was Harlem. The intellectual and social enterprises of Harlem intellectuals during 1918-29 and ensuing consequences on the ideal of the Black “American Dream” post-Harlem Renaissance will be examined.

This article is a collective effort on the authors' part to remember KISS, one of the most important hard-rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s. Influenced by the glam-rock movement that preceded its rise, arguably KISS was the first major act in rock music history to present rock music as Entertainment Product first and music only second. We discuss the original, democratic concept of the Fab Four-Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter-as well as Gene Simmons' and Paul Stanley's subsequent American Dream ideology. We go on to analyse the current version of the band in the light of the original line-up and appearance. We find that the KISS fan base is divided with some fans accepting Simmons' current view that the four masked personas can be utilized by anyone chosen by the band's leadership; a second group that tries to correct the alleged historical injustices committed against former band members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss; and a third group that is cynical about the current version of KISS but finds it fruitless to rehash old debates (since any proffered solutions not supported by the current band leadership are unlikely to come to pass).