Movies act as a way to represent certain attitudes and social opinions on a wide and potentially ultra-subliminal level. If there is one theme that has been repeated and altered time and time again it is the American Dream. The way it is represented in cinema can demonstrate and entire nations attitude, sometimes hopeful, cynical or accepting. It has evolved several times over the years and has been reiterated time and time again.
James Stewart was no stranger to representing the American every-man. He displayed it once with ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ in which he told the story of living and its value for even the most ordinary citizen. His next project was ‘Mr Smith Goes to Washington’ and it rallied the theme of the American Dream to a political level. One key aspect of this dream is good old American democracy (as if that would ever be violated or questioned over the next century). Maintaining such an ideology against corruption and self-servitude is essential here, as Senator Smith defends what he believes in (and what his audience believed in) against corrupt government officials. But at the same time he also argues that just because their political system is flawed it is worth fighting for, reaffirming how the system works despite the exploitative actions of some. Quite a hopeful, good vs evil, viewpoint, andan effective one.
But in just a few short years Orson Welles would bring forth his seminal masterpiece ‘Citizen Kane’. For half of the film it’s the classic American Dream, a self-made man from humble origins is given a chance to build his own empire and succeeds. But it’s as this empire spirals out of control that Welles makes his point of how his fortune is at the expense of Kane’s own happiness, and is always reminiscent of his childhood. Not only that, but by the end of his life, he sees only an empty abyss dominated by his own image, yet no one else’s. In short ‘Citizen Kane’ is a much more cautionary tale of success, personified by his valuable possessions and palace that may appear to be the ultimate sign of freedom, but end up resembling a prison entrapping Kane.
So that’s how adults handled the American Dream to that point, but what about the youngsters, how do they view this limitless potential and freedom. Well as ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ pointed out in 1955, they’re not sure what to do. Instead of taking the route of how naivety is where dreams are most likely to occur, James Dean’s character is torn at the crossroads of independence. He notices the flaws of his parents, the difference between their generations and is unable to find a reason for various actions he carries out. The quintessential rebellious youth spoke to an entire generation of baby boomers in the 1950s, conceived out of a fresh perspective on living, then criticised for trying to do it themselves.
The New Hollywood Movement had its fair share of takes on the American Dream, yet none are quite as epic as ‘Easy Rider’. It’s classic counterculture and classic critique of everything that America valued at the time. After earning a huge amount of money from a drug deal, two friends go on a road trip to a new life where they can spend it. Not only does it point out the immoral way the two earn their success, is highlights how even without knowing their method of success, the rest of the world seems to resent the friends for their success. It would appear that while everyone wants to achieve the American Dream, no one wants to see anyone else achieve it.
‘Rocky’ may appear to be a one dimensional tale of the American Dream, down on his luck hero gets chance and earns his dreams. But remember Rocky Balboa does not win his fight with Apollo Creed (spoiler, but then again it came out nearly forty years ago so, what are you doing instead of watching it?) In fact, one could say that ‘Rocky’s’ version of the American Dream is a parallel to ‘Citizen Kane’s’ version. Instead of getting success without happiness, Rocky achieves happiness without total success (until all of that was undone in the sequels where he becomes the world heavy weight champion, ends the cold war and does the MOST MONTAGES EVER). Of course what Rocky does get is Adrian, and rather than the girls acting as a side note to the main victory, but for Rocky, Adrian’s love is the main victory. Sylvester Stallone pretty much did the ‘Rocky’ story himself to make the movie, and wanted to ensure that though Rocky does not win, he succeeds on his own terms.
Crime is a way to tell an American Dream story better than anything else, especially crime movies by New Hollywood. Coppola and Scorsese are both great at this, but perhaps the most quintessential version of it comes from Brian De Palma’s ‘Scarface’. The tagline says enough ‘He loved the American Dream with a vengeance’. Tony Montana’s American Dream, like all versions of it through crime, is a falsification of it and displays the immorality of his quest to get to the top, as well as the glorification of it. This egotistical side of Tony is his inevitable downfall, which perhaps says more about how this dream can ultimately be an illusion.
Illusion can be the strongest asset in deciding whether or not you have succeeded. In 1997 PT Anderson brought forward his take on stardom and the American Dream, ‘Boogie Nights’. The artificial nature of this world his brought forward time and time again, we watch how Mark Walberg, by sheer luck manages to find his one large attribute (you know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen it) which erodes all of his failures in academia and real world knowledge. PT Anderson could have just used any area of the film industry to set his story, yet he chose the porn industry. For one simple reason only, it draws more attention to how the characters’ success is simply on a primal level, reliant completely upon their viewers literal idolisation of their bodies, nothing else. This American Dream is all artificial and completely shallow, yet for them it is success and by the end of the film, when Walberg has his fortune and legions of fans, it’s difficult to argue with it.
Until this point these stories had been staged on epic and unique settings, like political showdowns, drug fuelled biker road trips. Cocaine empires and porn stars. But Sam Mendes wanted to redefine the American Dream with suburbia, he did so in 1999 with ‘American Beauty’. It’s not about trying to achieve the dream, it is about what you do afterwards. Lester Burnham is bored with the mundane nature of his life, and seeks to embrace a counterculture lifestyle that’s thirty years out of date. There’s a deep hollowness to the dream here, and one that is only partially redeemable by a more optimistic ending. Yet that message still speaks strongly today.
PT Anderson was back with his own take on the ‘Citizen Kane’ story. In ‘There Will Be Blood’ Danial Plainview is a self-made man, like Charles Kane. But rather than merely sacrificing his happiness for success, Plainview sacrifices his entire humanity. The animalistic aggression, vile hatred within him and sheer primal rage seep through in Daniel Day Lewis’ performance as he not only seeks to triumph over his competitors, he wants to destroy them, devalue their beliefs and morals, ruin their finances and personally assure their absolute decimation. It’s a tale of how the American Dream can become a mad and desperate struggle for victory, in which all that makes a person human can be lost.
Not a positive way to end, and it only gets worse. Martin Scorsese brought forward another take on the American Dream in 2013, and may be his most disturbing yet. In ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ Jordan Belfort lives on pure excess, he is fuelled by drugs and pleasure and we as an audience witness it first-hand. Not only do we admire him, partially, we want to be him. His world of gluttony and fortune is appealing despite the immorality of it, and as he delivers that sale seminar by the end, just like Belfort’s audience we are left in a mixed state of disgust, but more worryingly, awe. What does that say about our dreams?
But what do you think, is there a movie that wasn't on the article, one that was but shouldn't have been. Leave a comment below if you think so, thanks and bye.
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