In America, the commonly known 'American Dream' ideal exists where if you put in hard work and with a little "bit o' luck" you can accomplish anything. Discuss the socio-economic and political barriers to this ideal. Examine social issues such as racism, sexism, and white-privilege, noting how their effects promote or dampen the possibility of this ideal becoming a reality. Use examples from media, books and film in order to argue your point.
Book Suggestions: Of Mice and Men, McTeague, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, Passing (Nella Larsen).
Movie Suggestions: Citizen Kane, Pretty Woman, La La Land, Good Will Hunting
This is actually too big a topic, especially considering the breadth of time frames that you are suggesting in the texts. I think this is actually a very interesting discussion, but it needs to be reduced down into a more narrow aspect - perhaps even something more niche, such as the concept of the American Dream perceived through an African American lens, or through a feminist lens. Or even pick a particular time frame, such as the 1970s or now and look at how the AD has been depicted then. – SaraiMW7 years ago
So the suggestions we're just as they are suggestions, I would never expect anyone to use all of them or even any of them it was just ideas. With that in mind do you still believe the topic to be too much? – alexpaulsen7 years ago
I would also use recent modern examples of film or political issues to help tell this article.
– BMartin437 years ago
I agree with SaraiMW. If you'd like to do a feminist lens some excellent novels from the start of the 20th c. (when the frontier myth started shaping the American Dream) are: My Antonia, American Indian Stories, and Sister Carrie – Mela7 years ago
Or just debunk the whole idea (as it has already been done). – T. Palomino2 years ago
