POST 4 : MYTHS & HEROES - THE "AMERICAN DREAM"

Definition of the American Dream :

• The American Dream is a national symbol in the United States that characterize the beliefs or ideals of a community, nation or ideology, which can also refer to emotions, behaviours or morals. Democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity and equality are ideals which embody that concept and in which freedom is included prosperity, success and pursuit of happiness no matter the social class or the circumstances of birth.

Documents 1&2 :

- This first image might be representing the American Dream for various reasons. At first sight, the happiness is clearly exemplified. The three persons appearing in this drawing look like a perfect family with a perfect life. Indeed the father, the mother and the son all seem to have a great day off at a lake. They all smiling, looking at each other as if someone had just made a joke.
Then, it suggests that the father has a pretty successful job because of all the things they have brought with them ; a boat, a bike for the child, a lawnmower, and other engine... Moreover they are eating barbecuewith a lot of meat and products. The settings, I think, belong to the post-war period which is why in my opininon the woman doesn't work but takes care of her son, or cooks and lives in harmony with her husband. So we find also the concept of liberty and equality as the women's emancipation began in that period.

- To begin, this image represents more what is happening nowadays than at the beginning of the American Dream when everything was new and was all success and developement. In my point of view, the symbol of the American Dream has changed over the past decade. And in our century particulary, where money is considered as everything like power, happiness, or freedom. The economy of the States is the most important aspect of the country as it is shown thanks to this caricature. We can observe a balance, where in the left the people is asking for change, and in the right the government as a response is giving them money, what they apparently called "change". Also, as the weight of the money is totally more elevated than the weight of the people we can say that it has a more important impact on the country. The way of living in the Unided States is more focusing on how much money people has, or how accomplish and perfect your life is? The American Dream looks much more like a competition than a promise of rights and prosperity like it was seen before.