Examples Of American Dream In Hollywood Movies

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American Dream in Hollywood Movies The core idea of American Dream is usually presented in Hollywood movies. However, different movies shows American Dream in different ways. Also, some movies shows that American Dream can be realized and the life is full of possibility. Others, on the contrary, shows American Dream is just a “sweet dream”. The comparison between movies shows how differently the directors interpret “American Dream”. The following takes Graduate and Sunset Boulevard as examples to show the idea of American Dream and the symbolism in Hollywood movies. The movie Graduate mainly reflects the emptiness and anxiety of Benjamin, a graduate who has a disturbing feeling that he doesn’t have any plan for the future. However, such a confused …show more content…

American Dream means people works hard and fight for their own success, either in career or in personal life. In Graduate, Benjamin is a young man who fights for his love. Although Benjamin is confused about his future, he has a clear idea of what he needs in a relationship. He even fights with the threat and seduce from Mrs. Robinson and finally run with Elaine from the church. The end of this movie shows how American Dream comes into reality. On the other hand, the Sunset Boulevard shows American Dream in an implicit way. Norma’s love for Joe and Norma’s dream for actress career both show some factors of American Dream. Unfortunately, both Norma’s love and career fail. But the process that Norma pursues her dream in love and career shows how unrealistic dreams drive someone into craziness. Therefore, contrast to the ending of Graduate, Sunset Boulevard shows that American Dream sometimes is just a sweet dream but the real life is …show more content…

There are a lot of symbolic objects along both movies, although the meaning of the same object may be different. One object is the swimming pool. In Hollywood movies, swimming pool usually appears in the villas of rich people. It represents the nobility of upper class. However, in a specific movie, the function of swimming pool should be explained correspondingly. In Graduate, when Benjamin fall into the pool, the audience can feel the emptiness and confusion inside the character. As a graduate who just step into the society, Benjamin knows nothing in real life. The soundproof space in swimming pool implies the inner world of Benjamin. In Sunset Boulevard, the swimming pool is a tool to show the situation of Norma’s life. When Norma once had a luxury life, the swimming pool is limpid. However, in the end of the movie, when everything goes wrong, the swimming pool is “decaying”. The situation of swimming pool suggests the rise and fall of Norma’s

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