Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich, directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Susannah Grant, is based on the true story surrounding the film's protagonist. Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) personifies a young and energetic, unemployed single mother who has neither money nor education to back up her unshakable principles and her determination to support her family.
It is a film in which there is a very strong feeling of two scenarios; these being the notorious 'American Dream' so often utilised by American film makers, and a 'David and Goliath' feel which would magnetise virtually all of the 'Blue Collar' public in America. This is probably because this may be something that they are able to relate to. I have already mentioned one of the infamous American classes; Erin is of the blue-collar variety and is the antagonist of the other main class, 'white collar' workers in office jobs.
Driven by the responsibility of feeding and educating her three children, and armed with a general distrust of people, Erin Brockovich finds employment with Ed Masry, her ex-lawyer who had failed to win her a case from which she expected to receive compensation. Struggling to juggle a coerced boss and her resentful female co-workers, who do not approve of her attire or of her signature cleavage, Erin Brockovich applies herself to her job wholeheartedly. With the hard-earned support of her boss and her new baby-sitter, Erin uncovers years of undetected criminal activities of a major corporation, PG&E, and manages to build a case for the small-town firm.
The extract that I am going to analyse consists of when Ed is at the meeting with some of the town's inhabitants.
One of the first shots that we are exposed to is a view of Ed as he is explaining the current status of the PG&E case to the residents. In the sweltering town hall all that we can see is a mass of what seems to be hand outs being waved around as fans. In some way this gives us a feel that the crowd are agitated and restless, also this situation must make Ed feel like he is being undermined as this is all that his effort in the leaflets is worth.
Also, the dwellers look like they have little confidence in Ed's ability. The hall looks very realistic; the mise-en-scene includes American flag and folk looking very authentic in cowboy hats and the like.
All the while, there is something that goes unnoticed by the viewers.
The American dream has an inspiring connotation, often associated with the pursuit of happiness, to compel the average citizen to prosper. In Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s infatuation for Daisy drives him towards wealth in order to respark his love. Due to Daisy’s rich background, the traditional idea of love becomes skewed because of the materialistic mindsets of people in the 1920s. In the novel the wealthy are further stratified into two social classes creating a barrier between the elite and the “dreamers”. Throughout the novel, the idea of the American dream as a fresh start fails. As Nick, the narrator, spends time in New York, he realizes the corruption pursuing goals. Characters such as Gatsby and Myrtle constantly strive toward an the American dream, which Nick realizes to be fruitless in the end.
...on materialism and social class. While novel is widely considered a zeitgeist of the time period, it is also a warning for the American Dream. Although the Dream is not Marxist materialism, it is certainly not traditional individualism and freedom. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby poses a question: what is the American Dream?
The American Dream had always been based on the idea that each person no matter who he or she is can become successful in life by his or her hard work. The dream also brought about the idea of a self-reliant man, a hard worker, making a successful living for him or herself. The Great Gatsby is about what happened to the American Dream in the 1920s, a time period when the many people with newfound wealth and the need to flaunt it had corrupted the dream. The pursuit of the American Dream is the one motivation for accomplishing one's goals, however when combined with wealth the dream becomes nothing more than selfishness.
...many realities that exist within America's society and that most do not fit the typical American dream. Even those people that achieve some measure of success, as Ralph did, are often plagued by personal problems that outweigh any measure of wealth or reputation. The lie of the American dream is that it promises to fix humanity's problems with material gain – it promises happiness from things that are not capable of giving it. And so, followers are all left unfulfilled by the great American dream, left with a reality that is much different than what was so easily guaranteed. The reality that everyone experiences, whether it is the suburban soccer mom or the tired immigrant, is that the dream is mostly unachievable. The reality we think exists is only a myth – a true mythological reality.
The American Dream started off as propaganda in order to make the American people of the early twentieth century work harder to build a successful economy. The idea of the American Dream is that every American citizen has an equal opportunity of making money along with owning a large house, some land, and having a family with kids. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates that the American Dream, no matter how simple is impossible to achieve. As everyone has their own interpretation of the American Dream, Steinbeck uses George and Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s Wife to demonstrate how the American Dream is impossible to achieve and how important the dream was for people so they could carry on with their lives.
The capitalist ideas so prominent in the Reagan / Thatcher era are as clearly instilled in the youth of the 1980s films as their, usually middle class, screen parents. Only “Pretty In Pink” (and indirectly, “The Breakfast Club”) actually confronts class differences; in the other films, the middle class way of life is accepted as default. Almost every John Hughes film is set in affluent suburbia with the repetition of certain imagery (the big house, gardens and tree-lined quiet streets, and often a wood-paneled station wagon) with a certain population (rich, white families), which is reflected in the body of the attended, well-equipped schools.
Other than being a topic of the novel, The American dream identify with a few characters. Lennie and George's fantasy of owning their little homestead and rabbits with Candy was a case of what a normal American dream was amid the 1930s Great Depression. The Great Depression has changed throughout the year relying upon the condition of the country. Amid the Great Depression the normal dream was simply singular fulfillment. To fulfill one's self amid the Great Depression was distinctive. Getting another or surprisingly better occupation was restricted of gaining fulfillment, yet the place where there is fresh chances to succeed was filled with emergency after the share trading system smashed. The American dream had lost its impact on America amid the 1930s, yet was still vivacious when men like George and Lennie sought after a superior and distinctive life and perpetual miracle into the desire for the better of individual
Terra Elan McVoy paints an unbelievably realistic picture of a young woman who faces very real consequences for her loyalty to the wrong man.The life she has inside prison is particularly devastating, and Nikki’s agony as she fights to come to terms with the reality surrounding the man she loves is quite substantial.
The American Dream, as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, is the belief that everyone in the United States of America has the chance to be successful and happy if they work hard enough. This idea is one of the major reason why America is the place most people from all over the world want to travel to in order to pursue the American Dream. The American Beauty is a movie that tells a story of what it takes to pursue the American Dream. In the movie, many sides of the American Dream were depicted by different characters in different ways but with similar experiences involving the cost and challenges of pursuing success. Jane is a young lady in the movie who suffered from a dysfunctional family. The lack of love in her home, which was due to her parents’ drive for success, did not only make her an unhappy girl but also led her into seeking love and attention in the hands of a drug dealer.
Each character in the novel has their own interpretation of the ‘American Dream – the pursuit of happiness’ as they all lack happiness due to the careless nature of American society during the Jazz Age. The American Dreams seems almost non-existent to those whom haven’t already achieved it.
This movie is about David and Jennifer, who live in Southern America in the ‘90s which was said to be a liberal state, are sent from reality to a TV show ‘Pleasantville’ in 1950s. From reality looking through this TV show, Pleasantville looks like an ideal place for people to live in, but getting a closer look and being part of this world you actually realize that it is very different from what is shown on TV. After David and Jennifer arriving to Pleasantville, they become colorless, everything there is either black, white or gray. People then expose their conservative lifestyles with suppression of sexuality, discrimination and restrictive of personal liberty and imagination. In Pleasantville, people assume that there is no outside world other
Through out the story you see this over and over again. It also had several other theme’s that where very evident in the novel. The first theme you see in the novel is the need for human contact. Characters in this novel wanted a friend or you could say a listening ear. Some of them settled for complete strangers because they could not find that in the people that they were close to. The Impossibility of the American dream is the second theme. Each character had a dream that they never fulfilled. They all wanted the American dream but never achieved it and the American dream is different for
When most people were young, he or she would sit by the window and wonder off imagining of what their future would hold. Most people have the same vision called the American Dream. The American Dream is a façade that money is entirety and can make a person feel content. In Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, that American Dream is portrayed through the character Billy Pilgrim. According to Vonnegut, “He married his fiancée, finished his education, and was set up in Ilium by his father-in-law. Ilium is a particularly good city for optometrists because General Forge and Foundry Company is there. Every employee is required to own a pair of safety glasses, and to wear them in areas where manufacturing is going on” (24). According to society, Billy Pilgrim would be considered a successful individual, for his life was set up for him by family, including a well-paying job and a family. Although the American Dream seems like the perfect life, money truly cannot buy anyone’s happiness. Billy was a prime example of someone who had it all but was still struggling to accept his life as a whole...
...'s bias towards this novel's hero is central to the critique of belief in the 'American Dream'." The English Review 17.3 (2007): 9+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
The timing of this film was a significant factor in the story line. In the middle of the Great Depression unemployment and poverty were a major