American Dream Controversy

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Fame and Fortune The door opens, the lights are beaming, the red carpet comes into view, and the fans are screaming your name asking for your autograph. This is the American Dream, but is it? The fame, the fortune, the celebrities you meet, the names across billboards and TVs. However, this dream wasn’t always the one people pictured when they mentioned the American Dream. Different generations associate the American Dream with something different, this is mostly because of the media and the literature that is presented during their time of life. Media, literature, film, and personal culture all make an impression on our version of the American Dream. Firstly, the term “The American Dream” originated in the early 1900s and was used as a slogan …show more content…
Over time, the end goal has shifted”(Johnson 2). This dream can be transliterated depending on the person pondering about it, some may say it surrounds wealth and success, and others may believe it revolves around family and love. However, in recent years, the media world has led the public to believe the American Dream is becoming famous, having a one-hit wonder on TikTok and becoming an influencer or movie star. Furthermore, journalists are even placing the spotlight on this topic, Matt Johnson states “Indeed, the influencer story has come to mirror the American story to such an extent that it may actually be displacing it”(2). Media has built a false sense of reality on how the American Dream should be interpreted in many television shows and movies. It could be used as a symbol of America and the opportunities present in America, rather than in other countries. Consequently, people come from all over the world to America to find the influencer lifestyle is now the so-called American …show more content…
Society has adapted to these changes and people in the United States view the American dream as media and literature have represented it as a more relaxed or modernized dream. One article states media and film culture have modernized the American Dream so intensely, it has begun to seem increasingly impossible to achieve. The investigators from the article would agree, they say “As income inequality has increased substantially since the 1970s, the American dream has begun to seem less attainable for those who aren't already affluent or born into affluence” (Team 4). Not only this, but the media makes it seem everybody needs specific items to live when in fact they are irrelevant to basic life needs. “Media tells us what brands we want, what phones to buy, the places we should go, and how we should look’’ (How 1). Literature and many other factors are allowing the American Dream to become a completely different vision than in previous generations. It is no longer about the basic wants and needs of a family and a good paying job. Nevertheless, our nation has no true real interpretation of the American Dream, some may say, mostly people from previous upbringings, it would be a glorious house, happy-looking family, high-paying job, and anything else they may need, people of this day and age would say it would be becoming an
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