The Great American Dream

The newest rendition shows how people view the 1920s version of the
American Dream, by overly romanticizing it and showcasing the
time period as being more enticing than it may have actually been.

People most commonly associate the American Dream with two things: wealth and opportunity. Viewing it as wealth encapsulates a more 1920s perspective, with the idea of anyone being able to become rich and obtain so much money that they don't know what to do with it. This is reflected in The Great Gatsby with Gatsby being shown as coming from "new money" and going from not being able to even afford one citrus fruit, to buying crates of them weekly without a second thought. This idea of the American Dream is highly romanticized, which is especially illustrated in the latest rendition of The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The movie possesses the same dream-like tone that movies like La La Land and Cinderella (2015) thrive off of.

La La Land utilizes special effects and lighting effects
to take the audience out of the situation and show the
scene as being greater thanit may have actually been.

Cinderella displays the palace as overly fantastical
and enchanting in order to show a more romanticized
and fantastical version of the time period.

In the 21st Century, people view the American Dream as more of an opportunity-based ideology. Because we are living in the age of social media and the Internet, people are exposed to lives much different from their own, and it has popped the "bubble" that certain societies live in by allowing people to notice just how many different lifestyles there are. Many commonly associate the American Dream with refugees, and with the popularization of the Broadway musical Hamilton following Alexander Hamilton's story of coming from being a poor orphan in the Caribbean to becoming the right-hand man of George Washington and the founder of the modern America banking system (one of the most iconic lyrics in the musical is "Immigrants, we get the job done").  When the topic of national security is brought up, many politicians refer to the American Dream as being a staple of United States culture. Overall, as our world has become more aware of the different cultures surrounding us through methods of communication like social media, the concept of the American Dream has become a more cosmopolitain ideology, and it has expanded beyond something associated with mere wealth.

This shows Minority Leader Chuck Schumer protesting the
GOP Healthcare Plan and its effect on Americans living
in poverty, explaining that it would benefit the rich while
causing the lower class to suffer.

America has recently viewed wealth and poverty as a highly political issue. With the passing (or not passing) or the new Healthcare Plan and the new Tax Plan, most policies seem to either benefit the "1%"or the "99%", which causes for a divide between the two socioeconomic groups. The original concept of the American Dream was that anyone could become anything, but with new policies being introduced, many argue that obtaining wealth is more so reliant on what you are born into; the rich will stay rich, and the poor will stay poor. The wealthy is both viewed in a romanticized and idolizing  way through entertainment, but they are also viewed in an antagonistic way when looked at through a political perspective. Although people living in poverty are also viewed at through a romanticized perspective in media and also as a marketing demographic. In movies like Beasts of the Southern Wild and Good Will Hunting, the concept of poverty is oversimplified into just being a minor inconvenience in an otherwise normal life. In addition the CEO of the popular clothing brand Urban Outfitters has been quoted describing his company as being for the "upscale homeless." This again creates the concept of poverty as being a trend and something that people would want to emulate.

Beasts of the Southern Wild shows an artificial version
 of the Delta community they live in, causing the
struggle those living in poverty face to be oversimplified.

Good Will Hunting showcases Will's
struggle of having to work as a janitor to be
brushed over, normalizing his economic situation.
When he eventually develops a relationship with a
wealthier girl, it make it seem like his economic
situation is more desirable by showing their
cheaper dates as being overly romantic.

I believe that to a certain extent, anyone could obtain wealth. However, the way our country is structured, it is exponentially easier for those born into wealth to obtain wealth than those born into poverty. The oversimplification and romanticization of both sides of the economic spectrum is anti-progressive in the fact that it makes false claims concerning the situation of both the wealthy and those living in poverty. Overall, with the American Dream being such a consistent theme in United States culture, more policies should be introduced in order to make sure that the ideology actually lives up to its promise.