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Post by rileymcgrath on Feb 2, 2016 23:14:59 GMT
The American Dream tells us if you work hard you can live an ideal lifestyle. What Little Miss Sunshine is saying about the American Dream is that it’s just wishful thinking; even if you do everything right you can still fail. The father in the movie, Richard Hoover, is a motivational speaker trying to get his 9 step plan published. He says there are 2 kinds of people in the world, winners and losers. He says anyone can be a winner with the right resources and attitude. He thinks if you know you're not going to win you should not try. Being categorized into winners and losers is something common in our society; we praise winners and judge losers. People who are rich and successful, living the American Dream, are winners. His publishing deal isn't going very well, but he continues on in denial. He is similar to Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, they're both losers holding on to a dead dream. The difference is that Richard learns from his mistakes. It’s not only a movie about losing, it’s about what you do after you lose. He learns that it's important to try, because you gain experience from failure. You should forget about society's pressures of the American Dream and winning and just do what you want. Little Miss Sunshine is telling us that no matter how much time and effort you put into something it still might not work out, so just live your life.
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Post by cnelson on Feb 2, 2016 23:31:07 GMT
This is a great film connection to the American dream. As well as the father in the movie, his daughter ,Olive, also illustrated the American dream. Her American dream of wining the beauty pageant was much more childlike that Hoover's dream , but it still represented the core concept of the American Dream witch is to achieve your dreams, whatever they may be. Olive was a shy, nerdy child but she wanted nothing more than to win this beauty pageant. There were many situations and many people who didn't believe that she could do it, but Olive never gave up regardless of it all. She represents the resilience and motivation needed to achieve the American dream. And the reality of the American dream is that average individuals want to achieve great things and Olive's journey was a great example of that. Overall, this movie accurately represented the possibilities of the American dreams in society today.
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Post by rileymcgrath on Feb 3, 2016 22:45:43 GMT
There's so much in this movie about the American Dream. One thing that is seen a lot in stories of the American Dream is going to the West, which is representative of promise and hope. The beauty pageant took place in California and all the characters were hoping for something. Every character has there own goal and tries hard to achieve it. Dwayne, the brother, also only cares about his dream of joining the Air Force. It's the only thing he wants to do, and is taking a vow of silence until he gets into the academy. His vow of silence shows his determination, but his determination isn't enough after he finds out he's color blind. Every character has their own goals, but can't fully achieve them for reasons out side of their control. In the end they all come together for Olive to achieve her goal which is cute, and even though it's kind of a silly movie it says a lot about the American Dream.
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Post by hannahcherusseril on Feb 6, 2016 23:37:12 GMT
Riley, these are some really awesome points. I think societal pressure is a huge factor in the American dream. At one point people pursued it because they felt that living the American dream (making big money and living with excesses) was what would fulfill their life. Soon it evolved into, "Look at those people being successful. I'm gonna do that too." Being successful is defined as whatever you think it is. If you wanna make jam all your life and you work hard at it and you're happy with making that jam, then there's no reason to think people have been more accomplished than you in life. It's all about perception and that's what is so tricky about the concept of the American dream. Your American dream does not need to align with the life that the Buchanan's lived. It doesn't need to be filled with parties and expensive clothes. The American dream is all about doing something that you believed you could do, even if the path was a rough (kind of like olive).
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Post by jkeeney on Feb 7, 2016 20:21:08 GMT
Little Miss Sunshine is very similar to Gatsby in that they make the same point, but in slightly different ways. It is interesting that the father thinks that being successful in life makes you a winner. This is similar to Gatsby's point of view where he believes that he is a winner due to all his material things, but in reality he knows that he has ultimately lost out on something very important to him, which is Daisy. I like how you said that the movie is teaching us that no matter how much time and effort we put into something it still might not work out. This relates to Gatsby and how he really only chose the path in life that he did to win over Daisy and that didn't even work out for him. Maybe Richard Hoover is similar to Gatsby in a way because they both hold onto this dream that they know may never happen.
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Post by reshmabelur on Feb 7, 2016 21:15:34 GMT
Riley, I think this movie is a great example of the American Dream! It's also one of my favorites  It dissipates the idea of the American Dream by portraying so many people who struggled so hard to achieve their goals as unfortunately unsuccessful. Uncle Frank is somewhat similar to Willy Loman in his suicidal tendencies but differs in his personal success. Frank is successful in his career but is depressed because his boyfriend left him for another man who was more successful. Even though Uncle Frank was personally successful (theoretically attaining the American Dream) he wanted to end his life due to personal issues that were more important to him. |
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Post by maddysmith on Feb 7, 2016 23:54:53 GMT
I really like what Reshma said about Frank. Even though, objectively, he seems very successful, he is after all "the highest rated Proust scholar in the world," he is unhappy. The American Dream values success and while Frank has achieved great success, I don't think he has achieved the American Dream. His personal life is pretty sad and as Reshma said, he did want to end his life. He is a good example that even though someone may have theoretically achieved the American Dream of making it to the top, that doesn't mean that they will be happy. At some point you have to question the validity of the American Dream. If people can achieve this and still want to commit suicide, what kind of a dream is it? I think that overall, the movie makes a good point that, even if you don't get everything you want, Richard's failed book deal, Olive's disastrous routine, Dwayne's crushed dreams, and Frank's job loss/boyfriend loss, you can get over it and be happy in the end. The family is pretty dysfunctional but they manage to overcome all these setbacks and make their own kind of happy.
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It dissipates the idea of the American Dream by portraying so many people who struggled so hard to achieve their goals as unfortunately unsuccessful. Uncle Frank is somewhat similar to Willy Loman in his suicidal tendencies but differs in his personal success. Frank is successful in his career but is depressed because his boyfriend left him for another man who was more successful. Even though Uncle Frank was personally successful (theoretically attaining the American Dream) he wanted to end his life due to personal issues that were more important to him.