The American Dream
In the early 1950s, the American dream was a dream shared by the entire nation. The stereotypical family included a mother, father, two children and a pet, all living in suburbia, USA. Every day the father would leave for work in the morning, and mother stayed home, cooked, and cared for the kids. Each family included a boy and a girl. The boy would have his hair neatly parted down the middle, and the girl in pigtails. At night, everyone would sit around the dinner table and discuss what had happened in the day gone by. But during the last fifty years, Americans realised that their dream of a perfect life was completely different. Comic entertainment, such as The and American Beauty depicts how such a vision has turned into a laughing matter.The Simpsons was the first cartoon series to send up this so called 'American Dream'. The family consists of Homer, a husband, father, safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, bowler, beer drinker, astronaut, small business owner and dreamer, and makes it all look easy. Marge, a happy homemaker and mother of three. Bart, a misunderstood. Wrongly pegged as an underachiever and troublemaker. Lisa, who is only 8 and already reads at a 14th grade level, and has written a number
of application quality essays. And Maggie, the baby of the family. American Beauty gives us an idea of what some modern Americans probably view as the American Dream. Burnham is doing practically nothing apart from breaking the law and tossing hamburgers, but still earning enough to afford a beautiful house, expensive car and money to support his family. Some may argue that Homer Simpson lives out the American Dream in every day of his life. Whilst working at the power plant, Homer sleeps on the job, eats doughnuts, and also causes the occasional meltdown, yet he still gets paid for an honest days work. The most shattering fact of all is that Homer does indeed achieve his wildest dreams without having to work towards them. He becomes an astronaut, navigates a Navy nuclear sub, meets the President, becomes a world-famous artist, tackles and captures James Bond, and performs with Smashing Pumpkins. Although viewers are filled with laughter at his actions, Homer's adventures defy the American saying that hard work will pay off. The Simpsons successfully confronts the questionable reason of the 1950s American dream, and portrays it as being the ability to have fun with life yet still
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Approximate Word count = 803
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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