The American Dream and Contemporary Hollywood Cinema / Edition 1

by J. Emmett Winn

Overview

While the myth of a classless America endures in the American Dream, the very stratification that it denies unfairly affects the majority of Americans. Study after study shows that it's increasingly difficult for working class people to achieve upward mobility in the US - so how does the American Dream continue to thrive?


J. Emmett Winn shows us that the American Dream's continued glorification in contemporary Hollywood cinema should not be ignored. The book explicates three major themes surrounding the American Dream in contemporary Hollywood cinema and relates those findings to the United States' social and cultural changes in the last 25 years. Through his thoughtful analysis of films as diverse as Working Girl, Titanic, Pretty Woman, Flashdance, The Firm, Good Will Hunting, Saturday Night Fever, Wall Street and many others, Winn shows that contemporary Hollywood is very much in the business of keeping the Dream alive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826428615
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/26/2007
Pages:	174
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

J. Emmett Winn is Professor of Film Studies at Auburn University. He is the co-editor of Transmitting the Past: Historical and Cultural Perspectives on Broadcasting (University of Alabama Press, 2005).

Table of Contents

1. Intro to Hollywood Cinema and the American Dream
2. Moralizing Mobility
3. Every Dream Has Its Price
4. The Thereapeutic Drama of Cross-Class Relationships
5. Success and Failure in Hollywood's American Dream
Bibliography
Filmography
Index