The first thing that comes up in American people's minds about the American dream is the word "opportunity". This idea sums up a lot of other criteria, named in the first document above. Freedom is the second thing that comes up to their minds, since America has been known and named as the "land of freedom" .It comes as no surprise if we remember that America was one of the first democracy in the world (after Great Britain) thanks to the Pilgrim Fathers, puritans who travelled in 1620 to the USA aboard the May Flower to escape religious persecution in Great Britain. If we look at all the others, we can see that, before, the idea of reaching material prosperity in the pursuit of happiness remained very strong, and even though "wealth" comes almost last, it is still present in American people's idea of the American Dream, happiness being the ultimate goal.
If we look at the second document though, we can see that the American Dream has been redefined, and that now, expectations are much lower than before, and that the idea of the American Dream is getting closer to the idea of the perfect american way of life, with the perfect house and family, financial security being the priority, for example having enough money for retirement is the first idea in the new version of the Dream (47%), or owning a house (17%), a car (3%), and paying for child's education (5%). We can see that now, American became disillusioned about the american dream and that they no longer expect to go "from rag to riches" even though i think that now, their expectation are a too low for us to talk about this as the American Dream
The first thing that comes up in American people's minds about the American dream is the word "opportunity". This idea sums up a lot of other criterias, named in the first document above. Freedom is the second thing that comes up to their minds, since America has been known and named as the "land of freedom". If you look at all the others, we can that, before, the idea of reaching material prosperity in the pursuit of happiness remained very strong, and even though "wealth" comes almost last, it is still present in American people's idea of the American Dream, happiness being the ultimate goal.
If we look at the second document though, we can see that the American Dream has been redefined, and that now, expectations are much lower than before, and that the idea of the American Dream is getting closer to the idea of the perfect american way of life, with the perfect house and family, financial security being the priority, for example having enough money for retirement is the first idea in the new version of the Dream (47%), or owning a house (17%), a car (3%), and paying for child's education (5%). We can see that now, American became disillusioned about the american dream and that they no longer expect to go "from rag to riches" even though i think that now, their expectation are a too low for us to talk about this as the American Dream
'Myths & Heroes' is but one of the four notions that will be research topics next year for the Baccalauréat in Terminale. Thus, it seems quite advisable to broach it in 1º.
This post as well as the next three will include different types of documents dealing with the American Dream.
Study the documents, copy and/or embed them to/into your blog and write a five-to-ten-line commentary on each of themafter giving a definition of the American Dream.
Definition:
The American Dream is a very strong belief for immigrants from all over the world (and of course for american themselves) in the ideal that America is a land of oportunities where everyone can work their way up/upward mobility (through hard work and will power) and make their dreams come true in order to reach material prosperity in pursuit of happiness.
The very famous shower scene, heart of the movie and probably one of the best movie scene ever made in the history of cinema.
Psycho is a movie made by the english Alfred Hitchcock released in 1960, one of the world's best film director. Hitchcock was very known for his very good thrillers and remains today as the father of many film techniques very new for his time and which made his thrillers even more "scary". Psycho is probably the most known of his movies because of the very shocking scenes in it (for the time) and for Anthony Hopkins remarquable performance.
The story is about Marion Crane, a young secretary who works in a bank and is having an affair with a man. She needs money to get away with the man she loves and one day, after work, she steels in the bank she works in a whole lot of money. Pretending to be sick, she goes home early and runs away by car. A policeman arrests her for sleeping in the car and thinking about her weird behaviour, follows her. At night, she arrives in a very strange motel in the middle of nowhere, hidden from everything, where nobody lives except the owner, Norman Bates, and his strange mother. She checks in, and while taking a shower, a very strange silhouet comes in and kills her with a knife. This scene is typical for a thriller: there is a very nerve-racking music, a horrifying scream, blood and it is very slow but also fast at the same time. We don't see the face of the killer wich is even more scary. After that scene, a privet detective and Marion's sister arrive at the motel to look for her. During the whole movie and until the end, we don't know who the killer is even though we guess it a little bit, but the end is so horrible and shocking that it bloodcurls you because you do not except that at all.
From the blog:http://bethrigby.blogspot.com.es/2011/01/section-one-thriller-genre.html DEFINITION: These are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. Thriller and suspense films are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features.
There are some Thriller sub-genres: Legal Thriller:eg-A Few Good Men Disaster Thriller:eg-The Day After Tomorrow Psychological Thriller:eg-The Talented Mr. Ripley Medical Thriller:eg-The Experiment Religious Thriller:eg-The Da Vinci Code Crime Thriller:eg -Silence of the Lambs
Techno Thriller:eg-The Matrix
Primary elements of the Thriller as a genre
Witness as a thriller
Illustration in the film
1.Central protagonist
The protagonist faces death, it can be his own or someone else's.
John Book faces his own death when he gets shot in the undergroud parking lot. he also faces the death of his partner, when Carter gets killed. Samuel also facesdeath when he is in the bathroom and then when he has become an eyewitness.
2.Force/s of antagonism
... must initially be clever and/or stronger than the protagonist.
At first the dirty cops are more powerfull because they are in a higher positions (Schaeffer is John's boss/higher up) and then John is alone and isolated in the Amish community were he is vulnerable.
3.Main storyline
For the protagonist it is either a quest or the character who cannot be put down(=defeated)
John's quest consists in finding the killer and uncovering the corruption ring. He also wants to avenge Carter's death.
4.Main plotline
The main plotline focuses on a mystery that must be solved.
The mistery John has to solve is obiously the motive behind the murder of the police man.
5.Narrative construction
It is dominated by the protagonist's point of view.
The beginning of the film is only concerned with the Amish and their lifestyle. But then when learn about Carter's death through John's point of view, so as we see Rachel and Samuel through his eyes mostly.
6.Action and characters
They must be credibly realistic/natural in their representation on screen.
The Amish way of live is very credibly depicted through, for instance, the way they are dress, the barn-raising, the cow-milking, Rachel's sponge bath, or like when Elaine describes John...
7.Major themes
... are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals.
John takes justice in his own hands in order to avenge his murdered colleage. The Amish as a whole embody the highest degree of morality.
8.Small but significant aspect
... is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world.
The whole Amish community embodyinnocence because their values are basically pure. On the other hand the corruption inside the police represents the corruption of the modern world.
