Course description
The American dream once essentialized the grand promise of a better, fuller, and richer life. At the present moment, however, it seems in many minds to have lost its evocative power as a collective myth. One wonders: does it still represent a principle of hope or has it become a form of cruel optimism? In a time of prolonged political and social crisis, this course has a pressing mission. It aims to further a dynamic understanding of American dreams (for there are many and not just one), to apprehend their complexities and contradictions, to appreciate their diverse manifestations and historical shapes, and above all to take measure of their presence and meaning in the world we now inhabit. To this end we study the variety of ways in which feature filmmakers, both in and outside of Hollywood studios, have created designs for living; indeed, the most influential and resonant incarnations of American dreams. We analyze popular narratives produced during crucial junctures in the modern history of the United States, from the Great Depression and World War II, through the cold war and the McCarthy era, up to the late 1960s. We consider the wide range of functions that these productions have assumed, how they have by turns sustained and questioned the status quo. In some instances they have interrogated, revealed, and even indicted social inequity, at other times they have legitimated injustice and fostered exclusion.
