The American Dream

I have heard about the American Dream in the movies, media, or in person many times. The word “American Dream” has become very familiar with me. However, the truth is, I am not sure how to define “American Dream.” I only can assume the meaning of American Dream. Sometimes the word American Dream brings me joy and brightness, but sometimes I feel somewhat sad. I do not know the exact reason why I feel this way, but maybe it is because of the word “Dream.” When someone’s dream is just an illusion, his or her life could be hollow, and if his or her dream demands something in return, it could become a tragedy.

I have seen The Godfather more than five times, and every time while I was watching the movie I was unhappy about treatment of women as second level humans. This time I viewed the movie and there was no exception. However, although I do not like some parts of The Godfather, which expresse women as a lower class human than men, I believe I have to admit that the movie was absolutely great. Also, this time I watched The Godfather from a little different perspective which was that this movie’s story was not only about family oriented gangsters but also Italian immigrants who struggled with settling in a new land, America.

I also watched House of Sand and Fog (directed by Vadim Perelman, 2004) several years ago, and I wanted to talk about this movie in referrence to as the American Dream as well. The characters in The Godfather and House of Sand and Fog, fought for their American dream which came true at great risk for them.

In The Godfather, Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) and his son Michael (Al Pacino) showed absolutely great acting to the audience in their gangster roles. Although they killed their enemies very easily their violence had been justified for certain reasons; if they did not kill their enemies, they would be killed. Thus, their killing was their way of survival. They were immigrants from Italy, and they had to survive in America, so their severe violence at the huge cost of the American Dream.

In a way, their violence seemed sad for me. Moreover, the society’s system at that time could not protect the people who were hard working immigrants. At the beginning of The Godfather, one businessman visited the Godfather and told him that what had happened to his daughter and asked him to take revenge. When the society’s system could not accomplish the justice, people often seek another way in order to gain payback.

When Don Vito Corleone died in a tomato garden during play with his grandson, I thought it was very meaningful because the tomato garden and the grandson symbolized the peaceful American Dream come true, but he died in the middle of the his dream. Also, when Connie’s son was the christened, the enemies were killed one by one by Michael’s orders and it was terribly shocking.

One thing I could not easily understand was Connie’s attitude at the end sequence of the movie. She had been abused by her husband extremely hard but she accused her brother Michael when her husband was killed. The characters in The Godfather, all paid dearly for their American Dream.

Personally I love the actors in this movie, Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, I believe I have to admit that I am not objective about the violence in this movie.

In House of Sand And Fog the characters paid dearly for the American Dream as well. Behrani emigrated from Iran with his family and he tried to pursue the American Dream by doing his best. He bought house at auction and tried to improve the value of the house and wanted to sell it at 4 times the original price. He wanted to provide for his wife, daughter and son. He tried to pay for his son to go to college. However, the house was at auction because of a bureaucratic mistake, the original owner of the house, Kathy could not lose the house. Thus the tragedy began. Nobody in this movie was bad, but everyone in this movie had ruined their lives in the end. The American Dream demanded an enormous cost.

When I was in New York, one day I sat in the restaurant near the Grand Central Terminal at 42nd street. I sat in the restaurant and saw many people passing by on the street through the restaurant window. The passengers seemed they to come from all around the world. Almost everyone seemed that they had different nationalities and races. Although they looked very different than others they might have one purpose, a happy life: American Dream. However, I could not see happy feelings in them. They just looked busy and they passed by other passengers with the no facial expressions. They did not look happy.

While I was traveling in many countries, I often heard “I want to go to America someday,” from the restaurant’s waitress or the hotel employee. Once or twice I asked them why they wanted to come to America, and they said to me that they thought they could live more happily in America and they believed that their dream would come true more easily in America. Now I want to tell them that maybe it is true but watch out, your American Dream might come at a high price.