I am excited to announce that I've succeeded in my quest to get a course proposal accepted! It will be offered next winter quarter, and I'm busy collecting all kinds of good things to share and discuss.
Here's a peek at the basic idea, subject to minor alterations.
As always, I welcome your suggestions.
The American Dream: How Has It Changed?
We'll engage in a bit of "dream analysis" as we examine this question. David Kamp's essay, Rethinking the American Dream, suggests there's been a shift in our national aspirations from “a set of deeply held ideals rather than a checklist of goals or entitlements.” Kamp, an editor at Vanity Fair, noted in April:
As a people, we Americans are unique in having such a thing, a more or less Official National Dream. (There is no correspondingly stirring Canadian Dream or Slovakian Dream.) It is part of our charter—as articulated in the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence, in the famous bit about “certain unalienable Rights” that include “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”—and it is what makes our country and our way of life attractive and magnetic to people in other lands.
We'll use several short readings to stimulate discussion about The American Dream, including passages from John Kenneth Galbraith's 1958 book The Affluent Society and Henry Luce's 1941 essay “The American Century” in Life. The class will also watch the Academy Award-winning documentary American Dream, and some popular culture films which depict the issue such as the classic Depression tale Grapes of Wrath, to The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and The Honeymooners to Hollywood documentary Frank Capra's American Dream to the contemporary The Namesake about immigrants from India seeking a better life in the US.
4 comments:
I want to take your classes...May I have an extra 24 hours each day, please?
I was tremendously moved by The Namesake; good choice. Have you seen In America? Also lovely & intelligent.
Oh but wait! What about Revolutionary Road? Powerful stuff...Too dark?
Just a thought, as a comparison between the newly arriving to America and those who grew up here. Though I guess Namesake does that in one movie.
Stephanie, I will try to find those extra hours in the day. It would be SO fun to have you in class.
I'm glad you liked The Namesake - I feel that it should be required viewing for a lot of Americans to give them a good dose of empathy. Don't know In America, but will check it out. Revolutionary Road is a GREAT suggestion. I'll try to get students to watch it before the course begins.
It should be fascinating stuff. A subject of far wider interest than just to Americans, I dare to suggest. All the luck in the world with it. (I imagine one problem will be which books to leave out!)
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