The ambitiousnesss, which a society creates, comport an important role in the lives of the citizenry in that society. In particular, the American Dream, for the fictitious computer addresss of two John Steinbecks prose assembly Of Mice and Men and Sam Mendes fritter American Beauty, is presented as a powerful concept with its kindly nature, which arrive aters gaiety and a better tone. However, for the characters to live this fantasy they must make sacrifices. at bottom the two texts, the American Dream, governed by the societys context, values, and ideals, presents the societys depiction of bliss. Steinbecks Of Mice and Men was written in the 1930s, set in California, America -focusing on the hu man racey lives of itinerant, manual, male-workers who were impact by the peachy Depression. The deprivation of security and perceptual constancy in this life resulted in great loneliness and hardship for the men, as they were alone dependent on the whims of employers an d the availability of work. In these measure of adversity, the workers created stargazes for themselves to stay fresh their unpleasant life and give them hope for the future. The pipe dream for the mass of the workers revealed a longing for a better life, unimaginative of the American Dream; one of independence, equality, wealth, the prospect of owning their own trim, unblemished happiness and the freedom to follow their desires much(prenominal) as to study the nut house with goin to work. In contrast, the society of Mendes film, American Beauty, reflects the midst fork white suburban America during the 19990s. Their dream conveys the sprightliness that happiness is carry throughd with superficial values; including paragon, materialistic possession, a fecund delineation, knockout, a white picket fence suburban home, and the perfect family. The artificial violator aspect of this dream is signified by the films title American Beauty; a direct reference to a part icular(prenominal) underwrite of roses, whi! ch is outwardly perfect through its cultivation for flawlessness. Conversely, standardised nearly house-grown roses, it has no scent, and in that respectfore the definition of apricot and god becomes replaced with fauxness. To strain these dreams the characters, in their respective society, sacrifices different aspects of their life, this in bend dexter affects themselves and the people around them. In American Beauty, the character of Angela represents the television-sitcom snug of an American teenager; a typical blonde-haired, beautiful, male-attention-seeking, popular girl. Angela puts on a superficial sexual exterior to mask her dread insecurity and fear of being ordinary, by stressful to exist as an adult in an adult populace of discourse despite the reality of her youth. In doing so, she has sacrificed her integrity to beat account and the image of perfection, created by the American Dream. How Angela approaches the value of beauty is talllighted through th e reflect motif, which symbolises her vain nature. This concept of a false beauty is echoed in model of the American Beauty rose as an exterior obstruction to Angelas beauty. Similarly, the character of Curleys wife in Of Mice and Men benefits from her physical coming into court to meet attention; however, she does not do this to exemplify the societys image of perfection or beauty (like Angela) but to obtain company. despite her characters representation as a tramp and the temptation of egg-producing(prenominal) sexuality in a male-dominated world, Curleys wife is not only if a villainous or unsympathetic character. She sacrifices her own dreams of a glamourous life in Hollywood as an actress to have the stability in life, which a marriage to a fuddled man dourers. However, she makes a poor choice of husband and is remaining feeling lonely, unhappy with her marriage and with a broken dream. The unhappiness, which derives from the harm of the dream, is similarly apparg onnt for those life the dream. From the very beginni! ng, Lester, the protagonist of American Beauty, is shown to be breathing the American Dream; he is wealthy, owns a beautiful suburban house, maintains a high schoolflying job, and is married with a daughter. Lester had to sacrifice his youthful ideals (his identity, respect, enjoy and a meaningful relationship with his family) to achieve the suburban American Dream, which he discovers to be false. Instead of being happy and fulfilled in life, Lester is unable to communicate with either wife or daughter, which both see him as this gigantic loser, who is apathetic, sedated, a specification to be laughed at and despised. Mendes portrays this inferior characteristic of Lester through high angled shots focused down on him, suggesting that he is a character to be looked down on. The misery in living an unwanted dream is visually symbolised by his constant entrapment hind end various objects -such as the shower cubicle, the window of his own home, and the self-restraining and con fining structure of his work place. The combination of his realisation of the dissimulation of the dream and his sudden infatuation with his daughters friend, Angela, contributes to his liberation by throwing off his hypocritical facades -including his dehumanising corporate job, and any pretence that he c atomic number 18s roughly anything but his own appetites. This triggers his atavism to adolescence as he tries to recapture the remembered joy of his youth.
This new life, in which Lester relives his adolescent dream, is juxtaposed to his preceding depressing life in the two opposing dinner facial expression s. The first dinner facial expression captures Leste! r as submissive character whereas in the second scene it appears that Lester has become to a greater extent unconditional and superior. Although the concept of being more powerful is an alluring one, Lester realises again that this too is a false dream as he begins to live a c arfree, responsibility-lacking life of a young man. The negativism results from living the American Dream are also seen in Steinbecks characterisation of Curley in Of Mice and Men. Curleys achievement of wealth, power, land (all the different aspects which articulates the American Dream in this text) is overshadowed by his impetuous nature, abuse of power, selfishness and lack of respect from all the other characters. Curley wears high heeled boots and spurs to prove he [is] not a labouring man. This reveals that he takes payoff of materialistic possession (which are represent by the boots) and force out (represented by the spurs) to distinguish himself as tribal chief and of higher(prenominal) status . Liked by no one, not tied(p) his wife, Curley demonstrates how the dream affects a character negatively. In the two societies of American Beauty and Of Mice and Men, it becomes hit to both the characters and the audience that the American Dream is a disillusionment, as it does not submit either happiness or a better life. For the bosom class Americans, Mendes focuses on the falsity and superficiality of the American Dream. The film highlights how people want to give the illusion that they are living the dream -but behind closed doors, the reality is that the characters are far from line up happiness; the breakdown of family life is witnessed, there is a ensnare availability of illicit drugs, violence is exposed, and characters are sacrificing personal oestrus until living has been forgotten. Steinbeck, on the other hand, emphasises the futility of the American Dream for the bed covering workers, such as Lennie and George. For these characters, there is no certainty or se curity measures in either their life or dream. Steinb! eck conveys this by indicate how so many elements (including Lennies retardation, Curleys character, etc) conspires to destroy their dream. The sacrifices made to achieve this dream is said to be a tragic one. BIBLIOGRAPHY:Of Mice and hands -a unused by John SteinbeckAmerican Beauty - a film enjoin by Mendes If you want to get a full essay, establish it on our website:
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