working girl Essay

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Working Girl: The Myth of the American Dream Any popular movie, old or new portrays the mindset of a culture. Popular scenarios tend to follow the same basic structure of a certain myth, many times in different settings. One popular American myth introduced by Jack Nachbar and Kevin Lauses’ essay “Songs of the Unseen Road,” is the house of “anti-intellectualism (Nachbar 94).” Although the film Working Girl directed by Mike Nicholas, was a popular hit during the late 80s Americans today would still be able to relate themselves to the theme of “individual freedom” in the success story of Working Girl. A “myth” discussed in “Songs of the Unseen Road,” is not used in the common definition of something that is “false” or in other words known as an “old wives tale (Nachbar 84).” A myth in the study of popular culture is the cultural foundation of a mindset linked to bedrock cultural beliefs, not the particular stories that express these beliefs (Nachbar 85). Out of these famous bedrock beliefs in America such as the desirable “nuclear family” myth or the values of “more is better,” expressed as “endless abundance” myth, the myth of “individual freedom” is one especially strong related to the roots of Americans (Nachbar 94). Becoming free from England in the Civil War, the theme of freedom from slavery and discrimination, and finally the freedom women expressed in feminist movements, are all characteristics of Americans. From the moment they set foot in the New World, this belief of individualism would forever be in the blood of the descendants. The myth of “individual freedom” is also connected to America’s mindset of “anti-intellectualism.” Nachbar and Lause refers to the myth in this way: The truly intelligent person translates ideas into practical solutions to real problems, lives “off” ideas instead of “for” them, and recognizes that human identity is found

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