The film The Great Gatsby (Jack Clayton, 1974) is based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and this is a story that is overtly critical of the American dream as it was viewed in the 1920s and after. The film version has in some ways muted this critical element, but it is inherent in the story of Jay Gatsby. The criticism is apparent in the way Gatsby views success and tries to achieve it by measuring himself against those he believes have achieved the American dream, because their lives show that this dream has a dark side.
The American Dream is based on the image Americans have of themselves as a people achieving much because they live in a country that is egalitarian so that self-improvement is the way to achieve success. While this might seem a very practical vision of the American Dream, there is also a mystic quality to it, as if Americans are more directly connected to some broader moral and empowering universe which gives them a stronger sense of self and the will to succeed. Achieving the American Dream then becomes a matter of connecting to this near-mystic national power. The American Dream is the promise Americans make to themselves based on their history, their optimism, and their social and governmental structure that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, everyone has equal opportunity, an everyone can, through hard work, achieve material success. Some see the American Dream as a limited promise because it emphasizes material success, but there is more to it than this given that it is based on egalitarian social principles which extend beyond the economic realm and which infuse our legal system, our media, and our view of life.
However, at times there are forces which make the American Dream seem less possible than at other times or that make it seem less fulfilling. This was apparent in the 1920s because of the disillusionment that set in after World War I in spite of great prosperity. The disillusio...