Trump....American Beauty and the death of the American Dream !!

You ask Trump supporters about the film 'American Beauty'...They would probably tell you that it was a great comedy drama and Spacey deserved an Oscar.....What they won't tell you is that it was a hitjob on Apple pie suburbia and the ludicrous idea that if the American dream existed....It certainly is dying painfully...

Trump's election in 2016 was a painful last gasp attempt to bring back a rose-tinted America that never existed by a demographic struggling to come to terms with a World that has become a lot smaller.....The kind of People that cover their faces with cushions thinking the bad guy won't see them...

John Carpenter said he set the movie 'Halloween' in Suburbia because he thought the things that went on behind closed doors there... Were probably scarier than the inner City....Generally because of the wall of silence around them...American Beauty carries on that theme....

Apple pie America = Repression..

Dad is an unsatisfied wallet trying to reclaim lost youth.........Mum's futile efforts to impress the Jones who aren't interested...Their frustrations take a toll on Daughter who is lonely...Confused and has problems she unfortunately keeps to herself..

The drug dealing boy next door is cynical but more astute than all his elders and the only normal couple are the Gay neighbours...Noticeably in the American Dream apple pie neighbourhood there are no Black or Asian families....

Because immigrants don't exist in the White suburban American Dream.....and the futility of keeping status overrides all other issues even at the expense of happiness..

Unlike McCarthyism in the 40s and 50s and Vietnam in the 60s....Wikileaks and 24/7 news cycles means its becoming harder to sell dreams...There is a world outside Apple pieville....America is changing....Change can be painful.

Trump's apple pie voters are becoming a dying breed.....America will become more cynical and the American Dream like Polly the Parrot will definitely be dead..not that it ever existed..

Won't be a moment too soon !!......

Interesting article but as a synopsis, what's the conclusion?

You want the United States of America consigned to history?

Interesting post TRUSS. Saw the film whenever it was that it came out, but can only really remember rose petals!

The 'American Dream' - that's all it ever was/is for some. Great marketing ploy though.

It was Propaganda.

All National identity/destiny myths are a mix of reality sprayed hard with Propaganda.  So if the American 'Dream' was only ever a dream, so be it.  Every other Empire or Nation's narrative is as full of Propaganda mixed with some reality.

So what of America - and its two centuries or so worth of myth, propaganda and reality?  Well, all I can say is that practically from birth, I willingly fell for it.  Hook, Line and sinker.  A willing Apostle of the myths.  

An Americanophile from the off, listening in wonder in a classroom as a toddler being taught how to sing When Johnny Comes Marching Home - all the way through to rock music, jazz, Westerns, Bogart,Tracey, Stewart, Wizard of Oz, Ironside, The Virginian, Rockford Files, Lancer, High Chaperal, Jaws, Waylon Jennings, Springsteen, zz Top, King Kong, Shane, NASA, denim, desert, canyons, Rockies, Newman, Coburn, Monroe, Dean, Hepburn, Marvin, diners, gunfights, skyscrapers, Civil War heroes, Confederate Flag, the Duke Boys, Cash, Martin Luther King, Kennedy, Nat King Cole, Riverboats, Injins, Chief Joseph, Chief Dan George, Armstrong - both Louis and Neil, Star Trek, apple pie, dusty streets, silent killers, noisy lovers etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.....

Despite, or maybe unfortunately because of two world wars and many other satellite conflicts, the 20th century was one helluva ride.  I'm pretty proud that I lived through a decent slice of it.  It really did feel a real break from that age when the new Millennium started.  There is a completely different feel about this new age.  Nope, I know which century I feel a sense of belonging to - the mad, bad, loud, ugly and beautiful 20th century - and America, the USA - was absolutely the battery pack that charged it and made it such a colourful, sensual era.

Thank you, America.  Long may you last.

I'm going to see Barbara Eden and Barbara Feldon in the flesh today. They are here on tour.

$75 (£40 or USD $52) for a signed photograph. I might get 99's.

As they both said yesterday. The 60s were fun times for some. Feldon almost feels guilty that she was making silly comedies at a time when very serious things were happening around the world.

edit: I got both signed photographs. What the hell... you only live once. Lovely ladies. Such poise, elegance and friendly smiles.
I mentioned "Victor Royal"... a character played by Jacques Bergerac, from one of the Get Smart episodes "99 Loses CONTROL".

Both Barbaras chuckled as the shutter went off. That really made my day.

Barbara Eden was a very sexy Lady....

navyblueshorts wrote:Interesting post TRUSS. Saw the film whenever it was that it came out, but can only really remember rose petals!

The 'American Dream' - that's all it ever was/is for some. Great marketing ploy though.

Thanks for the kind words....

Don't worry about not getting the message of the movie...

A lot of People don't realise the classic movie.."Invasion of the Bodysnatchers" was a pop at McCarthyism...

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Barbara Eden was a very sexy Lady....

Still is despite the 'work' done. There's a photo on the culture cup thread if you're interested, Truss.

https://www.606v2.com/t68410p1000-music-section-morning-tea-society

I'm not allowed to go on there..

I lower the tone apparently.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:You ask Trump supporters ... They would probably tell you ... What they won't tell you ... a rose-tinted America that never existed ... a demographic struggling to come to terms with a World that has become a lot smaller ... The kind of People that ... Because immigrants don't exist in the White suburban American Dream ... Trump's apple pie voters are becoming a dying breed ... the American Dream ... will definitely be dead ... not that it ever existed ...

This is what I have found generally - people no longer go after the politicians they go after the voters of that politician - they stereotype them in various ways (stupid, racist, archaic, fantasists, Luddites etc).   This happened in the past where groups of people where "imagined" and stereotyped and then became a focus for contempt, pity, hate ...  This is not progress - it is circular.  Interesting times lie ahead.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:... the film 'American Beauty' ... Spacey deserved an Oscar ... it was a hitjob on Apple pie suburbia ... John Carpenter said he set the movie 'Halloween' in Suburbia because ... American Beauty carries on that theme ... Apple pie America = Repression ...

The Film Actors Guild know best:

Film Actors Guild:

No name Bertie wrote:

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:You ask Trump supporters ... They would probably tell you ... What they won't tell you ... a rose-tinted America that never existed ... a demographic struggling to come to terms with a World that has become a lot smaller ... The kind of People that ... Because immigrants don't exist in the White suburban American Dream ... Trump's apple pie voters are becoming a dying breed ... the American Dream ... will definitely be dead ... not that it ever existed ...

This is what I have found generally - people no longer go after the politicians they go after the voters of that politician - they stereotype them in various ways (stupid, racist, archaic, fantasists, Luddites etc).   This happened in the past where groups of people where "imagined" and stereotyped and then became a focus for contempt, pity, hate ...  This is not progress - it is circular.  Interesting times lie ahead.

Bush didn't know there was more than one kind of Muslim..

Palin thought Africa was a Country..

No surprise they are both Republicans..

Gone after plenty of politicians on the off topic section Bertie old boy....Which you already know but you preferred to try to stereotype me in your post instead...A post in which you profess your dislike of stereotyping.

But hey I won't hold it against you..

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:
Palin thought Africa was a Country..

..

She wasn't wrong.  She was just a little ahead of schedule. She meant to say that China intended to make it one country.

But to balance things out,
Nancy Pelosi thought 500 million Americans would lose their job every month - without the right economic package.  
Hank Johnson was concerned that the island of Guam would tip over and capsize due to over population.
Maxine Waters wanted Putin to stop his advance into Korea.

Back to the funny puppets.

There is a difference between describing something, imagining something and stereotyping something (groups).

I wasn't necessarily critiquing "you" - I was commenting on something that seems to be a widespread phenomenon and that has been commented upon by others. By imagining and stereotyping and attacking a whole section of an electorate for their voting choice - it is a veiled attack on democracy and democratic choice - part of an argument that says people if they were intelligent, moral etc ... would choose "this" and only "this".

That is not democracy that is an argument for authoritarianism, dictatorship, civil war.

What you wrote was just something I have seen by others, many others, including professors, "experts", various people in the media. It is a zeitgeist that is part of something that people call the culture wars. In my view you were just tapping into something that you read or heard somewhere else - co-opting an interpretation of some films in the process.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote: Bush didn't know there was more than one kind of Muslim..

Palin thought Africa was a Country..

The competence of some Americans to serve for public office is questionable - I cannot argue against that.

ps I do remember Obama not knowing the number of states of America (he gave the wrong figure).   I don't expect politicians to be walking encyclopedias nor never to go blank in recalling something (such as number of states of America).  But I do expect them to have some basic competencies.  Bush when he was up against Gore (who some say is very very smart) in the presidential debates - tended to do better than Gore.

pps: critiquing a person's competence to serve for public office is not the same as condemning a whole group of people because of their particular selection from the choices given to them in a democratic election or in a referendum.