Profane Parables

 Profane Parables: Film and the American Dream

    In this article, Joel Mayward reviews the book Profane Parables: Film and the American Dream by Matthew S. Rindge. This review suggests that Rindge explores the nature of the American Dream and the use of parable within secular American film to critique "the American ethos" (2016, 1). By defining parable as "narratives of disorientation, stories of subversion, in which conventional and cherished worldviews are demolished" (Mayward 2016, 1).  Modern films critiquing the American Dream and the, supposed, cookie cutter American experience, the auteurs are pulling back the veil on the deeply ingrained concepts of the American experience and distorting American exceptionalism. 

The cyclical nature of American exceptionalism and the American Dream reinforces "the gospel of success" (Mayward 2016, 2). The perceived significance of Americas as a safe haven that promotes a capitalistic analysis of success.

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