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The Love Of The Californian Dream Analysis

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The Reality of Hollywood as the Californian Dream When presented with the notions of a utopia, one should take a closer examination; chances are reality is far from expectations. This aphorism is most aptly captured in Fitzgerald’s novel The Love of the Last Tycoon, where Fitzgerald paints a picture of Hollywood that is ultimately incompatible with the notion that Hollywood is the embodiment of the California Dream. Early Hollywood portrayed itself as a land of leisure and luxury, a utopia where with enough hard work and talent anyone could achieve a life of pleasure. However, examination of the various characters and events throughout The Love of the Last Tycoon reveals that for those that live in Hollywood, it is anything but the perfect world it purported to be. The experiences of the novel’s narrator, Cecelia Brady, reveals an insider’s perspective into Hollywood and demonstrates that the reality of working and living within Hollywood is often not as glamorous as the public perceives it to be. Considering the livelihood of Hollywood depended on its success as an industry, artistic vision and freedom would often be restricted in order to …show more content…

From the start of the novel, it is clear that the narrator, Cecelia Brady, does not favorably view Hollywood. Growing up as the daughter of a movie industry executive, Cecelia provides an insider’s perspective into the supposed glamorous lifestyle of Hollywood. Early on, Cecelia reflects on how she “always wished fervently that we looked more interesting than we did” (Fitzgerald 8). Through her reflection, Cecelia realizes that the people in the movie industry were not as special as people thought them to be, and that the reality of working within Hollywood often failed to meet the expectation of adoring

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California is a place of great disappointment for many people(s). It has disappointed people all the way back to the 1850s during the gold rush, and it is even said to have happened further back, when California was mostly populated by Native Americans. Joan Didion, author of “Los Angeles Notebook”, and Richard Rodriguez, author of Disappointment From California, both agree on this point. In Disappointment From California, Rodriguez describes how different California is from many outsiders ideas of it. He sees how it can be a disappointment, and there is a lot of disrepair in his own expensive neighborhood even, but he also describes how it is also a place of great opportunity for the hard working.

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Sunset Boulevard is a classic black comedy/drama, the most acclaimed, but darkest film noir story about Hollywood and what happens behind the scenes written by Billy Wilder. It shows the true deceitfulness, emptiness, the price of fame, greed, narcissism, and ambition it really takes to be an actor or actress during the 1950’s in Hollywood. Norma Desmond was one of the main characters and she showed viewers how easily they can perceive their characters on screen for their real life and get them twisted. In the 1950’s fans of the film wanted the actors to be just as perfect as they appeared on screen. The classic, tragic film was highly regarded at its time, honored with eleven Academy Award nominations and the recipient of three Oscars: Best

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Ed Brubaker’s graphic novel The Fade Out is a captivating crime noir graphic novel that explores the corruption in Hollywood in the 1940’s. Set in a time where the movie industry was booming and the location was seen as the land of opportunity and good fortune, Brubaker reveals the ultimate goals of the people in this business, where power and greed can corrupt even the most well intentioned people. Behind the scenes of the lavish and adoring Hollywood lifestyle lay corruption, greed, and deceit. In this video, I will analyze The Fade Out as a story that sheds light on corruption during the time period to show the audience just how far someone will go to protect their reputation.

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Lovisa’s understanding of the jazz age’s historical context led her to conclude that the book’s central conflict are between the wealth aristocracy and the self-made population, portrayed through Tom Buchannan and Jay Gatsby, both used by Fitzgerald emphasize the social repercussion of the post-war material excess. As Lovisa quote: “the depression and war years would prove a fruitful period for the American Dream as the country struggled to retain a sense of identity and economic, social and political turmoil” and the definition of the American dream “dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement”. Gatsby, merely a farmer’s son from north Dakoda, seized this opportunity and struggled to the top, through his own idealist visions. Lovisa argues that the process of his relentless pursuit of wealth and happiness is how Fitzgerald present the duality of the American dream and the fundamental nature of it; “the corrupted aspirations of fame and fortune in stark contrast with the romantic ideals that are still present in the mindset of many people.” Lovisa emphasized the idealism of Gatsby’s dream, about

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In the film Sunset Boulevard many characters struggled with wishes, lies and dreams of fame and fortune. The film states the corruption in Hollywood and that people will do anything to get ahead. With hope and delusion each character tries to gain happiness, while only being self-destructive and isolating themselves. The characters ultimately deny their problems and confuse those around them. One character in the film who struggles with her wishes, lies and dreams is, Norma Desmond, a washed up actress.

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