What Is The Frontier Thesis In There Will Be Blood

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In the movie There Will Be Blood the audience can get a true picture of the Frontier Thesis because of the character Daniel “the oil man”. The Frontier Thesis all in itself shows one the mindset of America at the time. A summary of the Frontier Thesis is that America wanted to continue to grow and tame the West no matter the cost to anything that stood in the way of what was the “American Dream”. In the movie Daniel also shows the viewers what the oil man of the time was truly like, most started with very little but once they struck oil they became extremely wealthy but no amount was ever enough for any of the oil men. While watching the movie the audience can see how Daniel’s wealth increase while his soul and views began to decline until …show more content…

The Thesis talks about the different waves of people that would come into the West until it became full of the modern cities we have today. The main idea behind it was the way America would grow throughout the settling of the West and on into American history. The picture it paints for the future of America is that the people will never have enough and they will never stop wanting to build and grow this country. In the movie Daniel shows the audience a true picture of America at the time. He says in the movie multiple times he wants more money just a little more and this is his outlook. In the movie we can see his riches increase and his actions decrease with the more wealth and power he gains. Daniel is the same as America at the time the West was settled America did not care that the modern ideas was moving the indians right out of their home same as Daniel in the movie only cared about himself and making himself better. In the film Daniel’s main motivation throughout the movie was to get rich no matter the cost in the movie he killed, lied, and cheated to help himself reach his goal. During the settling of the West, America was the same the country truly did not care about anything but getting the country to grow, be modern, and to get the rich richer. The Frontier Thesis truly summed up America at the time and Daniel in the movie shows even more vivid the way the country and the outlook on life was at the