Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


ZacharySandsDissertation.pdf (927.98 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Film Comedy and the American Dream

Sands, Zachary Adam
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5742-0792
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1483612711940071

Abstract Details

2017, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies.
This dissertation examines the generational renegotiation of the American Dream as represented in popular comedic films that center on issues of upward mobility throughout the post-WWII era. Through a combination of narrative and thematic analyses of select motion picture comedies, contextualized within a dynamic historical framework, I build on the assertion that these movies essentially serve as time capsules of dominant cultural anxieties, offering invaluable insights into the social fabric of American culture of the past seventy years. Ultimately, I argue that this proves to be a tattered patchwork tapestry at best comprising individuals who are bound only by a shared belief in the ideals of meritocracy, equal opportunity and progress, even despite consistent patterns of systemic exclusion. Fundamentally, this is the story of what made audiences laugh and why, and what this says about the changing shape of the American Dream since the end of the Second World War. It is history as witnessed through the lens of the humanities, told chronologically and from multiple points of view. Throughout this project, I describe how even something as steadfast and resilient as the American Dream has repeatedly had to adapt to changing social contexts and can mean very different things according to one’s race, socioeconomic class and gender, among other variables. Through a consideration of these underrepresented dimensions of the American experience and by covering a broad historical landscape in my research, I seek to supplement existing scholarship in film studies, American history and cultural studies by offering novel understandings of the interrelated dynamics of film comedy and public discourse.
Timothy Messer-Kruse, PhD (Advisor)
Lesa Lockford, PhD (Committee Member)
Jeffrey Brown, PhD (Committee Member)
Dena Eber, MFA (Other)
256 p.
American History; American Studies; Film Studies; Mass Media
film studies; comedy; humor; american dream; american superpower; cold war; film comedy; upward mobility

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Sands, Z. A. (2017). Film Comedy and the American Dream [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1483612711940071

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Sands, Zachary. Film Comedy and the American Dream. 2017. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1483612711940071.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Sands, Zachary. "Film Comedy and the American Dream." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1483612711940071

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1483612711940071
3,474
© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.