Reality TV: A Contemporary Medium for Participating in the “New” American Dream

Year 2004, Issue: 19, 77 - 87, 01.04.2004

Erik Angelone

Abstract

In the midst of the Great Depression, one of the bleakest epochs in U.S. history, some form of escape, be it physical or psychological, became an ephemeral method of coping with reality. In 1931, the historian James Truslow Adams formally introduced the catchphrase “American Dream” to describe “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement.” 214-215 . Early waves of U.S. immigrants had high hopes of achieving this dream long before the concept was lexically encoded. Throughout the decades, the notion of what the so-called “American Dream” actually implies has evolved into an open-ended, debatable cultural phenomenon.

References

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