Money and the American Dream (Revision)

Tanner Stephens

Multimodal Essay #1

Introduction to American Studies

Deborah Whaley

09/10/17

James Guimond tells us that photography, specifically documentary photography, can create a dramatic and often times controversial or problematic experience when we as an audience look at an image.  Documentary media can also range from photographs to film and anywhere in between. He elaborates that with certain iconography associated with things depicted in documentary photos, audiences are not only elicited with a particular emotion but possibly multiple depending on the intertextuality of the image. The audience is also expected to know prior social context to viewing the image. This refers to solipsism, which is defined as the way a person interprets an image or text based on their own point of view, having experienced the things that have shaped them. In other words, it is how a person interprets and sees something based on their own personal experiences and how it can vary from person to person. The amount of context that is provided to the viewer can also be a big factor. For example, an image can be taken out of context to evoke a strong personal or political opinion that can actually have nothing to do with the topic that it is associated with.

An image that I chose to talk about can have multiple meanings both as an American nightmare as well as the American dream. I would define the American Dream as having the ability and opportunity to achieve any goals that one might set out to accomplish. It does certainly depend on one’s own definition of the American dream as to how much the image does or does not reflect that dream. Personally when I think of what it would take for any “average Joe” so-to-speak to attain the American dream, money is one of the first things to come to mind. This is not to say that money defines how content a person is and whether or not the American dream is fulfilled, but it really is a deciding factor with whether or not it can be attainable. That is why the image I took has a Bank on one corner of a sunny intersection and two chain restaurants across from it. Again, one could argue that due to the limitation of financial means, the American dream is not out there for everyone and simply not attainable for some. There is also the factor that with these multi-chain restaurants taking up space in the downtown district of Iowa City, there is less space for small start-up businesses that may wish to try their luck at making a living but simply cannot compete with Jimmy John’s or Cold Stone Creamery. Chain restaurants like that would definitely have the upper had both financially and by word of mouth and popularity among the masses. On the opposing side, one could also argue that these restaurants themselves are examples of successes that have come from the American dream, and realistically they are. They all had their start somewhere. Whether or not they are reducing the possibility for others to start their own American dream businesses, which contradicts the idea of the American dream altogether, is another discussion. One might look at this photo after having had to file for bankruptcy after trying to open an ice cream shop downtown and be reminded of their financial woes looking at Cold Stone Creamery on the corner across from a bank no less. The image was taken in a shadier area, possibly representing someone who sees this as an American Nightmare, while someone else could notice the bright sunlight illuminating the thriving businesses on the corner that represent the American Dream. Solipsism, how one interprets an image or text, can play a big part in how an image is seen or interpreted based on the experiences of the viewer and as such, I would argue that this photo does in fact represent both the American dream and also the American nightmare.

Citations:

·      Guimond, James. American Photography and the American dream. Chapters 1,4. Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press, 1991.