While the myth of a classless America endures in the American Dream, the very stratification that it denies unfairly affects the majority of Americans. Study after study shows that it's increasingly difficult for working class people to achieve upward mobility in the US - so how does the American Dream continue to thrive? J. Emmett Winn shows us that the American Dream continued glorification in contemporary Hollywood cinema should not be ignored. Through his thoughtful analysis of films as diverse as Working Girl, Titanic, Pretty Woman, Flashdance, The Firm, Good Will Hunting, Saturday Night Fever, Wall Street and many others, Winn shows that contemporary Hollywood is very much in the business of keeping the Dream alive.

Author Biography

J. Emmett Winn is Associate Professor of Film Studies at Auburn University. He is the co-editor of Transmitting the Past: Historical and Cultural Perspectives on Broadcasting (University of Alabama Press, 2005).