Man In Hole

After discussing how the "Redemptive Arc" model applies to the typical American Story in class the other day one example immediately stuck out to me as significant. Like the model suggests, the typical American Story consists of a life starting with good fortune, followed by conflict resulting in ill fortune, and then the conflict is resolved causing even better fortune then initially started with. I feel that the story of Chris Gardner as told through the movie The Pursuit of Happiness fits this typical American Story perfectly. A man who just made an investment in selling bone density scanners turns out to be a bust culminating to a loss off his wife and all his money. Chris Gardner, with a bit of luck and natural intelligence, manages to get a job as a stockbroker and create more opportunities for him and his son than ever before. This particular story is a classic example of the Redemptive Arc, as titled by Kurt Vonnegut as, "Man in Hole". 

I think one of the reasons I felt so attached to this story is because most Americans truly admire someone who lost it all, and managed to find a way to get it all back, and more. That in my opinion is one version of the American Dream that sticks out as especially inspiring. After watching the movie you get a strong sense of connectedness between Chris and his son making his journey all the more important and emotional. Obviously the most significant detail of this story is that it has a happy ending, because without success the Redemptive Arc is incomplete and his story, although touching, is not considered the American Dream. 

What is a Good Day?

I was sitting in front of my television the other day checking my phone when I heard a familiar song coming from a commercial. I immediately identified the song and was suddenly shocked by what I was hearing. Kellogg's was using this song in a Special K commercial to promote a new weight loss campaign.  The song was constructed by a hip-hop music group who call themselves Nappy Roots and is named "Good Day". This was shocking to me because Kellogg only chose to play the instrumental version with an edited chorus at the end. After watching both the commercial and listening to the song you will see that the reason for this is obvious. The song's lyrics depict a "good day" as everybody getting by and even just staying alive, However, in the Special K commercial a "good day" means fitting into a Sassy pair of jeans. I find it ridiculous how a song portraying such a different message could be used to sell a food product trying to spread a message of weight loss and health. I understand that the instrumental of this song is very positive and uplifting, but I think that after hearing the original song it is hard for me to take the commercial seriously. Although i am sure most people have never heard the song it still disturbs me that they would modify it from its original message just to sell a product. I have posted a link to the original song below.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikWePjoHtVQ

if you aint first you're last

After hearing Mr Bolos talk about how Americans truly value speed during class the other day, it got me thinking. I was on my way downtown a few days ago with a friend in pursuit of a famous restaurant in Wrigleyville called Lucky's Sandwich Company known for dishing out a seriously colossal sandwich. After sitting down and placing our order it had only been twenty minutes before we started to get annoyed at how long our food was taking. It hit me right then and there that twenty minutes is not even that long a time and I was worried I had lost all patience in life. The truth is Americans do value speed, and its because over the past several years all we have done is made things  faster. Transportation has become faster and more convenient, the number of fast food chains popping up across the map is rather scary, and perhaps the most drastic of all--the world wide web. It all sounds great at first but there is a much deeper issue associated with speed, and that is that we are becoming too reliant and addicted to speed. Just the other day my WiFi went down for two minutes and all I wanted to do was drop my laptop into the lake. Despite the fact that my laptop is still fully intact and dry, there is really no telling how this speed will affect my patience in the future.

 Speed wasn't the only realization that I had during this holiday weekend adventure. When our food arrived at the table I instantly noticed that it was in fact colossal and then another thought occurred, Americans also value size as well. The bigger something is, the better. Why have a fuel efficient medium sized car when you can get a gas guzzling SUV? Why have an appropriate sized house suitable for just a few people when you can have bodacious mansion? These are some of the examples that mostly pertain to the North Shore, but can also be viewed as American values as well. I am not saying that Speed and Size are necessarily negative values, but they do have affect us all in one way or another. The sandwich turned out to meet expectations and was worth the trip. Maybe bigger is better after all.