Feb 28 2007
American Dreamz 2
Who doesn’t know the phrase AMERICAN DREAM? People—I believe I am not the only one—know
America as the best place to pursue any dream to come true. And mostly this dream is related to success that means big money, and perhaps also fame. The phrase American Dream has many interpretations, such as from rags to riches. One most important requirement is of course to work hard to make dreams come true.
In a reality show like AMERICAN DREAMZ (in the reality it is like AMERICAN IDOL), having good talent only is not enough to win the contest, to reach the dream to be a popular and successful singer. A contestant has to win the people’s attention by “selling” a life story to melt those people’s hearts.
In the movie, Sally’s agent forced her to sell her romance with William who has been back from
Iraq war, injured. (NOTE: he joined the army after Sally broke him. he was sent to Iraq, but not long after that, he was sent back home coz he got shot.) Although Sally didn’t love him, to win the contest, Sally was willing to continue her relationship with William.
Sally’s agent’s plan to make her win the contest—in collaboration with William’s idea to make their relationship more serious—is asking William to propose her on the final show. Confused whether to accept William’s proposal to win the people’s hearts or to think of her own happiness—coz she didn’t love William—Sally personally asked Tweedy.
“Am I mean to accept his proposal to win the contest even though I don’t love him?”
“Everyone wants something. William wants you. Why? Because he has in his head an idea of what you are. He doesn’t care whether it is true or not, as long as he still keeps the fancy alive. He deserves to get what he does.”
“He deserves to be miserable?”
“You are miserable, aren’t you now despite the sudden fame you get?”
Referring to what has happened in
Indonesia with similar reality shows like that (such as, Indonesian Idol, Akademi Fantasi Indosiar, etc), in fact the way the contestants win the audience’s attention is similar, by “selling” the most pathetic part of their life experience. I never like watching television or reading gossip tabloids, therefore, I don’t really know what has been going on behind those kinds of reality show, but not much different. The role of those gossip tabloids is of course to sell the most pathetic part of each contestant too, to be able to sell the most editions, to get profit.
I remember one of my good friends whose dream was to be a civil servant and she considered it as “Indonesian Dream”, and of course many students of mine protested it. J I must say that Indonesian people’s dream nowadays is not far from the theme of AMERICAN DREAMZ, to be a famous star, with abundant kinds of reality shows recently. People perhaps already forget the two most ideal dreams that were very well-liked when I was a kid and a teenager, “To be a doctor or to be an engineer”, no other profession was more honorable than those two at that time.
What is your dream? Have you made it come true?
P.S. : especially for my dream come true, always be there for me, will ya?
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