Pre-IB The American Dream by Raymond Jannetta

Pre-IB The American Dream by Raymond Jannetta https://padlet.com/raymondjannetta/xkpgdl7or0ic Post your group Answers here en-us 2016-11-08 08:27:06 UTC 2016-12-01 21:19:33 UTC hello@padlet.com Welcome raymondjannetta https://padlet.com/raymondjannetta/xkpgdl7or0ic/wish/136015762 Dear class please post your group answers here!
1. Is the idea of the American Dream unique to Americans, or is it a “Human” Dream?

2. Do you believe the American Dream has changed over time? If so, how?

3. Do all US citizens have equal opportunities to achieve the American Dream?

4. Is the belief in the American Dream necessary to society? Why/why not?

5. How do you personally define the American Dream?

6. Provide with an explanation a suitable example of a book/film/song from the decade you have been assigned that addresses the idea of the ‘American Dream’ =

]]> 2016-11-08 08:30:13 UTC https://padlet.com/raymondjannetta/xkpgdl7or0ic/wish/136015762 Padlet Pals annal09993 https://padlet.com/raymondjannetta/xkpgdl7or0ic/wish/137661235 1. We think it's a "Human Dream" because wanting to, objectively, succeed in life cannot be limited to a single country. However, America, as a nation, is based on the concept of that dream.
2. We believe the American Dream has changed over time in the sense that we now want to achieve the success of superstars, but earlier, the Dream meant to build a family with good income, a nice house, and having good jobs.
3. We don't think all US citizens have the same opportunities to achieve the American Dream. White males from a not too low class will most likely have the means to get the help to get there, whereas afro-american females from a lower class will have a harder time, this is because of discrimination. LGBTQ+ and religion are also challenging factors.
4. We don't believe that The American Dream is necessary for all of society, but at least for a great deal of specific individuals, as it might be the only way for them to have hope. That way, those individuals contribute to society, as it's how they will achieve the Dream. The dream creates a stable society, but it's far from necessary to all of society, as we've also got religion and personal dreams such as becoming fit.
5. The American Dream was originally about immigrant coming to America for freedom and success, but today it's more about becoming great and famous, at the same time as being happy.
6.
1960's: Bob Dylan was born in 1941, his family was poor. Plagued by pogroms, meaning massacres of Jews, they immigrated from East-Europe. In the pursuit of a better life in America. When Bob Dylan was 20 years old, he became a singer. His musical career lasted for more than 45 years, and he’s now considered one of the most influential people of the 20th century.
1970's: Elon Musk was born in 1971 in Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa. He taught himself computer programming at the age of 12. After graduating high school, he wanted to became an American. When he moved to Canada in 1988, he believed everything would become easier. Today, Elon Musk is an entrepreneur and has founded PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX. He has an estimated net worth of $6.7 billion.
1980's: Gia Marie Carangi, born in January 1960 and known as simply "Gia", was an American fashion model during the late 1970s and early 1980s. From working at a small diner and one day being picked by chance for a shoot to being recognized as America's first supermodel, she achieved the American Dream. After she became addicted to heroin, Gia's modeling career rapidly declined, and she died of AIDS-related complications at the age of 26. This does, however, show the reality we live in, seeing as it is very easy to lose everything we own, even if we are at the top.
1990's: Sergey Brin was born in 1974 in Moskva, Russia. His parents emigrated to the USA when he was 6, after struggeling to find jobs for 8 months. Together with Larry Page, Brin developed the search engine Google and now has an estimated fortune of 18,7 billion dollars.
2000's: Justin Bieber is a Canadian singer. Previously his family was poor, but then he got discovered by Usher through YouTube. He is now a multimillionaire and probably the worlds most famous artist
2010's: Amandla Stenberg is a good example of a person coming of age in the 10’s, living the American Dream. Her parents background doesn’t seem particularly rich. Stenberg started as a model for Disney at the age of 4. After that she has played in several different movies. Her most famous role is probably when she played as Rue in The Hunger Games in 2012.]]> 2016-11-15 10:47:40 UTC https://padlet.com/raymondjannetta/xkpgdl7or0ic/wish/137661235 Katharina, Eline, Are, Emily, Håkon, Leo og Silje https://padlet.com/raymondjannetta/xkpgdl7or0ic/wish/137669604
1. According to Jürgen Moltmann the thing that we call "The American dream" today was a human dream, long before it was identified with a certain place. The American Dream is about getting a better life, with a good job, a good family, a good car and a good home. We think that everyone want this. Therefore the American Dream is a human dream.

2. Yes, The American Dream has changed over time. Firstly it was all about reaching happiness and get your own land, but today it is more about getting away from the farms.

3. The American dream today has become a wish to be rich. Therefore poor people or minorities do not have the same opportunities as rich people to reach the American Dream. A poor black woman does not have the same opportunity as for example Donald Trump, who was born rich.

4. Yes, because the American Dream works as a motivation and hope to bring society further on. No, because on their own they push people down. People should rather work together to achieve the same goals.

5. Something better than you started with, hope, personal goal, success in life.

6: 1950's: Elvis Presley

The musician Elvis Presley, often referred to as “The King”, was born in 1935 and is a prime example of the post-war American dream.

Elvis grew up in Mississippi in a shotgun house. He was an only child in a poor household. He didn’t do great nor terribly at school, but he excelled at one thing. Singing. When turned 11, he got his first guitar.

His taste of music, rockabilly, was regarded as “trashy” and “hillbilly” by his peers when he played it at school. He was described as a loner, and “mad with music”. He was met with this attitude throughout his childhood and adolescence. But then, during his senior year, things changed.

He entered a talent show, and sang “Till I waltz again with you”, and was met with loud cheers from the audience. From that day, he was popular. After this, the record company Sun records discovered him, and gave him a contract. Not long after, in 1956, “Rock n’ Roll” was released.

From that point, Elvis Presley lived a glamorous life. He sang on the biggest stages, had the biggest fan base, and the most expensive foods and wines. His career would last for decades, and he did what he loved, singing.

There are dangers when living the American dream, though. His lifestyle choices ended up taking his life.

Invisible man- the book invisible man was released in 1953, and deals with the racism in USA at that time.

1960's: Song: "The American Dream"-MKTO

The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in 1960 in Liverpool. The members in the group was John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star. Their popularity was called "beatlemania". First they built their reputation by playing at clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg. Their first hit was "Love Me Do", in 1962. In the early 1964`s they became international stars. And they lead the "British invasion" of the US marked. From 1965 the Beatles produced 5 albums. And the band broke up in 1970. They achieved big success especially in the US. The Beatles are the best-selling music artists in the United States. They also have the record for most number one hits on the "Hot 100". And they have received a lot of awards too.

1970's: John Travolta: born in New Jersey and worked hard to become an actor. He managed to become world famous through his acting in Saturday Night Fever, Grease and Pulp Fiction.

Movie: Rocky (1976). Makes money collecting debt, is doing part time boxing. When he is chosen to fight against Apollo Creed the Heavyweight champion of the world no one thinks he has a chance. So Rocky starts to train harder than he ever thought he could, and even though he loses the fight he earns a lot of respect from others and himself

1980's: Elon Musk is the founder of Tesla. He has achieved enormous success with many companies and has gained a fortune of approximately 13 billion dollars. He is one of the biggest visionaries in the world and is the founder of SpaceX.

Forrest Gump

Book by
Winston Groom

1990's: Empire state of mind- Alicia keys Jay -Z
Gurbaksh Chahal
Chahal was born in Punjab, India in 1982. He and his family moved to San Jose, California, through obtaining a Visa from a program known as the Green Card Lottery in 1986. They reportedly entered the U.S. with only $25.
After dropping out of high school by the age of 16 he started his own company, ClickAgent, a network based on performance-based advertising, which he turned around and sold it for $40 million less than two years later.
He would later sell his second company, BlueLithium, over to Yahoo for $300 million in cash.
In 2009 he would divert his energy into creating a real-time-based advertising used by social media network giants like Facebook, which would later be branded as RadiumOne.
Today, Chahal continues to launch innovation, the latest called Gravity4, “a high-frequency marketing os” according to its website.
Chahal is worth more $100 million.

2000's: Ashley Qualls, who was born in 1990 established a website in 2004, at the age of 14. The website whateverlife.com soon made her a millionaire, before the age of 18. Ashley Qualls is a great example of the American Dream, because she is a self made millionaire who started from "nothing" and built up to a famous entrepreneur.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
This movie is about a family that is not able to achieve the American Dream, even if they want to. They are losers and will stay losers. The youngest member of the family, Olive, isn't really interested in achieving this dream, but will rather learn how to enjoy life. She also teaches her family a lesson about how to live your life and don't be so busy about being better than you are.

2010's: Maisie Williams
her break through was for her role Arya in The Game of Thrones. She was born in 1997 and her net worth is estimated on being about 1 million dollars. She is a British actress and dancer. She was also in Doctor Who, and the actress is known for being very funny and likeable.

Song: Hall of fame

]]> 2016-11-15 11:33:01 UTC https://padlet.com/raymondjannetta/xkpgdl7or0ic/wish/137669604 Astrid, Emily, Marie, Maria, Villemo and Thea thea_tingstad https://padlet.com/raymondjannetta/xkpgdl7or0ic/wish/137979819 1: We believe it is not only an American dream, but also a dream for every human in general. However, it is described as the American way of life.

2: Yes, it certainly has. Earlier the American dream was fulfilled by working hard and saving money. Now, it's more about earning money and achieving success without having to work as hard.

3: We do not think every US citizen has the same opportunities as others. Some people are born into success and money, and they have an easier time living the American dream than for example homeless people.

4: No, it's not necessary, but it can be a huge motivation to reach your goals. However, the concept of the American dream has changed over time. Today there are already many people living the American dream as it originally was considered. The dream is more comprehensive today than it was before.

5: We define the American dream as the goal of achieving a happy, successful and rich life. It can be the belief that you can do anything if you have the faith and motivation.

PEOPLE LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM?

1960's:
Al Pacino was 20 years in the 1960`s. Today he is a world known American actor and director, and has a Net Worth of $145 million.
We can say that he lives the American Dream, because he reached a materially rich life in America. He is actually not an American, but a child of an Italian immigrant couple. He was born in New York (1940), and developed an interest in acting in his early teens. He struggled in school, and dropped out at an age of 17! Even though he did this, he is successful today. He worked hard and had faith, and therefore he reached the American Dream.

1970's:
William Henry Gates was born in 1955, in the 70's he was a teen and is now an American business magnate, investor, author and philanthropist. When he was 20 years old he co-founded Microsoft along with Paul Allen. Microsoft became the worlds largest PC software company. During his career at Microsoft, gates held the positions of chairman, CEO and chief software architect, he was also the largest individual shareholder until may 2014. He has also authored and co-authored several books.
From 95 to 2007 he was the wealthiest person in america, with a net-worth of 40 billion dollars. Currently he is the wealthiest man in a America with a net-worth of 81.7 billion dollars.
Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution.

1980's:
Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii 1961. Despite being an African-American man, and coming from a broken family, he graduated from the ivy league schools Columbia and Harvard. At Harvard, he met the love of his life, and they got married and had two children. Barack and Michelle worked with the poor to organize their community, and he got elected to the Illinois Senate. Later he got vaulted to the U.S. Senate and then became the president of The United States.

1990's:
Ryan Gosling was born in 1980. He came of age in 1998. Many people may believe he lives the American dream because of all his money and “perfect life”. He has a current net worth of $33 million dollars, and his yearly salary is $7 million dollars.

2000's:

Zac Efron is an actor born in 1987 in California, and he came of age in 2005. He is most known for starring in the movie High School Musical as "Troy Bolton". He has achieved a lot in a very young age, and he is very successful. And a lot of people may think he is living the AD because of his seemingly perfect life, with a lot of money and all of the success.

2010's:
Selena Gomez turned 18 in the year 2010. She has been in the spotlight since she was 11 years old, when she debuted in Barney and Friends. Selena reached the American dream by getting successful with her career as an artist and actor. She has a huge fan base over the entire world and her current net worth is $45 million.

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]]> 2016-11-16 07:06:55 UTC https://padlet.com/raymondjannetta/xkpgdl7or0ic/wish/137979819 Eirik, Sondre, Tobias, Trym and Even filippos_adam https://padlet.com/raymondjannetta/xkpgdl7or0ic/wish/138638330 1: The American dream really is a dream for all men and women all-round the world, but what is interesting about it and what it promotes is, that one country in the world where if you work hard enough you can achieve all your dreams.
2: The American dream as an idea hasn’t changed and I believe it will never change, but instead what changes are the dreams everyday people have for themselves. In earlier years Immigrants whished for a better life, which was the American Dream for that time. But times have changed and today the AD has transformed in to a dream about money, and in many cases fame. A dream for business men and business women.
3: The community in the US is divided in to 3-5 groups. Lower class, lower-middle class, upper-middle class and upper-class. Today the dream mostly applies for people in the upper-class, as the people with a lower standard for living have less chances for education, and connections. So in this way the dream could be dead as people from lower-classes rarely find success. As well in the modern society, there is a different set of expectations from women, and it is hard for them to find the road to success.
4: In such a capitalistic society, where the government doesn’t favor anyone, you only do good by following the American dream. The American dream promotes hard work for the purpose of a better life and this is why it is necessary. A country as big with such a government wouldn’t be able to function without the big work factor, created by the AD.
5: I believe the American dream is the dream each person has for himself, in order to achieve a better life.

60s: Samuel Leroy Jackson, mostly referred to as Samuel L. Jackson, is an American actor born in 1948. He had problems with stuttering in his childhood, and was recommended to try out acting to handle it. He decided to try it out, and as he grew older it became more than a hobby. His career started with a role in the movie "Together for Days" in 1972, but it did not really take off until the 90's. Since that decade, he has played in a lot of famous movies, including: Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, The Incredibles and the three last Star Wars-movies.

70s: A person that describes the American Dream during the 70s in a great way is Michael Jackson, he was born in 1958, and achieved great success from a young age. He was from a lower-class family, but died with a networth of 236 million dollars.

90s: One famous person who came of age during the 90’s, Eminem. Marshall Bruce Mathers III, is an American rapper who went from the slum to the throne of hip-hop music. He started to write when he was a 14-year-old, and shows no stop to date. He was bullied during his childhood, and was raised by only his mother. He fulfils The AD, because of his dedication to not give up. He has been harassed throughout his whole life, because of his skin colour.

00s: Jay Z is the most financially successful rapper in America and came of age in the 20s. He started rapping for small groups after years of singing to the mirror. He worked hard and achieved what he perceived as a better life.

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