Here are some of your choices for “makin’ it” stories:
Oliver Twist/ Harry Potter—both orphans who make good—picked on but stay nice
Babe—“overcomes farmyard prejudices, his own ignorance, and all expecations”
Christmas Carol—one of the classic redemption stories which reassures us that it is never too late to mend
It’s a Wonderful Life—George Bailey walks away from money his whole life, but is almost literally showered with it at the end.
African-American and immigrant versions:
The Jeffersons—“We’re moving on up”
Trading Places
American Tail
Sports:
Hoosiers--underdog sports story
Jerry Maguire—sports and getting rich
Cinderella: upward social mobility, wealth, reward for being “nice”;
Pride and Prejudice—19th century Cinderella
Pretty Woman—Cinderella for the 1990s
Story of Fantasia Burrino(?)—winner of American Idol—Cinderella for this decade
Devil Wears Prada (interesting twist in that she has an evil fairy god-mother and walks away from “success” at the end, choosing an ordinary guy prince Charming)
Survival against all odds:
Cast Away
City of God
novel about the Holocaust
Some remarks and quotes:
“We like underdog stories”
we feel like we could do it (whatever it is) too
“even though the story is a cliché, as corny as it sounds it inspires me every time”
“the story gives people a sense of hope”
“rags to riches”
“the story shows you can achieve anything”; the character “never gives up on himself”
the story gives the “assurance that every good deed and every good person will be rewarded in their lifetime”
“the Knight in shining armor’
“the correlation is simplified for children: tribulations ultimately lead to rewards”
she is rewarded for “being just who she was”
“Making it does not happen in one day. People need to work hard and be very determined in order to succeed” –this is clearly one very popular and powerful version of the story, and contrasts with the Fairy Godmother version in which the sweet person is magically rewarded for being so sweet (and pretty);
“he learned to survive on his own and is reunited with his family in the end”
“in American, anything can happen”—how many stories are based on that premise?
“I feel a true success story is when someone beats a stereotype and doesn’t let anyone affect them and their goals”—often the story of the working-class character who proves him or herself.
Several of you mentioned harrowing stories of survival against all odds, for example during the Holocaust, or Brazil’s favelas. These are stories of human survival and endurance—they emphasize the human ability to keep going and not give up, even in the face of the most devastating circumstances. Obviously, these are very different from fantasies of the “Pretty Woman” type.
Certain common elements: characters who are likeable, who remind us of ourselves—we identify with their problems, or feel like we could do what they do;
underdog stories; we care about their struggles and are happy when they finally succeed—and they seem to deserve their success;
Different ideas of what it means to be “rich”—spiritual vs. literal wealth—“a story of a man realizing that even without money, a man can be rich”
Stories where the child breaks away from the demands of the family, discovers and asserts his or her own desires, finds true self.
Final Comment raised by Pamela:
It is worth pondering if at least some of these stories emphasize reward after suffering in order to assert that the universe is fair or so that they can portray wealth and privilege as a reward—as a way of offsetting guilt over the unequal distribution of goods in the world.
2 comments:
I enjoy the link to pop culture that you have presented here. I can think of numerous stories where money and material wealth do not provide happiness, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Pretty in Pink - where the love interest has all the happiness that being a cool kid in high school provides yet is not happy until finding the outcast and loving her. It is difficult to muddle through the social system of the 18th century, until one realizes that Pamela is a rags to riches story. The 'makin it' theme is so popular because it dispells the idea of set social roles and opens the door to the possibility of social mobility.
I really like your point that the rags to riches theme dispels the idea of a frozen social hierarchy and holds out the possibility of social mobility: it also strikes me that these stories will only be popular among a wider culture or a specific social class that values social mobility. An aristocratic reader who disliked Pamela called her the "joy of the Chambermaids of all nations." Members of hereditary elites (without at least a veneer of meritocracy) are likely to condemn stories like this, in terms very much like Fieldings' in Shamela. As far as popular culture goes, I would only add that the "makin it" story arguably has become not only a favorite American story but one of the central myths of our society.
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