Happiness is Prozac: Changing Concepts of the American Dream

Americans used to be entertained by a flying nun and a talking horse; we are so sophisticated now watching people marry strangers and eat bugs for money (Degeneres 2003). Life has gone from Father Knows Best to stay-at-home dads (Maasik 27). God favors us. We are a fast food nation; McDonalds and Taco Bell have replaced home-cooked meals. The logo Starbucks makes us feel socially accepted after paying $4 for a urine-sized cup of coffee. More money is spent funding research for erectile dysfunction than a cure for Alzheimer’s; so a bunch of old men will have erections, but because of the Alzheimer’s, won’t know what they are used for (Johnston 2006). American women see their plastic surgeons more than their husbands; fake boobs are like Nazis: they don’t laugh, they don’t smile, they are just hard and angry looking. When a patient asks, “Doctor, what are these lumps under my eyes?!” and the doctor replies “Those are your tits Madame,” plastic surgery has gone too far. Books and writings are now Shakespeare with a strap-on (Williams 2002). More people vote for who they want kept on American Idol than who will be running our country (Johnston 2006). Procrastination is the American way (Degeneres 2003) along with wealth, obesity, and materialism. Now we have ADHD, OCD, ADD---all these three to four letter abbreviations because we don’t have the time or patience to say the whole word; in other parts of the world, we don’t have all these subtypes of diseases, we just have crazy people (Degeneres 2003). Kindness is considered sexual harassment. Monogamy is laughable, and divorce rates are over fifty percent. Only thirty to forty percent of Americans reach Paiget’s formal operational stage; only thirty to forty percent of Americans can think abstractly and apply the abstract concepts to concrete examples (Johnston 2006). We now have Go-Gurt…yogurt for people on the go; was there a mobility problem with yogurt? (Degeneres 2003) Individuality has come full circle and made us all the same by trying to be different. Only in the United States is anal floss (or as women like to refer to them as to make them feel sexier: thongs) a marketable product. Coca-Cola is the American beverage. Barbie is not just a toy anymore; it is a style for young girls (Maasik 276). I wonder if Hitler would have succeeded if he would have made a doll of his ideal person; would Jews run to buy blonde hair dye and blue contacts? Cell phones are the new diaphragm. Commercials used to be six minutes long telling us how good cigarettes and alcohol were. We are a Prozac nation (Degeneres 2003). We don’t have anxiety like we believe we do; go follow some pigmy around that is being chased by a lion…now that’s stress; you won’t find a pigmy on Zoloft (Degeneres 2003). The city-upon-a-hill nation has been burned to the ground and it is a race to trample everyone to be on top. So many Americans are so obese that South West Airlines makes overweight passengers purchase two seats in order to accommodate their “horizontally challenged” ness (Williams 2002). Laziness is king, morals are overrated, and Chihuahuas are accessories that defy all of Darwin’s rules of natural selection. Through Charles Dickens’ detailed portrayal of characters—Sydney Carton, and Lucie and Charles Darnay, Dickens challenges the superficiality and self-centeredness of the American Dream by highlighting redeeming selfless qualities and condemning self-absorbedness.

There is much debate between authors on whether or not Sydney Carton was portrayed by Charles Dickens as the Jesus Christ figure in the novel A Tale of Two Cities. “Moral conversion lies at the heart of many Dickens novels” (Hardy 39) and is most prevalent in the character of Sydney Carton and “we know that rebirth through death [is] the essential Christian paradox” (Marshall 46) however, Sydney Carton did not resemble Jesus Christ in all aspects. Jesus Christ lived a humble and good natured life up until his crucifixion. Sydney Carton on the other hand was an alcoholic and a bad natured man. Sydney Carton did not heal the sick, change the world, or save the followers of God, yet Sydney Carton is compared repeatedly with Jesus Christ because of the ultimate sacrifice. Therefore, Sydney Carton embodies the American Dream. Americans are lazy corner cutters who have gone from prestigious producers to gluttonous consumers. Americans dream no longer of building a foundation on nothing, but vegging on a couch and waiting to hear those seven lucky numbers called on the television screen. Sydney Carton lived a sinful life like most modern Americans indulging in sex, alcohol, pride, materialism, and gluttony. Sydney Carton was considered “saved” by his American readers for sacrificing his life so that Lucie Manette and Charles Darnay could live happily ever after and most American’s believe this because of his ultimate sacrifice which in Sydney Carton’s case was a quick fix to erase all the sinning he did earlier in life. Therefore Sydney Carton is the American dream…live a sinful life and procrastinate and later right before death, live a virtuous life and add in a good deed to be saved.

Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities was transformed into a movie in the year 1935 under the direction of the infamous Jack Conway. The movie was practically identical to the text, except for a few key differences surrounding actor Ronald Coleman’s character, Sydney Carton. The original novel, A Tale of Two Cities, basically revolves around and is the story of Dr. Manette. In the trailer of the movie A Tale of Two Cities, the plot summary reads as follows:
An elaborate adaptation of Dickens' classic tale of the French Revolution. Dissipated lawyer Sydney Carton defends emigre Charles Darnay from charges of spying against England. He becomes enamored of Darnay's fiancée, Lucie Manette, and agrees to help her save Darnay from the guillotine when he is captured by Revolutionaries in Paris (Maasik 563).

Director Jack Conway’s approach put Sydney Carton at the center focal point of his movie. In the opening credits, well-known actor Ronald Coleman’s name was listed first. Also, in Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens made no mention of Sydney Carton being affiliated with the Christian religion. Sydney Carton was a drunk with no intention of sobering up his ways. Also, blatantly obvious is the concept that “Carton and Darnay’s fates [were] entwined from their first meeting” (Gross 22). Sydney Carton was an individual who did not particularly care for Charles Darnay despite the fact that he looked virtually identical. In Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton states:
…and at the end of the same day Carton stares at his own image in the glass and upbraids it: ‘Why should you particularly like a man who resembles you? There is nothing in you to like: you know that. Ah, confound you!...Come on, and have it out in plain words! You hate the fellow’ (Dickens 22).

Sydney Carton’s only reason for making the ultimate sacrifice was to be remembered fondly by the lovely Lucie Manette since he could not be with her because she chose Charles Darnay. However, in director Jack Conway’s interpretation of A Tale of Two Cities on Christmas Eve, Sydney Carton attends a Catholic Church service with Lucie Manette. Jack Conway was trying to portray Sydney Carton as more of a religious figure to make a parallel between Jesus Christ and Carton so that he could win the hearts of many giving up his life for Charles Darnay to live with the love of his life: Lucie Manette. Then, near the end of the movie, Carton was not seen highly intoxicated and alluded to the fact that Sydney Carton was changing his ways by sobering up. Then, director Jack Conway completely leaves out the conversation between Sydney Carton expressing his feelings toward Lucie Manette with their conversation as to make Sydney Carton seem more like a virgin as Jesus Christ was made out to be. And lastly, before Sydney Carton was seen going to make his ultimate sacrifice, Carton is juxtaposed with a Bible verse reading “I am the resurrection and the life” hanging on the wall making his seem like he was following Jesus Christ’s example and that was his motivation and not self gain in the eyes of Lucie. Carton is also guilty peering into his half drank glass of liquor almost seeming for the first time like he is regretting his past choices and that life changes and reform were in store for the future.

Jack Conway was born in Graceville, Minnesota USA. Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire in England. Charles Dickens was not American; Director Jack Conway who portrayed Sydney Carton as a reformed Christian, however, was American. The interpretation of Sydney Carton based on Charles Dickens’ novel of Sydney Carton was twisted by Jack Conway transforming Sydney Carton into the American Dream of goodness instead of the self-absorbed drunkard he really was. So, director Jack Conway, being an American himself, made Sydney Carton to be a Jesus Christ figure more than Charles Dickens who was not an American. Director Jack Conway added in original scenes that were not written in the original text A Tale of Two Cities to highlight Sydney Carton as a Christian to make his ultimate sacrifice perceived more in following in Christ’s footsteps and solidifying him as the American Dream. Wearing her blonde hair of innocence is good-hearted Lucie Manette. Lucie Manette’s description in the novel is exactly the American Dream of beauty. Her blonde hair, blue eyes, and Barbie-doll-like features allure the American readers and other characters in the novel to be engaged in her every action. However, Lucie Manette does not fall into the category of the American Dream’s characteristic of self-absorbedness, but shows sacrifice and true unconditional love. Lucie Manette leaves the life she has become accustomed to in order to investigate the possibility of her father being alive. Once her father was released from the Bastille, after being imprisoned for fourteen years and Lucie believing he was dead all this time, Lucie sacrifices her needs and life style to take care of her recalled-to-life father.

Then Lucie Manette and Charles Darnay fall in love. However, lawyers C.J. Stryver and Sydney Carton also entertain an infatuation with Lucie Manette. Americans are usually not faithful types; cheating is second nature and truthful openness between couples during relationship breaks, fights, and even functioning relationships is non-existent when it comes to the subject of unfaithfulness. According to TeenStatics, 74% of Americans admit that they have cheated in a relationship or on a spouse (Boehm 2006). Lucie Manette had every opportunity, especially when Sydney Carton expressed his feelings to Lucie to forget about her relationship and potential with Charles Darnay and indulge in her primal instincts, yet she acted against the way most Americans would in staying true to Charles Darnay. “Vital to Dickens was [this] idea of pure love” (Stoehr 17). Her pure love and sacrifice were contradictive of the American Dream highlighting redeeming selfless qualities and condemning self-absorbedness like Sydney Carton’s action.
Charles Darnay also does not embody the characteristics of the American Dream by sacrificing his enormous amount of wealth and prestigious family name for true love and rejecting his Evremonde family. Charles divorces the Evremonde family because of their terrible treatment of the peasants and relocates under the name Charles Darnay. The Marquis St. Evremonde is the American Dream. The Marquis St. Evremonde has an abundance of money and likes to brag by showcasing his wealth in how he dresses, travels, and lives his day to day life. The Marquis St. Evremonde is pampered by his meticulous servants. There is one scene in Jack Conway’s interpretation that is consistent with Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities text, where the Marquis St. Evremonde is seen in his bed chamber and his seven servants are dressing him for bed, brushing his teeth for him, and even tucking him into bed. The Marquis St. Evremonde in the text and movie runs over and kills a small child with his carriage and has no remorse or compassion and throws the father of the child who is holding his stomped-to-death infant a few coins to compensate for his loses. The Marquis St. Evremonde is American ways of laziness. The Marquis St. Evremonde embodies the idea of having other people do things for him and other catering to his every need. The Marquis St. Evremonde has the wealth that every American dreams of and the laziness that consumes the American lifestyle because of it. The ideal image that Americans strive for is the Marquis St. Evremonde and Charles Darnay wanted nothing to do with that image and did not want to be affiliated with slothfulness uncompassionate indulgence in wealth.

Americans are also the biggest hypocrites; we claim to have separation of church and state…so why is “in God we trust” written on the dollar bill? If there is separation, why is it illegal for homosexuals to marry? Marriage is a religious practice and union, but the Bible claims homosexuality is wrong and marriage is controlled by the government. Is every other place in the world besides America making a mockery of us? America was built on laws, rules if one will, that makes our country great. In North Dakota “It is illegal to lie down and fall asleep with your shoes on” and “beer and pretzels can't be served at the same time in any bar or restaurant,” and “It is legal to shoot an Indian on horseback, provided you are in a covered wagon.” In Utah “No one may have sex in the back of an ambulance if it is responding to an emergency call.” And, in the great state of Texas, “It is illegal for one to shoot a buffalo from the second story of a hotel,” “It is illegal to sell one’s eye,” and “Up to a felony charge can be levied for promoting the use of, or owning more than six dildos” (Maasik 433). “Even Caligula is like ‘what the fuck are you doing?’ What’s next: Hannibal Lecture having his own cooking channel?” (Williams 2002). “We stole countries with the cunning use of flags. Just sail around the world and stick a flag in. "I claim India for Britain!" And they're going "You can't claim us, we live here! All Five hundred million of us!" "Do you have a flag? ... No flag, no country!” (Izzard) It doesn’t scare me that Bush waved at Stevie Wonder, but that billions of dollars are spent in national defense and Bush almost chokes to death from a pretzel; our president, the man who is competent enough to be running our country, almost dies from snack food! And we thought Canadians are strange with their funny accents and silly currency called the Looney. Canada is like a loft apartment over a really great party (Williams 2002). God bless the USA.