American History and Film Take-Home Final (Fall 2008)

The final, which should be typed and double-spaced, will be due Friday, August 8th, in class between 12:45 and 2:20 p.m. You can either turn this final in during class or write the final in class on Friday, the last day of class. In order to answer this question you must develop a thesis and use supporting arguments and concrete evidence to support your thesis and larger conclusions. If you do not understand the question and would like help outlining your essay, or want me to read and comment on rough drafts, come see me during my office hours or make an appointment to see me at another time.

Worth 100 points, your essay should be between 4 and 6 pages long. I will not penalize you if your essays are longer than 6 pages.

1 . What do the films The Graduate (1967), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Wall Street (1987), and American Beauty (1999) tell us about the major problems and dilemmas facing individual Americans from the 1960s to the 2000s? All of these films examine the conflicts between individual freedom and social and cultural conformity, between material success and personal and individual happiness, and between traditional morality and modern immorality. How do these characters' struggle for individual identity, material success, and personal happiness shed light on the central contradictions of middle-class American culture at the end of the twentieth century? Despite their darkness and despair, do these movies offer individual Americans hope for their lives and future?