Alejandro Puentes
English 1C
Critical Analysis
The American Dream
Tad’s animated film “The American Dream” is like a documentary showing the way the
government has always been misleading and cornering the American citizen. In the film, the
Americans’ dream was being controlled and taken away from them by the few who control the
flow of money. Through the banking industry, the US government expresses how they can
support people’s financial problem through loans. In the film, Pile took a loan to buy a beautiful
house of his dream. He feels happy every day because of the beautiful McMansion house he
bought, but later his bank manager foreclosed the house because he could not afford large
monthly mortgage payments. Lumpkin and Uhl (1) used hyperbole in “no, no, no, no I don’t
have any more money,” to emphasize how Pile needs his house. Hartman, his old friend, then
visited pile since childhood. Hartman took Pile on a voyage through time and space to show him
how people were trading goods for goods and later money came to replace the exchange of
goods because it was difficult for people to agree on the trade. Gold was first used for the
exchange of products and services. The problem came when securing gold became difficult
because it was valuable and this is when banks came in. Banks save people’s money but lend it
out with interest when they need it. This film shows how people in authority take advantage of
the economic situation of the citizen to exploit them.
The documentary is addressing the issue of the banking system and how the money flows
from the Federal government to banks. On the time and space, Pile realized that his bank is
getting money from Federal Reserve Bank through the Federal government. With all this, Pile
could not see any problem with it, because he does not understand how getting more money can
be wrong. Through Hartman explanation, the film is trying to explore how bank charges massive
income tax to the public to pay back the interest charged by the Federal Reserve. According to
Lumpkin and Uhl (1), Hartman used detail to explain what bank is, “a curious place where both
space, time, and irony exist and yet don’t.” This is the use of Enumeration as a rhetorical device.
The American dream is to have a house and live a simple life where a citizen can get their basic
needs. Through the bank, the Federal government is taking peoples dream away from them, like
Pile who has just lost his house and dog. They gave many people loans which they call free
money, but in a real sense, it is not free because debts are equal to money. Lumpkin and Uhl (1),
used antanagoge as a rhetorical device, “they call it free money, but they are not free” to reduce
the impact of free money. This shows that when people borrow from them, they must pay back
with a lot of interest. Pile’s use of a compliment and criticism to show how Americans suffer is
also a rhetorical expression, “work harder to make less” (Lumpkin & Uhl 1) Houses and
belongings w...
