Typically, when someone refers to the “American Dream”, they are referring to the prospect of America being somewhere to excel and become rich. By definition, the American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or nationality, can be successful in America if they just work hard enough. Many people choose to move to America, following this concept and hoping to escape financial instability, and find happiness. However, the American Dream has been frequently argued to be unattainable and fake, because of the rarity of these rags to riches stories. The American Dream is ultimately a false notion that has repeatedly been proven false in many forms of media, history, and universal lies. 

In entertainment, there are multiple stories in which the American Dream is supposedly achieved but in reality it is fake. Some stories include The Great Gatsby and Zootopia. In The Great Gatsby, we are introduced to Jay Gatsby, who, at first, perfectly embodies the American Dream. He started out as a poor lad, but worked hard to get to where he is now, a rich person who hosts lots of parties. However, he still cannot find happiness, even though he is rich, and he ends up dead by the end of the book. Even though he effectively checks off all the boxes in the American Dream, he still doesn’t find his own happiness. In the movie Zootopia, the main character, Judy, is framed as an idealistic bunny who goes to Zootopia in search of a land where everyone is treated equally, an obvious parallel to America. However, once she ends up Zootopia, she finds that not everything is as it was advertised, with the most prevalent issue being racism, something still unfortunately common in America as well. In her case, the flaw with the American Dream comes in the form of racism. It is important to remember that the American Dream emphasizes that anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or nationality, can become successful. Many books and movies strive to stress the flawed nature of the American Dream through the lens of those looking to achieve it. 

The failings of the American Dream can also be seen throughout American history. In the 1800s, the California Gold Rush enticed many people to leave their homes searching for gold in California. Overnight, California cities found a huge influx of people leaving their poor financial backgrounds to search for gold. However, in the thousands of people who came looking for gold, a very few minority were able to go home richer than they were before. Many of the miners ended up homeless and without any money, because they used up all of their money on mining equipment. The American Dream can be seen even before the Gold Rush. In fact, America was built on colonists reaching for the American Dream. Although it wasn’t called that at the time, the idea was the same: if you reach America, all your dreams will be true. 

The final flaw of the American Dream can be seen in the irony commonly seen with the phrase “golden land of opportunity”. In modern times, America as the “land of opportunity” is more of a joke than it is a real truth. This can most obviously be seen in the satirical show Phineas and Ferb, in which the titular villain recounts traveling to America in his origin story. In it, he recalls “traveling, hoping to reach the golden land of opportunity, but reaching America instead”. Although humorous, it reflects a common sentiment within many contemporaries that America is no longer where all the opportunities lie.