Manohla Dargis Called the Movie the Pursuit of Happyness "A

question 55

Multiple Choice

Manohla Dargis called the movie The Pursuit of Happyness "a fairy tale in realist drag . . . the kind of entertainment that goes down smoothly until it gets stuck in your craw. . . . It's the same old bootstraps story, an American dream artfully told, skillfully sold. How you respond to this man's moving story may depend on whether you find Mr. Smith's and his son's performances so overwhelmingly winning that you buy the idea that poverty is a function of bad luck and bad choices, and success the result of heroic toil and dreams." What idea is being expressed here?

• A) that the American dream is an ideology
• B) that America is a largely class-free society
• C) that poverty is absolute, not relative
• D) that most Americans will inherit their parents' class status
• E) Paul Fussell's living room scale