Brooklyn Movie Analysis

This essay examines how the film, Brooklyn, directed by John Crowley, adapted from Colm Toibin’s novel of the same name, portrays the American dream, one of the main themes through the storyline and film techniques. The story’s settings clearly reveal how the protagonist chases the American dream. Brooklyn shows a young woman, Eilis Lacey, immigrating to the financial capital of the United States of America, New York, from her small hometown in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland for better financial and economic opportunities in the 1950s. Along with the 1950s came the peak amount of people immigrating to the USA to chase the American dream, as it was financially flourishing after victory in the second world war. This is because the unemployment rate remained low as ever, wages were high, while inflation also remained low during this decade. With more money going to American workers, came more spending, ending up in a booming economy. The U.S. dollar became the world’s major reserve currency. It was financially, the most powerful country in the world. The American dream stemmed from this time, the ambitious ideal that equality of opportunity is available to every American, so any dream or aspiration can be reached with enough hard work. Therefore, as the film is set in the 1950s, showing Eilis immigrating to Brooklyn, New york, it is imminent that she would chase the American dream. Eilis’ quiet hometown in Enniscorthy has no opportunity to succeed if any, especially