After thinking long and hard about what ideas I could link to Crévecoeur's ideas of America, I decided to focus on one of my favourite TV shows - MTV's 'The Hills'. It focuses on the 'real-life' drama of a group of friends set in Los Angeles over a period of 6 seasons. The main character in the first 5 seasons - Lauren Conrad, leaves Laguna Beach in hope of pursuing a career in fashion design and writing in Los Angeles. This is where my link to Crévecoeur begins, as he and/or his alter ego Farmer James, in a way leave France to discover farming oppurtunities abroad in the new land America. For both these characters, they are leaving what they know to discover new opportunities in a more exciting land. Both these characters are used to what is familiar, what they would call "home", and so both are surprised by the abundance of the new land, and what opportunites are in store for them.
In our seminar we discussed how Crévecoeur's writings were perhaps an early onset of the Hollywood era, where he is adopting the persona of his alter ego - Farmer James, rather than writing about himself. This can also be linked to The Hills, as there was a lot of controversy over the last episode in particular, as to whether the show was real-life, scripted or a bit of both. This can be applied to many of the reality shows aired on MTV, namely The Hills, The City, and Laguna Beach: The Real OC (which also followed Lauren Conrad's life).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8gyXYr1ZAM - The last ever episode of The Hills - the controversial ending.
I have chosen Letter III "What is an America?", as there are also some difference that are clear to point out about the two topics. Crévecoeur sees America as non discriminatory, where there is no space between the rich and the poor, drawn from a quote in the book; "those of the poor: here they rank as citizens" (Page 43). This is most definately not the case when referring to the Hills, as there is an abundance of wealth in the area of Los Angeles that the show is set in, and most definately a class divide is evident.The positivity of both is evident though, as Crévecoeur uses quotes such as "can change the world" (Page 44) - evident of the American Dream, which is also present in The Hills, pursuing their dreams; "smiling country" (Page 47) - this can be used to describe America on Crévecoeur's behalf or Los Angeles if the same were to apply to The Hills. The idea that they will succeed in what they want to do and be who they want to be is the underlying motto in both these mediums.
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