Media and the American Dream

I thought this class was very interesting. The idea of the American Dream and how it relates to media. I think it is true that the upper class does have control over our lives because at the end of the day they are the ones with money to spend. This relates to the American Dream because people from other countries coming to the US in hopes of the well-known American Dream only see the bright side. They don't see that not everyone achieves that dream or that the top 1% control everything and in turn push us to believe what they want us to believe. The lifestyle they see in movies is just made to make money, it does not represent everything American's believe or stand for. Another interesting idea was that BET started branding people rather than the African American community after Viacom bought the network. This brought the conversation of money being the overall motivation and that Viacom is just trying to make a profit, not keep the idea of black heritage. This makes me wonder if BET is supposed to represent the black community or be directed towards it. I think there is a difference between the two because for example Tyler Perry shows are about African Americans and is watched by mostly that demographic as well. Music videos with black rappers is mostly focused on them and their posse, which tend to fall into the same demographic, but is geared towards white people as well as black. This idea is very important because not only are the top 1% trying to tell us what to think but also telling who to think what.