Profane Parables: Film and the American Dream

An examination of three films that subvert the central tenet of the myth of the American Dream, the gospel of unfettered success. American Beauty, Fight Club, and About Schmidt function like Jesus’ parables, indicting the American Dream as a meaningless enterprise that is existentially, ethically, and aesthetically bankrupt. Presenter Dr. Rindge illustrates the religious function of these films as profane parables of sacred subversion.