Scarface and American Dream

The Film Scarface can be directly compared to the myth of the American Dream. The myth of the American Dream can be thought to be the coming of power in society through monetary gains and political positioning. Scarface is a gangster movie in which the main character Tony Montana tries to reach his dream of uncanny power and wealth. Tony’s belief also shared with the common man is that after obtaining all the power in the world one would live in happiness ever after. The director of the movie portrays this belief by showing the life lived by a true gangster, Tony.

First and foremost, the director shows a classic example of a gangster working his way up literally from rags to riches. Tony starts out as a body guard for one of the big mobsters, and quickly learns that to get to the top in the liquor you have to step all over people. The director correlates this advancement in status to the American tradition of finding any way possible to get where you want in life. As Tony’s character matures during the movie he gets greedier and more savage like. His motto was the “World is Yours” and he wanted to take its meaning to the extreme. He climbs his way to the top of the top, surpassing his former bosses and he believes that he is on a pedestal alone.

Finally, the director puts the nail in the coffin, when he shows that money and power alone will lead to corruption and unhappiness. He does this by using Tony as a prime example of someone trying to achieve the American Dream. When Tony finally reaches a substantial level of power and wealth, pressure builds up and he gets easily angered and things begin the downward climb. Its first starts when he walks over his own partners that were loyal to him from the beginning. Things finally unravel when everyone around him is dead, including his beloved sister. He realizes that the people around his were key to his