Elvis and the Dream Elvis

Elvis and the Dream

Elvis Presley

For those Americans who lived through the Great Depression, many without the basic necessities of life, the accumulation of material goods was more than a sign of financial success, it was a means of gaining self-worth. This can explain the extremely materialistic culture that arose after World War II, people who had gone without for most of their lives were ready for material self-fulfillment. For many of those, like Albert Goldman, the culture of the 1950's, and the fulfillment of its idea of the "American Dream," was indeed a dream come true. People of this time really thought that they could achieve happiness through financial success and the accumulation of material goods. That is why when the younger generation began to see through the falsehoods of the 1950's culture and sought a better way to self-fulfillment, those who were convinced that the "American Dream" equated with personal happiness reacted harshly towards them.

One of the leading figures of the younger generation in the 1950's was Elvis Presley, but he stood out against the traditional view of the "American Dream" and offered the young people of America a different "dream." Instead of simply "playing along," sacrificing family and personal fulfillment for financial success and the ability to purchase new things, Elvis showed that one can refuse to "play along," and that real self-fulfillment comes, not from the accumulation of material goods, but from more personal sources. One can refuse to be a cog in the machine of industry, refuse to put the accumulation of material things above personal fulfillment. Happiness is not found in the latest gadget but in one's heart.

This lesson sparked one of the most influential times in American History: the 1960's. The dream of freedom from preconceived notions of happiness, which Elvis first whispered in the ear of everybody in 1956, had by the late 1960's, blossomed into a time of social awareness. By creating a new way to live the "American Dream," no longer constrained by the traditions of the materialistic past, American society has been expanded, allowing for all Americans to pursue their own version of the "American Dream." And this version can still be the traditional version if one likes, but it can also be whatever makes one happy, without the restrictions of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or anything else.