ABSTRACT
By the late 1970s, motion pictures were an increasingly risky investment. Hollywood was undergoing significant systemic changes, the scale of which had not been seen since the advent of synchronized sound or the end of vertical integration. This chapter examines the changing shape of the American Dream throughout the 1980s and much of the 1990s as reflected in a number of popular film comedies. It focuses on particular themes that were circulating within the public discourse at the times that these movies were produced and distributed. The chapter then examines the ideological content of select comedic films in order to determine their contributions to these broader national conversations. It looks at the gendered American Dream and the debate about women's role in the workplace as manifested in films such as 9 to 5 and Mr. Mom, which offer two very different perspectives of this same basic argument.
