The American Success Myth On Film, Authored By Babson Prof Julie Levinson, Explores American Attitudes Toward Success, Work, And Social Class

WELLESLEY, Mass., Aug. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Success Myth On Film, authored by Babson College Film Professor Julie Levinson, looks at movies as bearers of modern myths and explores how they shed light on the ideological contradictions at the heart of the American idea of success.

The American Success Myth on Film explores the enduring appeal that the success myth exerts on the country's collective imagination and highlights the central role that films have played in the ongoing cultural conversation about success and work in America. The book's central ideas are highly pertinent to the ongoing political conversation about success and work in America.

Levinson's detailed analyses of a range of movies from the late 1920s to the present are grounded in the history of rags-to-riches tales and the social function of myth. Her observations reveal the persistent, but sometimes hidden, attitudes about success that underlie our American self-image, public discourse, and personal ideals.

Chapter Titles

• Top of the World: Cultural Narratives, Myths, and Movies
• Moving Up and Moving On: Mobility and the American Success Myth
• Work and its Discontents: The Corporate Workplace Movie
• Success Reassessed: Ambitious Women/Midlife Men
• Hallelujah, I'm a Bum: The Glorification of Unemployment

About The Author
Julie Levinson is a film professor at Babson College, USA. She has been the film curator for several organizations including the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and New England Foundation for the Arts. Her publications have focused on genre films, gender representation, and metafictive narrative. Faculty page: http://www.babson.edu/faculty/profiles/pages/levinson-julie.aspx

For more information about The American Success Myth On Film, visit:

Palgrave Macmillan http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=546627 or

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/The-American-Success-Myth-Film/dp/0230363369

About Babson
Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds(tm). The College is a dynamic living and learning laboratory, where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society -- while at the same time evolving our methods and advancing our programs. We shape the leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to create economic and social value. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought and Action(r) as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value. For information, visit www.babson.edu.

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Media Contacts:
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SOURCE Babson College