Erin Brockovich

The movie I have selected to for this assignment is Erin Brockovich. This movie is not only one of my favorites, it also parallels one of our class themes, “American Dream to American Nightmare”. Although less obvious, it also demonstrates our class theme of “reification”. Because it correlates with two of our fours class themes, I have decided to write on Erin Brockovich.

One of the appeals of Erin Brockovich is that the movie is based on a true story. In a nutshell, Erin rises from being an uneducated impoverished member of society to becoming a productive “rebel for a cause.” When a small town’s water supply is contaminated by a multi-billion dollar corporation, Erin takes a stand on the town’s behalf. She stands up and successfully fights for justice against the corporation. The result is a big win for herself, her firm, and mostly for the residents of Hickley.

The main theme of Erin Brockovich is “American Dream to American Nightmare”; however, in this case there is a twist. Instead of a dream turning into a nightmare as many of this classes examples have portrayed, Erin’s story starts out as a nightmare and soon builds to a dream. Erin is a single, unemployed mother, desperately in search of a job that will pay the bills. She is without question living the “American Nightmare”. Her kids hardly have enough to eat and she runs in to problem after problem. She is financially broke and life isn’t giving her any breaks. Throughout the movie, Erin seems to have a very negative attitude towards educated and rich members of society. Perhaps this is the result of her jealousy and spite at her own social status. Like most people, she wants to live the “American Dream” but she can’t seem to rise above the nightmare.

On the other hand, the people of Hinkley county are in a sense living the “American Dream”, however modest it may be. They are not rich, but they are comfortable. They own homes, they have land, and happy families. That is, until they all become sick. When their water supply is contaminated the entire community falls ill. Family after family is plagued with illness. We begin to realize the fall of the American Dream. Houses, money, and land mean nothing without being healthy enough to enjoy it. The nightmare sets in. A once happy community is now burdened, sick, and dying, rapidly changing from the “American Dream” to the “American Nightmare”.

As Hinkley is turning in to a nightmare, Erin Brockovich’s life is transitioning in to a dream. She has found a paying job with a law firm and personally takes on the challenge of investigating the Pacific Gas and Electric Company and it’s