This document summarizes an article by Andrew Miller about how sports films of the late 1920s portrayed a new "athletic American dream". Miller argues that these films were influenced by the popularity of football at the time and depicted college campuses. He analyzes several films to identify three main factors for their production: 1) the popularity of football, 2) college campuses providing ideal settings, and 3) portraying the elimination of class differences. The summary discusses how Miller uses evidence like film references and quotes to effectively make his argument about how these films reflected cultural trends in America at the time.

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Alex Gaertner
Dr. DiSarro
ENG 101- Section 12
29 February 2012
The New Athletic American Dream as Portrayed in Films
The American Dream can take many different shapes and forms. There are many
different aspects. Andrew Miller looks into the athletic American dream in his article, The
American Dream Goes to College. This dream is evident in many created during the late 1920’s.
While analyzing many films and other authorities, Miller describes to the reader the significance
of this dream. Focusing on understanding the message and arrangement of this article proves
the effectiveness at persuading an audience. These features of the article are important
because they are the critical components that make the article a worthwhile read.
The American Dream Goes to College, written by Andrew C. Miller, discusses the mass
numbers of movies of the sports film genre that were created in the late 1920’s. Miller is
explaining why this happened and what was going in America at the time to influence it. He
believes these films have portrayed a new athletic American dream. With an examination of
many films of this time Miller is able to identify three main factors contributing to their making.
One, football is incredibly popular at this time and Hollywood wants to portray that. Second,
the college campus is an ideal location for this scenario to take place. Lastly, these films display
an elimination of class differences. After going into further detail of these points the audience is

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able to have an understanding of why these films were created in such large numbers and what
was happening in America that influenced it.
Logos is the most important and prevalent rhetorical appeal when trying to persuade an
audience. The main purpose of writing an article is to reveal some type of message. There is a
major difference between just stating a message and describing a message. The audience will
not fully believe or understand the message if the author does not use any evidence. He can
use many different types of evidence to persuade an audience. The least noticeable appeal is
pathos; it is harder to interpret who the article is created for.
The author, Andrew C. Miller, establishes his personal credibility through a small
biography at the very end of the article. The reader learns he is an assistant professor focusing
on media production. While writing this article Miller was also furthering his studies on the
American sports film genre by writing a manuscript for the cultural history. Throughout the
article the reader gets the opinion that Miller is knowledgeable because of the many facts he
uses to support his statements. Miller quotes many quotes many outside sources and then goes
on to further explain how they relate to his message. The author is writing this article to inform
people of a topic that has been overlooked. He believes the 1920’s were a time period in which
many movies were made circling around sports in college and the new “athletic American
dream” they created. This athletic American dream portrays a life in which with a lot of hard
work and determination one can be lead to victory. Throughout the article, Miller is explaining
the reasoning for why so many movies of this genre were made during this time period. He

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intends to answer the question of what cultural moment was occurring in cinema and in
American society at this time.
The use of a lot of specific evidence is very helpful in portraying his specific message.
Andrew Miller uses various forms of evidence to support his claims and further develop his
discussion. He references numerous screen plays of the sports film genre that were made
during the late 1920’s. For example, Miller lists numerous films at one point to show evidence
of his previous statement, “The titles of some films like Spirit of Notre Dame (1931) and Rose
Bowl (1936) loudly announce their football connections as well as their college affiliations…”
(Miller 1227). Miller easily persuades the audience to believe what he is talking about because
he is able to reference numerous films. This furthers the reader’s opinion that Miller is
educated on the subject he is discussing. In addition to referencing movies, Miller also quotes
many other authorities, including sports historians. Another key piece of evidence Miller uses to
persuade the audience is visual aids. Miller includes pictures of a movie poster and a book
advertisement. The use of these visual aids is extremely powerful in persuading the reader
because it is giving them something tangible to look at. The reader is able to make the
connection to real life through the use of real advertisements.
The article is arranged in a very easy to follow format. Miller starts out by laying out the
main points of his article as well as some background information in the first two and half
pages. Miller states the exact question his article is going to answer and then lightly touches on
the three main points of the answer. After the introduction the article breaks into 4 sub
sections going into further detail of the three main points he outlined in the introduction. This

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arrangement helps the reader to easily understand what the main point of each section is. It is
basically laid out in question and answer format, therefore making it simple for the reader to
absorb the most important information.
While reading the article the audience can tell Miller is very passionate about the
subject because of his language. Occasionally he will make statements which indicate his
opinion. For example, while describing the three main points of the article he portrays which
one he favors, “And finally, and most interestingly, these football films repeatedly engage with
issues of class movement…” (Miller 1224). The use of the phrase, “most interestingly”
demonstrates to the audience Miller’s own interest in this specific subtopic. By displaying his
own interest in the information it can make the audience gain more interest because they will
want to continue reading to find out why he believes it is interesting.

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Works Cited
MILLER, ANDREW C. "The American Dream Goes To College: The Cinematic Student Athletes Of
College Football." Journal Of Popular Culture 43.6 (2010): 1222-1241. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.