Created by Kellie Green
The movie starts off with four high school guys who were going to a party. An obnoxious nerd that goes to their school lost his virginity to a beautiful girl that night. The four guys then decided to make a pact to lose their virginity before they graduate and their destination date was prom night. The rest of the movie focuses on how they try to achieve their goal.
All the obstacles they embark upon shows their fantasy-driven hormones. They all fantasize about sex, what to do, and how to do it. For example, all of the guys had different "helpful hints" which they followed. They used many things that would help out when prom night came, including porn magazines, advice from others, the Internet, and an apple pie. These all helped them reach their fantasy the way they wanted it to in the end.
This suggests that the movie American Pie is highly relational to the Fantasy Theme Analysis. The interaction that went on took place in a small group (the pact of guys). This small group created symbolic convergence through their share of the fantasy of sex. The idea of sex is in reference to both their past and their future. Not only are they going to finally get to experience what this thing called sex is all about (which they learned about in the past) but they also get to do this in the future . "Spinning" off of other people's ideas or stories within the group backed all of their hard work and dedication to achieving their goal. Through their experiences, they all became what one could call a community or even their own culture. It is obvious that when they all ended up having sex, it was the greatest thing that happened to the pact.
Just as with any fantasy one embarks upon, these guys went through many obstacles to get what they wanted. From getting caught in the act to being on the internet naked, these guys were embarrassed through the entire movie, just to lose their virginity. Through all of their hard work, they finally got what they wanted (and some of them even got to experience actual love too).
For a review of this movie please click to an AMERICAN PIE website.
My Thoughts on Fantasy Theme Analysis
There have been many instances in my life where I have joined a group where we formed symbolic convergence through a common fantasy. When I was a young girl, my friends and I were crazy about Tom Cruise. We all decided to do everything we could to become "close" to him. Our fantasy about Tom Cruise led us to join his fan club, to watch all of his movies, and to collect as many pictures as we could of him. Sometimes we even went as far as to paste a picture of us next to Tom in his picture!
There are many times in which people are in groups which fantasize about common goals. I used many examples in my application about each group and their future. However, do not get my applications confused with the definition of the Fantasy Theme Analysis. Fantasy Theme Analysis states that a group's fantasy can happen for the future, it can act on the past, or can be based on the outside world.
I hope that my application helped you to better understand the Fantasy Theme Analysis. Do not forget that group fantasies form cohesive groups (symbolic convergence) which is healthy for anyone who is part of a group. The group cohesion can help members to share common opinions and to put a spin on familiar events around the world!
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