Anna Gassett

History 1320
The Pursuit of Happiness

What in this video particularly surprised or interested you?

It’s interesting to watch this video and think about how the “military industrial complex”
(6:55) has shaped the world we live in today, and the American economy, particularly when we
think about the dollars involved with our entrance/departure from Afghanistan. It’s frustrating
how much capitalism led to an unmitigated boom that, with today’s hindsight, you have to ask
yourself, was it worth it? I suppose in a way, yes, but the consequences are so complex that it’s
difficult to unpack. Also interesting to think about our current supply chain issues in relation to
the factory boom of the post World War 2 era.

Did the book and the video treat the topic similarly, or differently? How so?
I felt like I had a much more personal connection with the video, and I think it’s because
of how it was structured. While the book did a fine job of laying out all of the chronological
information of the time, it reached me more as a student than as an individual. The approach that
the video took seemed much more personal, and it made me imagine what my life would have
been like as a 20 year old white woman from St. Louis. How would I have dealt with hardship?
Prosperity? Would I have friends that were faced with tribulations far more dangerous than my
own? I think the video made me feel more like these people were flesh and blood, where the
book, though informative, was just that.

Did you enjoy the video? Why or why not?

Honestly, while I think the video was well made and informative, it was certainly quite
frustrating to watch. It made me happy to see some of the feminist writers, like Betty Friedan
(14:50), challenge the “cult of the domestic goddess”. It pushed for more for the
women/housewives in America and asking for more independence. Now, it’s tricky to celebrate
the wins of the white middle class woman in the context of this video, as I have to reckon with
what African American women, like Rosa Parks, were dealing with at the time in comparison.
(21:42) So, while its good to get out of my comfort zone, it certainly made me upset throughout
the video to think about this cultural and economic boom in America being punctuated by
segregation and misogyny.