[Barrin92]

>gone are the days of getting an intellectually stimulating and well paying job with IBM/Ford/GE and building your career off it while having a family young,

well for me personally at least that's a great thing. Working for giant company X while living in company town coming home to your labradoodle and your wife with a cooking pot to in hand to watch TV to me is the horror very well portrayed in American Beauty.

Coming out of university I could pick between going abroad, working for a startup, working for a normal business, working from home even, not being looked down for not wanting a family and so on. The liberty I have today is something my parents never had. And sure, with freedom comes disorientation and competition, but to me that's exciting rather than distressing.

[roymurdock]

Yep, definitely we have much more freedom of travel and work. which is great if you embrace and are prepared and ready for that lifestyle. keep doing your thing! another book/movie that addresses the american dream trap is revolutionary road by yates, i'd recommend the book if you like american beauty. but these are both cultural artifacts of a different era IMO