Out of all the fifty videos, Fire In Dreamland by Rinne Groff caught my attention because the title was surprisingly connected to the theme of my narrative essay. In this video, a man portrayed by Jefferson Mays introduces his movie script based on a tragic event happened in 1911 — the destruction of the Dreamland, an amusement park located in Coney Island.

The movie begins with the fire breaking out in the Dreamland. A circus man, however, still takes his animals to perform on the stage where no one is watching, in hope that God would put down the fire. The star of the movie, a lion named Black Prince disobeys the circus man and rushes out the tent. His fur then catches the flame and he is later captured and killed. After the description of his movie, the man then states that “this is America” and asks for one hundred thousand dollars to help him to make this movie.

My favorite part of this video is the irony of the last line. The making of the movie is basically this man’s American Dream, but the last line reveals that no dreams can be achieved without the support from reality, in this case, money. I believe that most people would agree to it like I do, but what makes this video especially interesting is that the message is deliver in such a subtle yet ironic way. I hope you enjoyed it!