Pursuit of the American Dream in Catch Me If You Can and Blow

Pursuit of the American Dream in “Catch Me If You Can” and “Blow”

“Catch Me If You Can” is a true story based on a man who cheated large corporations out of their money, after growing up in a small town in poverty. “Blow” is very similar in that it is based on the true events of a man who worked the drug cartel for millions of dollars, after growing up with his parents in the slums. The main characters in these films both use two different schemes to accomplish the same goal, which is the “American Dream,” after being far from it during childhood.

Based on the true story of Frank Abagnale Jr, “Catch Me If You Can” tells of a successful con artist who managed to pass himself off as several identities for personal gain. During high school, Frank Abagnale Jr. idolized his father, who was constantly in trouble with the IRS. When his parents separate, he runs away to Manhattan with $25 in his pocket. Frank is determined to regain his dad's losses and get his parents back together. Just a few years later, the FBI tracks him down in France. He's extradited, tried, and jailed for passing more than $2,000,000 in bad checks. Along the way, he had successfully posed as a Pan Am pilot, a pediatrician, and an attorney. Also, from nearly the beginning of this life of crime, he's been continuously pursued by an FBI agent, Carl Hanratty.

George Jung is the son of a struggling small business owner. Seeing his family struggle to make ends meet and failing, George promises himself never to share a similar fate. Moving to California, he starts his own pot pushing operation in which he finds himself at both success and downfall. In prison, he meets a cellmate who introduces him into a partnership to the new market of co...

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...men cheated the system and gained large amounts of profit while at it.

Along with their sudden rise to power, both characters have their own downfalls. Frank Abagnale Jr. doesn’t have it so bad, as instead of serving his sentence behind bars, he works with the man who caught him. To this day he helps find over 80% of the fraudulent checks being passed through the system. George Jung is in jail and is coming out in the near future. All in all, both characters have made large impacts on the American Society, as they are famous for their devious actions. These men both grew up in poor areas where their family constantly had struggles, and instead of getting passed it, both tell themselves never to be like that again. Both men had the right idea to make it in life, but went about it in different ways, which were very similar, and produced the same outcome; punishment.