Jorge Rodriguez
Tu/Th 3:00-4:15
Hum 128
Space Merchants & The American Dream
Since the end of World War 1, American culture has shifted into a consumerist
lifestyle. Americans have a reputation for following the ideals of the “American Dream.”
The American Dream is defined with ideals of success, opportunity, and freedom.
Throughout history, we as a society have focused mainly on the opportunities and the
success that comes about. We have created this idea that without success we are not
capable of obtaining freedom. Without success we are enslaved in our social class, our
poor paying jobs, and in a survival state of mind. Anyone can be defined as successful by
simply accomplishing anything that has not been done by their peers. The way that success
is looked at today correlates with how success has been portrayed in media. We see similar
characteristics of how media portrays upper class success throughout The Space
Merchants.
In Space Merchants we see distinct classes, and we see how the world is ran. Advertising
is key to how the world is controlled. Mitch, the main character, is the perfect image of the
“American Dream.” He has successfully accomplished what was expected of him in within
high ranked social class. Mitch’s purpose in the book is to get the Venus Project going,
which sends people to Venus to get a new world started there. One of the main issues in the
beginning of the book was the doubt of being able to convince people to volunteer to leave
Earth and settle in Venus. The way Mitch approached the doubts showed us that
advertising was key to control the actions of any person, whether or not the person
acknowledged the advertising. Advertising influences the consumer both directly and
indirectly, and Mitch fully embraced that knowledge. Mitch gained a lot of control and
power do to his successful work and it caused him to build some enemies. Mitch was taken
out of his position, and trapped to live as a “consie.” Consies were known as the lower
class. Mitch was forced to live as the lower class, learned new ideals, and managed to
escape and continue on with his Venus Project. It is stated throughout the novel that Mitch
has a sense of responsibility to get the Venus Project to successfully launch in order to
“save the world from over population.”
Mitch uses his mentality of saving the world, to manipulate people to believe that the
