The Race for Stuff

While watching the clip from 'Far and Away' when the settlers are running and fighting for plots of land, I was reminded of the Wal-Mart employee in New York that was trampled to death among shoppers racing through the doors to get to sale items. The shoppers broke the doors off their hinges in the early morning hours of Friday to get inside the store to begin their blitz for on sale items. Everything from the race to claim property to the disorganization and the onslaught of people is the same. The only difference that stood out for me was the glorifying music playing in the background of 'far and away' as opposed to the chaos of the Wal-mart videos. But 'Far and Away' was a movie meant to glorify the 'American Destiny', and it is very likely that the actual land rush was very similar to the Wal-mart on Friday. The reason these two events so far apart in time are so similar may be that property and land have become something necessary to acquire in order to achieve happiness or success. In the 1800s land and the frontier was associated with a new start to life and, as shown in the Oklahoma land rush and 'Far and Away', everyone was competing and racing for their own plot of land. This race for stuff was repeated last Friday, demonstrating that the idea of moving west has translated into getting the latest and greatest thing. Even if it means trampling and killing a man to get to a set of shoes on sale.