Joan Didion began her essay discussing how John Wayne was her childhood prince she imagined sweeping girls by their feet. We notice that  through her personal experiences with him, she notices change in him. This change into action movies, manly parts, and the south cali cowboy lifestyle of John Wayne had her dream quite twisted. I feel she no longer adored him for being the guy that would one day come and sweet talk her into falling in love with him, but rather for the cowboy life form out west. When she meet with her infatuation for dinner all these years later, her dream had become reality but not in the sense she hoped. Her facing what she had imagined John to be was a trip, because he wasn't the guy that she had sworn in her dreams.

Will Smith's performance in the film "The Pursuit of Happiness" had an impacting effect on me as i saw his character do what he had to do to provide for his son. Though his wife left him for his earlier failure, though he became homeless with a son, though he didn't have the tools and chances to become successful, he still went out to fight for his opportunity. His hard work had lead him to the chance to become a stock broker, where he made it big. It might just be the classic rags to riches story that gets me but i feel he had such a great drive to become successful for his son.