“When the family you’re born into [and] the zip code where you’re born determines your destiny, that tears at the fabric of The American Dream,” says one of the characters featured in “The Great American Lie.” A newly released trailer for Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s latest documentary sees lawyers, principals, steelworkers, professors, journalists, and activists sounding off on what’s described as “the issue of today”: the income gap, or as it’s more accurately described, the “income canyon.”
“The narrative is you work hard and you’re rewarded for it,” an interviewee explains. “I see so many people working very hard and not being rewarded with even a basic living wage.”
The doc explores the lack of economic and social opportunities in the U.S. — and what we can do to address this problem.
Siebel Newsom’s previous docs, 2011’s “Miss Representation” and 2015’s “The Mask You Live In,” explore how retrograde, restrictive gender norms negatively impact girls and women, and boys and men, respectively. “The Great American Lie” examines “how a U.S. value system built on the extreme masculine ideals of money, power, and control has glorified individualism, institutionalized inequality, and undermined the ability of most Americans to achieve the American Dream,” according to its official synopsis.
As one character describes, “We create inequalities by what we choose to value and what we choose to ignore.” Another adds, “Politicians always find money for activities that are stereotypically masculine — weapons, wars, prisons.”
“The Great American Lie” will premiere at the San Francisco Film Festival on April 16. No word on a theatrical release yet.
