The ‘Fast and Furious’ Films Are All About The American Dream

The Fast and the Furious franchise shouldn’t have been as wildly successful as it’s been. The first film was based on an original concept with no established fandom, and that original concept wasn’t precisely original. The film canon is full of taut action thrillers involving car chases. The first film also was about a likable gang of drag racers who were stealing DVD players. It’s not exactly high stakes stuff.

Nevertheless, over the last 14 years the Fast and Furious films have gotten under our skin and weaseled their way into our collective hearts like no other franchise. I know people who watch them sincerely, people who watch them ironically, and at least one person who cried when Gisele died. (Okay, I might have misted up a bit myself.) Just this weekend, Furious 7 raked in almost $150 million at the box office. We really, really like these silly movies!

So, what gives? What’s so great about the Fast and Furious films? At their best, they just seem like ridiculously bloated action films that feature two-dimensional characters performing ludicrous stunts for kicks. Why do these movies captivate us? Why do we care about the rotating cast of (almost*) interchangeable actors? I think it’s because these movies are all about the American dream.

The American dream is a phrase that we use to describe the hope that launched this country. It’s the idea that no matter your background, if you work hard and behave honorably, this nation will reward you with freedom, wealth, and prosperity. While the Fast and Furious movies aren’t as overtly patriotic as, say, a movie about a war hero, they follow a group of underdogs who through risk, reward, and sacrifice, find themselves at the top of heap.

The very first film features a group of rebellious upstarts who want to exist outside the rules imposed upon them. They break the law to earn money, get a better life, and to partake in a specific culture. Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel), Letty, Mia, and their crew are all about self-determination. The man, as represented by undercover cop Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) and the rest of the LAPD, are trying to push them down. This is probably why we are rooting for them and why Brian starts to admire the crew. In a crude way, Dom and his crew aren’t dissimilar from the revolutionary war heroes who protested “no taxation without representation” and who wanted to break the laws that bound them to make their own fortune.

Speaking of Dom’s crew… Over the course of seven films, The Fast and the Furious has established itself as one of the few major motion picture franchises devoted to diversity and representation of minorities. By the time Fast & Furious 6 hit theaters, our main team of “good guys” include Vin Diesel (who calls himself “of ambiguous ethnicity”), Paul Walker (a former Mormon), Latina Michelle Rodriguez, The Rock (who is Samoan), African Americans Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson, Korean star Sung Kang, Israeli actress Gal Gadot, and Spanish starlet Elsa Pataky. That’s impressive when you remember that The Avengers’ idea of diversity is Scarlett Johansson. The Fast and Furious’ international cast works because America is a melting pot. Everyone in the audience can see themselves — and their dreams — in one of the characters.

As the series went on, it shifted from being about crime sprees and drag races into being about implausible heists and fighting bad guys. As the lead characters applied their cunning and their skills to reach insane levels of success, they stopped being motivated by ambition. It was no longer about the score, and it wasn’t about living outside the law. It was about doing what was right and taking care of the family. In short, the characters underwent the same transformation that America did. We went from thirteen colonies in rebellion, to a young nation, to an international power player. Likewise, the crew left the streets of Los Angeles and went to exotic international locales. They weren’t the outlaws anymore; they were the ones tasked with dolling out justice. Such is the price of success: responsibility.

Finally, the most American thing about these films are the cars themselves. The automobile was born in the United States and has become inexorably linked to our modern culture. With every film, we see our heroes and heroines find new ways to harness the power of the car in drag race battle.

It’s bizarre how much these action films inspire us, but it’s all down to our primal desire to see the underdog win. It’s the American dream at 150 mph.

*It does seem that the original four stars, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster, give the films the most cache and emotional heft.

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Photos: Everett Collection