90 day fiancé and the idea of the American dream

Every Sunday night we stay home, grab a big bag of M&M's and watch our all-time favorite TV-show: 90 day fiancé on TLC. The show follows Americans of all ages, gender and race who fell in love with a foreigner (ooo scary). When they decide they want to marry this person, they can apply for the K-1 visa, bring their loved one to the States and have exactly 90 days to get married. Of course you can't really get to know someone in 90 days, and combined with the fact that most Americans are famously oblivious about other cultures, this is hilarious television...

Family members of the fallen ones always have one concern: 'the foreigner' certainly must have other reasons for this marriage. For them it must be the Green card, the one ticket into the land of the free. Or so they believe. And yes, most of the participants are not great at hiding the true reasons for marrying the bald, old, and ugly American man or woman (famous case of Mohamed and Danielle). Especially in the first seasons most of them came from poorer countries in Asia or Africa and were openly dreaming of a wealthier life. They wanted 'The American Dream': a big house, car and money. They wanted to live the 'Desperate Housewives' lifestyle. But the poor fools who fall for these 'love-scams' often don't have money at all (mainly because of 3 previous marriages, makes them the experts right?).

For example, in this season we see a Thai woman and her American fiancé. She expects him to give her parents a dowry worth more than 10.000 dollars, gold jewelry and two water buffalo. She and her family believe that as an American he should be able to afford it. But he actually can't, not even the water buffalo. She doesn't know it yet, but she has a better life in Thailand.

So were is this American dream coming from? The average American really isn't that rich, it's extremely hard for a foreigner to get a job, there's no history, no good healthcare. And the new President is not helping either. Assuming that all foreigners are marrying Americans for the Green Card is therefor an arrogant thought.

Luckily, enter the Europeans on the show to change everyone's mind:

Dutch personal trainer Jesse continues to refuse to ask his American girlfriend Darcy to marry him, but instead gives her a 'promise ring' (I admit that was a little rude) and has no intention to move to the US anytime soon:

'Americans are just overreacting all the time. Everyday is the most amazing day of their lives. It's not real.'

Another good example is the conversation between the American girl Evelyn and her Spanish fiancé David, who just arrived in New Hampshire:

'My friends don't like you because they believe you're marrying me for the Green Card.'

'That is just stupid. I don't have the American dream. I have the Spanish dream.'

'The European dream doesn't exist.'

'Yeah, it does. It's quality of life.'

'Your friends should adjust to my wedding plans.'

'So you think etiquette is more important than the people?'

'Here's a fact for you: the wedding is in America.'

'Here's another fact for you: you're marrying a foreigner. Bon appétit.'

So here we see an American girl that is young and naive and is oblivious about his culture and his dreams, assuming they are the same as hers. And here's a guy who has no intention of staying in the US at all, who misses the Spanish city of Granada with it's architecture, history, culture and good food. Who misses the European mentality already.

The idea that America is the place to be, the place that makes all of your dreams come true, is old-fashioned. 90 day fiancé proves it.

Besides that, it's just a very entertaining show to watch...