Didion frequently refers to the idea of the “golden dream” or “the dream” in these essays, by which she means the American ideal presented to people by Hollywood and the media at large. The golden dream is an extension of the American Dream into an idealized space, where every line spoken is full of meaning and wit and socioeconomic friction disappears. Didion believes that the stories that Hollywood tells have begun to create a feedback loop into real life as people try to emulate what they see on screen. In “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream” this means adopting the intrigue and patter of a thriller, for example. Didion is fascinated by this development, which she sees as a tragic misapprehension.

Images of the counterculture abound in Didion’s collection, and not just in the title essay. Didion is suspicious of the movement, and uses it often as a stand-in for what she sees as a dissolving moral center to American life. She does not paint them as evil, like many at the time did; rather, she sees them as lost and disserved by the previous generation’s goals and ideals. For Didion, countercultural youth represent a canary in a coal mine: something about the country’s character is failing, and these young people are the first victims.