In 2014, American Hustle topped the box office charts and received critical acclaim. The film praised the crooks and even portrayed them as light-hearted "comic characters" (Surowiecki). Americans condemn rapists and murder, but we idolize crooks and often strive to get the most out of life with the least amount of work. People are constantly looking for shortcuts and quick fixes, which exposes us to the downsides of our society. The premise of the film is the idea that people are always interested and believe what they want to believe. This idea is not new in literature and cinema. In Alexander Pushkin's Romantic-era fiction novel The Queen of Spades, "Everyone seeks what he can get" (Sarah Lawall 801) and many characters fall victim to fraud. The Queen of Spades is all about high stakes. card games. The meaning of games can be taken literally and figuratively. “Card games are traditionally considered metaphors for life, where fate decides the outcome” (Pavliscak). The story focuses on Hermann, a Russian officer. A thrifty and prudent man, Hermann spends his nights observing card games from afar rather than participating in them. He learns of an elder countess who knows a series of cards played in sequence that always guarantees success. Hermann becomes obsessed with discovering the secret. He tries to seduce Elizaveta Ivanovna, the poor dependent of the countess, to unravel the mystery of the card. Hermann sneaks into the Countess's house, under the pretext of meeting Elizaveta. Instead, he enters the Countess's room and scares her to death in an attempt to learn the secret of the card. Later, Hermann is haunted by the ghost of the Countess and... middle of paper... hey, I want to believe him. Work Cited "American Hustle". UWIRE text from December 27, 2013: 1. Academic OneFile. Internet. May 4, 2014. Lawall, Sarah. “Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin”. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature.Ed. Sarah. Lawall. 8th ed. Flight. 2. New York: Norton, 2006. 800-01. Print.Pavliscak, Pamela. “The Queen of Spades”. Magill'S Survey Of World Literature, revised edition. (2009): 1. Literary Reference Center Plus. Internet. April 28, 2014. Pushkin, Alexander Sergeyevich. The Queen of Spades. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature.Ed. Sarah. Lawall. 8th ed. Flight. 2. New York: Norton, 2006. 801-20. Print.Rinkus, Jerome J. “The Queen of Spades”. Cyclopedia of Literary Characters, Third Revised Edition (1998): 1. Literary Reference Center Plus. Internet. April 28, 2014. Surowiecki, James. “Make the commotion.” The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 2014. web. April 23. 2014.