1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述）

american dream is a type of belief throughout the whole american history and it also is epitome of americans’ cultural characteristics. american dream is the continual topic in the american literature, especially in the field of american movies.

with the development of media studies and the emergence of media sociology, more and more people would like to express american dream in the hollywood movies. most of hollywood movies depict the contemporary american social life, thereby implying the connotation of american dream. american dream has become a hot spot in the area of humanities and social science in recent years. besides, american movies have always been a promoter and propaganda platform of american culture, especially the american dream. they can show the united states in the aspects of society, politics, economy, ideology, culture and other characteristics. besides, increasing people would like to know about the connotation of american dream through direct ways, just like the hollywood movies in the 21th century.

the contents of american dream are different in different periods on account of the influences by different historical events. indeed, american dream, as the core values of the united states, has its unique and emphasized point at different historical stages.

2. 研究的基本内容与方案

The thesis will mainly focus on the analysis of the changes of the American Dream in the different times. It will be discussed in the following parts: First will be the introduction. Then some information about the roots of American Dream will be demonstrated. This brief introduction would help with a general acquaintance of the roots of American, which contributes much to the next reading. Third part is about basic content of The Great Gatsby and the American Dream reflected by this film. The next part will illustrate the story of The Pursuit of Happiness and the American Dream in the characteristics of Gardner. After that, this paper will probe into the difference of connotation of American Dream between these two films . In this part, the current social features of these two films will be discussed separately, and the connotations of American Dream in these films will be discussed separately according to the social environments. In the end, a conclusion will be made to reveal the changes of American Dream.

3. 研究计划与安排

before 30^th april : submission of the first draft

before 24^th may : revision of the draft

before 29^th may : submission of the final version

4. 参考文献（12篇以上）

[1]cheng, s.x. the disillusionment of american dream in the great

gatsby[j].overseas english, 2013(09).

[2]gu, d. h. the roots of disillusioned american dream in typical