摘 要

美国梦是美国精神的缩影，由美国历史学家亚当斯于美国经济大萧条时期提出。美国梦的发展贯穿于美国历史，激励一代代美国人民不断奋斗，创造美好生活。在文化艺术方面，美国梦为文学提供了源源不断的素材，影响了许多电影人物的塑造。《了不起的盖茨比》是菲茨杰拉德的代表作，讲述了主人公盖茨比追逐爱情的悲剧故事，揭示了虚幻的美国梦破灭的必然性。《当幸福来敲门》是一个名叫加德纳的父亲摆脱贫穷困境的真实奋斗故事，它在某种程度上证明了美国梦的可行性。本文通过对这两部电影的比较分析，重点探讨了美国梦在不同社会背景中的内涵，旨在分析两部电影之间美国梦的差异。本文共分为四个部分。第一部分将阐述美国梦的变迁背景并介绍影片主要内容，第二部分分析两部电影中的美国梦，第三部分从历史背景，社会意义，文化内涵三方面对两部电影体现的美国梦进行比较分析，第四部分总结全文。梦想一旦脱离现实就会面临现实困境。美国梦的实现必须立足于现实并为之不断奋斗。

关键词：美国梦;《了不起的盖茨比》;《当幸福来敲门》

Abstract

American Dream is the epitome of American spirit, which was proposed by the American historian James Truslow Adams during the Great Depression of the United States. The development of the American Dream runs through American history, inspiring generations of American people to strive for creating a better life constantly. In the culture and art, American dream provides the source material continuously to literature and influences the character-building in many movies. As Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby illustrates the protagonist Gatsby’s tragic story about chasing love and reveals the inevitability of the illusion of the American dream. The Pursuit of Happyness is a true story that a father Chris Gardner struggled to get rid of poverty, which proves the feasibility of the American dream in a way. By a comparative analysis of the two films, this paper centers on the connotation of the American dream in different social contexts and aims to analyze the differences between the two films on American dreams. This paper is divided into four parts. The first part explains the changing background of the American dream and introduces the main contents of the films. The second part analyzes the American dreams in the two movies. The third part analyzes respectively two films’ American dreams from the historical background, social significance and cultural connotation perspectives. Then, the fourth part summarizes the full text. Once a dream breaks away from reality, it will face a practical dilemma. The realization of American dram should be based on the reality and constant striving for it.

Key Words: American dream; The Great Gatsby; The Pursuit of Happyness

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 American Dream 1

1.2 The Great Gatsby 2

1.3 The Pursuit of Happyness 2

2 American Dreams in the two films 4

2.1 American Dream in The Great Gatsby 4

2.1.1 Gatsby and Daisy 4

2.1.2 Metaphors 5

2.2 American Dream in The Pursuit of Happyness 7

2.2.1 Chris Gardner 7

2.2.2 Metaphors 8

3 A Comparative Analysis of the Movies on American Dream 9

3.1 Historical Background 9

3.1.1 Similarities 9

3.1.2 Differences 9

3.2 Social Significance 11

3.2.1 Similarities 11

3.2.2 Differences 12

3.3 Cultural Connotation 13

3.3.1 Similarities 13

3.3.2 Differences 14

4 Conclusion 16

References 17

Acknowledgements 19

Comparative analyses on American dreams in The Pursuit of Happyness and The Great Gatsby

1 Introduction

1.1 American Dream

The American Dream is a unique cultural phenomenon in American social culture. The American Dream can be traced back to the 17^th century. It sprouted in the colonial period, formed under the background of the American Revolutionary War and the Enlightenment, developed in the first half of the 19^th century, and eventually began to burst after the American Civil War. When English immigrants came to North America to build new homes, they all had the belief that everyone can achieve their dreams no matter what their background as long as they work hard. It usually represents people's political and economic success or entrepreneurial spirit. The connotation of the "American Dream" has been enriched and expanded after the evolving story. But "everyone can succeed as long as they work hard" has always been the core meaning of the "American Dream".

As an important topic in literature, the changing process of American dream can be divided into colonialist period, revolutionary period, romantic literary period, realism period and 20^th century literary period according to schools of literature and historical periods.

Many scholars are studying the subject of the American Dream and discuss it with one movie. This research method can only reveal the characteristics of the American dream in a period and cannot study the changing process of the American dream effectively. Compared with foreign studies, there are more domestic studies on the theme of the American Dream. Diao Keli first proposed the "American Dream" in the theme of "The Great Gatsby" in 1994. In 1998, Wang Yujuan pointed out that the tragedy of Gatsby is also the tragedy of Fitzgerald and his failure is also the failure of the seekers of the "lost generation" and the "American Dream"^[1]. In general, domestic and foreign research mainly focuses on the relationship between the author and the creation of novels, themes and narrative skills, but few have analyzed the American Dream in comparison with other films. This article mainly reveals the inevitability of disillusionment of "American Dream" in the Jazz Age through a comparative analysis of the two films and mirrors the relationship between ideal and reality.

This paper takes the film under the social background in two periods, realism period and 21th century, as an example, focusing on comparing the difference between the realism period and the new era American dream. Both of these films can be regarded as typical films about the American Dream, they just present the connotation of the American Dream in different periods. This paper aims to reveal the changes that the American dream has produced in the changing times and provide empirical support for the development of the Chinese dream by comparative analysis.

1.2 The Great Gatsby

The movie The Great Gatsby is derived from Fitzgerald's novel of the same name that is a novellas in the setting of New York City and Long Island in 1920s. It’s the spokesperson of the lost generation and recounts the illusion and evolution of the "American Dream" around Jay Gatsby and Daisy. Fitzgerald created a character in The Great Gatsby ingeniously, Nick, as the narrator of the whole story and the author's spokesperson. The author expresses his complex and contradictory emotions through Nick. And the protagonist James Gatz who has dreamed of going into the upper class is a poor farmer's child in North Dakota. After hard work, he finally promoted step by step and returned with cash, yet Daisy who he loved had married another wealthy man. He did everything possible to tempt Daisy and save his love. He was immersed in the dream of meeting with Daisy and eventually became a victim. In this film, director uses a unique shooting technique to show the emotional entanglement between Gatsby and Daisy to the audience, revealing the trend of the American dream in the realism period.

1.3 The Pursuit of Happyness

The film, The Pursuit of Happyness, adapted from real people and real things is the embodiment of the changes of the American dream in the new century. The film narrates the inspirational story that a father who undergoes economic bankruptcy and family breakdown, works hard to fulfill the responsibility of rearing his son as a single parent, strives to become a stock trader, and finally becomes a well-known financial investor. The protagonist Chris Gardner used his own efforts to change his poor life and the details of the movie emphasized on individual struggle spirit — everyone can succeed through their own efforts. Actually, the movie’s content is common in the history of film, whose theme and story is just like in any American dream film, such as a nobody’s personal and professional successes and struggles. But it reflected the typical American or Western cultural values and behavior trends in the post-industrial American society.

2 American Dreams in the two films

The presentation of a film depends on the director's deep understanding of the theme of the story. The directors of the two films used a variety of specific things to make their own interpretations about the American Dream and the experience of the two protagonists is a process of chasing the dream, which lets the audience to deepen the understanding of the main story and presents the field of audiovisual feast while communicating the values of the times.

2.1 American Dream in The Great Gatsby

2.1.1 Gatsby and Daisy

Using the characterization of different characters, the social contradictions and problems were described at the time and the relationship between the characters was used as a link to show the American society in the early 20th century.The main characters in the story come from different classes. Jay Gatsby represents the new nobility rising from the civilians; Tom Buchanan represents the old nobility; the Wilsons represent civilians. The whole story is centered on Gatsby and realistically interprets a drama that chases the American dream. On the surface, it narrates the story of a romantic idealist who goes from the pursuit of dreams to the collapse of dreams, but it records the social customs of the American jazz age.

Daisy is an important role in this film and symbolizes the American dream who regards money as first priority and moral degradation. She had an unhappy marriage and lacked of independence and freedom. When Gatsby returned with money, Daisy’s action revealed American money worship at the time. Indifference and selfishness were also important characteristics of Americans in this time. Daisy seemed numb and ruthless to everything except money. Her sorrowful life represented a large number of people who lost their personalities due to pursue the "American Dream".

The protagonist — Gatsby is a loyal follower of the American Dream and the author's most complete and true interpretation of the American Dream. Gatsby's American dream is composed of three parts: wealth dream, love dream and status dream.