Abstract

The film, The Pursuit of Happyness, is an inspirational story of a medical equipment salesman who was abandoned by his wife because of bankruptcy. He experienced all sorts of frustrations and still fulfilled the duties of a single parent. The recent researches have focused on the analysis of general American dream, but ignored the uniqueness of American dream of black Americans and different models of dream fulfillment. Therefore, this thesis outlines the origin and evolution of American dream, its implications, and fulfillment models. And then, it tries to explore the dream fulfillment models of black Americans, distinctive from those of white Americans, in terms of the hero’s social status of being nobody, his self-made spirit, frustrations and predicament, as well as the good endings of the hero’s life. In this way, black Americans’ appeal for the equal rights can be best illustrated by the the hero’s life experience. Thus the profound implications and social significance of the word “happyness” in the film title can be disclosed.
This thesis consists of four parts. Firstly, it gives a brief introduction to the film The Pursuit of Happyness, as well as its original work. Secondly, it elaborates on the origin, nature and the dream fulfillment models. Thirdly, it reveals the unique models of black Americans’ dream fulfillment----living in peace with sufferings and failures, tolerating prejudice and unfairness, and never giving up. At last, it reveals the nature of the black’s American dream ----yearning for human rights, and pursuing the racial equality and social justice----and concludes that the true meaning and values of “Happyness” lies in the experience of pursuing the dream optimistically and self-confidently.
 
Key words: American dream; The Pursuit of Happyness; dream fulfillment models

摘  要

《当幸福来敲门》讲述了一位因破产而遭妻子抛弃的落魄医疗器械业务员，如何经历种种挫折却仍善尽单亲责任，并通过不懈奋斗最终成为知名金融投资家的励志故事。现有研究注重分析具有普遍意义的“美国梦”及其本质内涵，往往忽略美国黑人群体“美国梦”的独特性和不同的圆梦方式。因此，本文首先概述了美国梦的起源与演变、本质内涵及其实现形式，然后分别从主人公的小人物身份、自我奋斗精神、遭遇的挫折与困境，以及人物命运的美好结局等四个方面，解读影片所折射出的美国黑人不同于美国白人的独特的“圆梦”模式，以及影片借黑人主角传达的黑人民众要求与白人平等的心声。最终，揭示出片名中“幸福”所代表的深刻含义及社会意义。
本文分为四部分：第一部分，简要介绍影片《当幸福来敲门》及其依据的原著；第二部分，阐述“美国梦”的起源、本质内涵与实现形式；第三部分揭示美国黑人“圆梦”模式即坦然接受痛苦和失败，容忍偏见和不公平，永不放弃；第四部分总结黑人“美国梦”的本质内涵，即黑人民众对人权的向往、对种族平等和社会正义的追求，探讨“幸福”的真正含义,即“幸福”是一种追求梦想的经历以及一种乐观自信的态度。

关键词: 美国梦；《当幸福来敲门》；圆梦模式