Exploring Modern American Dream in “The Pursuit of Happyness”

XIONG Xueting

This essay mainly delves into American dream in contemporary American society with reference to the movie-the pursuit of happyness， which demonstrates this theme， particularly modern American dream incisively and vividly. As is well known， American dream is acknowledged as a spiritual support， inspiring Americans to spare no efforts to realise their dream by diligence， perseverance and intelligence. However， as the American society advances， the connotation of American dream has changed to a certain extent. Thus this essay sheds light on the difference of traditional American dream and modern American dream from the aspect of narrative.

This film presents an exceedingly inspiring story about a black man Christopher Gardner in San Francisco， who eventually succeeds in working as a broker and further becomes a millionaire in American financial circle from scratch. During that wretched time， his wife leaves him without hesitation as she could not bear such a miserable life and even abandons her five years old son. Gardner has to shoulder the responsibility of raising his son and does his utmost to win a job to support his family. He and his son suffer the poverty-stricken life of homelessness， sleeping in shelters， restrooms and bus stations until he seizes an opportunity at a brokerage firm. As Villarejo （2007） has highlighted， “Many films do tell stories， thanks to the overwhelming dominance of commercial narrative （a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship） cinema”. While Burton （2002） states that the ‘sense of narrative relies on conventions shared between producer and audience， and the idea of narrative draws attention to the way the material is organised for consumption by the audience. As far as I am concerned， the meaning expressed by narrative is the soul of films. In terms of the narrative demonstrated by the film- the pursuit of happyness， modern American dream is constructed based on the brief plot introduced above.

From the perspective of Todorov， he is convinced that all stories begin with ‘equilibrium where any potentially opposing forces are ‘in balance. However， such equilibrium is disrupted by some event， thus giving rise to a series of other events， and finally putting another different ‘equilibrium into the end （Branston and Stafford， 2006）. As regards to the plot of this film， modern American dream is constructed during the process of equilibrium， disruption， recognition of disruption， attempts to repair disruption and new equilibrium. At the outset of this story， Gardner works as a seller to promote the portable bone density scanner in different hospitals. In spite of the straitened circumstances， his wife still lives with him. Such equilibrium is not disturbed until his wife leaves him with great determination after his repeated failure in earning money to afford all the living expenses. In the meantime， Gardner wins a position of internship in a famous brokerage firm after his continuous efforts， which is another turning point in his way of pursuing happiness. This indicates that Gardner makes every attempt to repair the disruption to some degree. In the end， although he and his son suffer incredible difficulties， such as sleeping in shelters， restrooms and bus stations， even selling his own blood to buy food for his son， he is qualified to be a successful broker and lives a happy life from then on. There is no doubt that this ending is such a perfect new equilibrium that motivates Americans， particularly black people to strive for their own dreams with diligence and perseverance， together with the awareness of grasping every opportunity and gives their talent to full play in making use of such opportunity in current society. As a result， modern American dream is constructed based on the theory advocated by Todorov.

To sum up， this essay chiefly explores modern American dream from the life experience of the hero Gardner in the film- the pursuit of happyness. As is well known， traditional American dream refers to the spirit that is rooted in American people in the old generation that whoever is intelligent， diligent and perseverant can make some achievements in the end regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.

References：

[1]Branston G. & Stafford R. 2006 The Media Students Book 4th edition London and New York Routledge.

[2]Strinati， D. 2003 An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture 2nd edition Routledge.

[3]Villarejo， A. 2007 Film Studies The Basics London and New York： Routledge.

【作者簡介】XIONG Xueting， School of Foreign Languages， Wuhan Polytechnic University.