美国价值观在电影《当幸福来敲门》-文学学士.doc

摘 要跟其他民族相比较，美利坚合众国有它自己独特的文化。好莱坞电影是这个国家的文化和价值的载体，它的运作模式体现了美国的文化特征。好莱坞电影之所以为大众所欢迎的原因，除了其生动的故事情节和大制作，还有其在电影中的特性体现了美国的文化价值观。个人主义、英雄主义和宗教情景以及对自由的向往等美国精神都在这些电影中得以生动的体现。电影是流动于胶片里的社会文化，而电影里的不同信息都体现和反过来强化了它们的价值观。因此我们可以通过好莱坞电影理解美国主流文化的价值观。好莱坞电影当幸福来敲门是一部典型的励志电影，它改编自美国著名投资经济人克里斯加纳的自传当幸福来敲门。作为一个单身父亲，克里斯加纳无家可归流浪在旧金山的大街上，但他还是努力抚养他的儿子。加纳曾经在海军服役，并且高中后没有接受更高教育，但是最后还是靠自己双手成为了一名拥有百万资产的投资经纪人。这部电影感动了海内外许许多多的观众，并且在他们中有很好的口碑。该电影还获得了2006年的奥斯卡最佳男演员奖提名。自始至终，该论文旨在研究美国文化价值观在电影当幸福来敲门中的体现，以此探究当代美国文化价值观，并以此解释这个国家的特性以及文化性格。相应地，该论文将有助于我们对美国人的生活以及他们的价值观有更进一步的了解，消除文化障碍，以及减少因文化差异带来的交际困难。关键词：当幸福来敲门；价值观；体现Table of ContentsAbstracti摘要ii1. Introduction12. Values22.1 Concept of value22.2 Contemporary American Values23. The Manifestation of American Values in the Movie33.1 Individualism33.1.1 The background of individualism in America33.1.2 Individualism in the movie33.2 Self-reliance43.2.1 The background of self-reliance in America43.2.2 Self-reliance in the movie43.3 Equality of Oppotunity53.3.1 The background of equality of opportunity in America53.3.2 Equality of opportunity in the movie53.4 Competition73.4.1 The background of competition in America73.4.2 Competition in the movie73.5 Material Wealth83.5.1 The background of material wealth in America83.5.2 Material wealth in the movie83.6 Hard Work93.6.1 The background of hard work in America93.6.2 Hard work in the movie104. Conclusion115. References126. Acknowledgements13111. IntroductionHollywood is a place called DreamWorks that manufactures dreams; the United States, because of its unique social environment, is also known as the place where dreams can be realized. It created a great dream space to movie. Besides pursuing dreams, most of the Hollywood films convey their contemporary American mainstream core values.Hollywood movie The Pursuit of Happiness is a typical American inspirational movie searching American dreams. Though it had not won an Oscar, the movie won the highest box office. The movie adapted from the autobiography in the same name by Chris Gardner, a famous black American, an expert in investment. In the story, he tells his hard times from the salesman to a successful manager, including his wifes betrayal, bankruptcy, homelessness and other sufferings. All difficulties have not defeated him. He always maintains optimism with his son and struggles continually for his own goal; at last, he wins the success and gains the happiness.The movie The Pursuit of Happiness is such a moving inspirational classic story which tells that Chris Gardner, from the slums to Wall Street, as a single father, has never betrayed after sufferings; especially, Chris acted by movie star Will Smith and his son Christopher, they are exactly the father and son in real life that strengthen the affection between the father and son in the movie. Chriss struggling to be happy is the main line of the film, and the affection between the father and son is the vice line. It tells an inspirational story about the pursuit of American dream and the deep affection between father and son. So through a brief analysis of the film The Pursuit of Happiness, we can perceive the core values of American.2. Contemporary American Values2.1 Concept of ValueCulture is a social phenomenon, is a historical phenomenon, is a sediment of the social history. It Includes beliefs, values, customs, knowledge, etc. Culture is the guide of peoples behavior, and value is the core of culture, people can distinguish different cultural values according to different values. According to Michael Prosser, Value is such a mode created by individuals or groups through cultural communication. They are the deepest level of culture (Prosser. M., 1978). Therefore It can be seen that, Value is the reflection of peoples social existence and it is criterion that used by members of society to evaluate the behavior, things, and choose their own desired goals from variety potential targets. Value, reflected through peoples behavior orientation and evaluation of things and attitudes, is the core of the world view, the inner force of driving peoples behavior. It controls and regulates all the social behaviors, involving all areas of social life. Cultural value guides peoples perceptions and behaviors, and determines what kind of beliefs and attitudes people have.2.2 Contemporary American ValuesAfter the first European settlers landed in North America in New England, the different ethnic groups followed. Cultural diversity of different nationalities in the United States brought together cross and influenced each other, forming a mixed American cultural system containing unique values. The values which the paper intends to deal with, is a variety of values which influenced by the European traditional culture and the natural environment of the America, formed in the development of the history of the united states gradually, and still play a leading role in the ideas of the contemporary social class middle class. It includes individual freedom and self-reliance, equality of opportunity and competition, material wealth and hard work.Through the U.S. mass media, we know the American values. Movie, as a mass media, inevitably has its own values in its delivery, so through the analysis of the values the movie conveys, it can reflect certain social realities, and it also can reflect the films social significance. American Hollywood movie, also as a mass media, of course, conveys its own countrys modern values. The Pursuit of Happiness, this inspirational large Hollywood classic film is without exception.3. The Manifestation of American Values in the Movie3.1 Individualism3.1.1 The background of Individualism in America According to what Deng Yanchang, “The earliest settlers came to the North American continent to establish colonies that were free from the controls that existed in European societies. They wanted to escape the controls placed on their lives by kings and governments, priests and churches, noblemen and aristocrats. To a great extent, they succeed. The historic decisions made by those first settlers have had a profound effect on the shaping of the American character. By limiting the power of the government and the churches and eliminating a formal aristocracy, they created a climate of freedom where the emphasis was on the individual. The United States associated in their minds with the concept of individual freedom. This is probably the most basic of all the American values. Scholars and observers often call this value individualism, but many Americans used the word freedom. Perhaps the word freedom is one of the most respected and popular words in the United States today.By freedom, Americans mean the desire and the ability of all individuals to control their own destiny without outside interference from the government, a ruling noble class, the church or any other organized authority. The desire to be free of controls was a basic value of the new nation in 1776, and it has continued to attracted immigrants to this country”(Deng Yanchang, 2001:32).3.1.2 Individualism in the movieAmericans treat individualism as a Near-perfect character, which presents the spirit of independence. This is especially manifested in childhood. As Luo Yuehong said, The independence of the children is encouraged by the whole society, they destine to be independent since they are born(骆越虹，2007：87). Children should sleep alone, and they not only have their own bed, but also have their own room. At the beginning of the movie, it was shown in the movie. Even Christopher was at such a young age, at which the age in China most children still slept with their parents, he had to sleep on his own bed in a room separate from his parents. Even the financial status of the Chris was not that good enough, they still had to have the little Christopher had his own room. According to Luo（2007：87）, in United States, while communicating with adults, children are also usually seen as an equal individual. While communicating with adults, they would use words such as “No” “I think” and so on to express their own will and opinion. Not exception it was presented in the movie many times.When children grow up, the concept of independence would root in their heart deeply, even influence the destiny of his career. Take working for example, the boss in the company usually would select such person who with independence or unique characteristics as his staff because he believe his capacity can lead his company to succeed, regardless of other factors such as economy status, etc. It was also well represented in the movie. When Chris attended the interview after he was just set free from the prison less than an hour ago because of relaying to pay the tax, though he dressed messed with the paint in his clothes which was left yesterday while he was painting the wall, the broad accepted him to attend the internship which was a precious opportunity for Chris even for others. 3.2 Self-reliance 3.2.1 The background of self-reliance in America As to what Deng Yanchang said (2001:33), “There is, however, a price to be paid for the individual freedom: self-reliance. Americans believe that individuals must learn to rely on themselves or risk losing freedom. This means that Americans believe they should take care of themselves, solve their own problems and stand on their own two feet. Tocqueville, a famous French historian and sociologist, observed the Americans belief in self-reliance in the 1830s:They owe nothing to any man, they expected nothing from any man; they acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hands.This strong belief in self-reliance continues today as a basic American value. It is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of the American character to understand, but it is profoundly important. Americans believe that they must be self-reliant in order to keep their freedom”.The individualism offers the value basic for the spirit of self-reliance, and the spirit of self-reliance, as the mainstream core value, offers the intrinsic motivation for the pursuit and realization of American dreams. It is reflected in the American movies especially in those inspirational movies searching for American dreams, this movie is without exception.3.2.2 Self-reliance in the movie The spirit of reliance ran through the movie from the beginning to the end. For example, at the beginning of the movie, Chris was at the tough period with the tense relationship with his wife because of his failing to sell the machines that he had spent almost all of his savings, which would make him difficult to support his family. As what Chris Gardner told in his autobiography, one day, after he sent his little son Christopher to the day-care center, he saw a word “ Happiness”, which actually should be spelled “happiness”. Out of his responsibility to the development of his son and as an adult, he pointed out the spelling error in the wall of the alley to the cleaner: “Oh, excuse me when is somebody goanna clean this off? And the Y? The Y. We talked about this. Its an I in “happiness”. Theres no Y in “happiness”. Its an I.”(Chris gardner, 2006:134) This episode could be regarded as the theme of the movie, because the Y here actually means the word “why”, and the i means the word “I”, which means oneself. That is the theme of the movie: theres no reason for happiness, the point is the existent of the “I” and participation. In this free country, poverty is not the obstacle to pursuit the American dream, only if one seized the opportunity and work hard, can he realize his dream. That is why The Declaration of Independence said “the pursuit of Happiness” instead of “the enjoyment of Happiness”. The movie exactly reflects Chris, an ordinary man, the specific process of the pursuit of happiness. Moreover, it reflects the spirit of self-reliance. Deng Yanchang also said (2001:33),“By being dependent, not only do Americans risk losing freedom, but they also risk losing the respect of their peers. Even if they are not truly self-reliant, most Americans believe they must at least appear to be so. In order to be in the mainstream of American lifeto have power and respectindividuals must be seen as selfreliant”. Like at the beginning of the movie, there is an episode that would be easy to be neglected, since it was as short as less than one second-An old man who seemed get drunk laying on the ground, no one else kept notice of him, nor anyone offered help to him. People just stepped forward hurriedly, which looked as if he was abandoned by the whole society. It hided the message that as what Franklin said“God helps those who help themselves.”, if one lose the faith on himself, he will not be respected by the society in American, the society only respects those who self-reliant.3.3 Equality of Opportunity3.3.1 The background of equality of opportunity in AmericaAccording to what Deng Yanchang said on equality of opportunity in America (2001:33), “Since titles of nobility were forbidden in the Constitution, no formal class system developed in the United States. In the early years of American history many immigrants chose to leave the older European societies, because they believed that they had a better chance to succeed in America than in the old society, where their place in life was determined largely by the social class into which they were born. They knew that in America they would not have to live among noble families who possessed great power and wealth inherited and accumulated over hundreds of years.The hopes of many of these immigrants were fulfilled in this new country. The lower social class into which many were born did not prevent them from rising to a higher social position. Many found that they had a better chance to succeed in the United States than in the old country. Because millions of these immigrants succeed, Americans came to believe in equality of opportunity. It is important to understand what Americans mean when they say they believe in equality of opportunity. They do not mean that everyone isor should beequal. However, they mean each individual should have an equal chance for success. Americans see much of life as a rare for success. For them, equality means that everyone should have an equal chance to enter the race and win. In other words, equality of opportunity may be thought as an ethical rule. It helps ensure that the race for success is a fair one and that a person does not win just because he or she was born into a wealthy family.President Abraham Lincoln expressed this belief in the 1860s when he said:Wewish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everyone else. When one starts poor, as more do in the race of life, free society is such that he knows he can better his condition; He knows that there is no fixed condition of labor for his whole life.”3.3.2 Equality of opportunity in the movieThe equality of opportunity is an important factor to realize the American dream and to achieve ones value. It is one of the reflections of equality. As Guo Yun proposed, just as the Declaration of Independence said, “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with inalienable rights.” So in peoples eyes all people are equal and have their own values, and no one is born superior to anyone else(郭赟，2007). Therefore, people should have the same rights to get the opportunity. Ai Qi proposed that, Washington Observer used to do research on Americans on American dreams: “American dream is a belief generally held by the majorities of Americans, and the equality of opportunity is the soul of the American dream, the vertical mobility of the social class, especially the social mobility from the lower class to the upper class is the most significant feature reflected from the American dreams.” In American culture, America emphasizes on the equality of opportunity but not the equality of outcomes, the equality of political rights but not the equality of political outcomes. Therefore, numerous of general talents can achieve their values and realize their American dreams through self-struggle (艾琦, 2010). The movie is a typical reflection of such concept. Chris, though he was at such tough situation, with his wife left him and incapable of offering a good residence to him and his little son, he never felt depressed of felt abandoned by the society or the government. Instead, he didnt complain anything or anyone, but struggled to seize every opportunity to move forward. One day he met with a stockbroker who drove a cabriolet, he asked the stockbroker how did he do that, then he got the answer that he only have to be good at dealing with numbers and get on well with everyone. It was at that time he set his mind to become a stockbroker, since he believed that he met the qualification of a stockbroker. It was from then on that he struggled to overcome every obstacle he faced and eventually he succeeded. Though he didnt achieve a higher education, didnt have a prominent background, even didnt have a complete family, he was accepted to be one of the twenty internship members who were regarded as elites and eventually stood out to be the only one to join the company to become a stockbroker. His success, on the one hand, thanks to his insistence of struggling to fight with the fate to seize every opportunity and overcoming every difficulties step by step, on the other hand, thanks to the America, a society that emphasizes on the equality of opportunity which therefore offers the opportunity to Chris even anyone who knows to seize the opportunity to be succeed.Besides the