从电影《阳光小美女》中分析美国梦(2)

菜单

4.3The Distortion of American Dream 12

4.4 Differences between Reality and Dream 13

V.Conclusion 14

Bibliography 15

Acknowledgements 16

I. Introduction

Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American black comedy drama and the directorial film debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards. It also won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature and received numerous other accolades, becoming a representative of American Dream.

Little Miss Sunshine is a black comedy filmed by a 2006 Fox Searchlight company in low-budget. Although the movie don’t have a strong line-up, it joins the race of Oscar Best Picture. The movie is about an ordinary American family passing through a long road to let a seven-year-old daughter compete in Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest reflecting the impact of the American dream on ordinary Americans.

Little Miss Sunshine in its style can be regarded as a black family comedy. The whole film adhere to a unique American spirit of ridicule in a seemingly casual, superficial attitude to reveal a mediocre story of modern society happened. This movie is different from other humorous movie. Little Miss Sunshine is not intended to satirize political situation nor social morality or family ethics, but to be helpless of the mediocre and ordinary daily life.

Little Miss Sunshine reveals that people living in modern society, busy and tired. Their only hope is that they still have a little bit of a dream, but the cruel reality do not believe their dreams. Life is life and you cannot expect miracles. Though the film has a warm name and it seems to be a dream story, you can only find that it is a story about broken dream in the end.

“There are two kinds of people, winners and losers” actor Richard says in the movie Little Miss Sunshine which is the first sentence of the film. He preaches his Nine-step to success everywhere in the world, constantly striving to achieve his own American dream, but he never experiences the taste of success. His wife Sheryl has been porced and she makes every effort to support the family in the economy and emotion. His father is an old elf who was addicted to drug and watching pornographic magazines. Dwayne is in puberty and he is a fans of Nietzsche and swears not to speak before he is admitted to the Military Academy. Sheryl’ s brother Frank is a gay scholar, studying Proust, the author of Remembrance of Things Past in particular. When his sweetheart and Research Fund was robbed by his rival, he attempted to suicide but he was saved afterward. This movie doesn’t have winner. The only ordinary member is the 7-year-old daughter Oliver. She is a cute chubby girl, joining the Little Miss sunshine beauty contest finals accidentally, so the family rented a junk car to take her to the competition. However, the result ends in failure. Their only dream was dashed at last.

II. American Dream

2.1The Meaning of American Dream

Broadly speaking, the American Dream refers to a kind of national ideals and values of democracy, equality and freedom. This philosophy is reflected in Declaration of Independence in the United States. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that is, all men are born equal, and God gives them inalienable rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In addition, the constitution of the United States also made more specific explanation on this idea. The constitution made clear that it should ensure fairness, promote the well-being of all citizens and protect citizens freedom. Therefore, the core idea of the American Dream can be summarized as follows: (1) equality; (2) freedom and justice; (3) everyone has the right to pursue happiness and equal opportunities. (Calder,2003).The three ideals are mutually complementary to each other. The first two is the prerequisite of achieving the third ideal, that is the constitution of the United States guarantees each citizen’s equal rights to make sure that each American can succeed through their own efforts.