The Pursuit of Happyness

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October 10, 2016

Jewel Vanilli M. Punay

Grade 11 – Dollar

Ma’am Irish Pando

English for Academics and Professional Purposes Teacher

The Pursuit of Happyness

Reaction Paper

The movie, “The Pursuit of Happyness” got me to thinking of several things that is happening around me. It shows what reality is and how people are affected by such things. Finding happiness is hard especially if you don’t know what it’s like and you’re just looking at the surface. And, out of all emotions one can feel, happiness seems to be the most important of them all yet the hardest to achieve.

It got me to thinking if money is really that important for a person to be happy. Do people really leave and give up even though they love someone so much? Is giving up the best thing to do instead of bearing the hardships with your loved ones? If you really love someone, would you really get tired? The movie is such a breath of fresh air for me since my family also struggles financially. Answering my own question, “Is money really important to be happy?”, I’d like to think that money cannot buy happiness but without it, happiness is nowhere to be found so money is considered as one of the factors that makes people happy. Problems rise and they tend to say hurtful things to each other because of the absence of money. I’m quite disappointed with the woman when she left because she told them she loves them but still she can bear to be away from them. I hate to think that there are really people who love with their minds that they have think what’s practical, that they never want to struggle, that they can bear to be away from the one they love but can’t bear to face the hardships with them. But then, that’s reality. Money plays a great role into making people happy, maybe because it’s a form of satisfaction. Comfortable life is still needed. Love is not enough to make people happy. I hate it. I hate that it’s reality that even though you love them so much, you can leave them the second you get tired. I hate it that they don’t recognize the efforts of the other person; they don’t appreciate his struggles too. It’s selfishness when love must be selfless. I hate that they didn’t even become a family again. She forgot their wedding vows: “For richer or for poorer”. Is money really a source of happiness?

Next thing, I was deeply touched by the determination of the man, Mr. Gardner just for him and his son to survive a day. He never once gave up and he really did everything for his son. I want his type of love when nothing can break down the barrier, nothing can make him falter. I admire his determination, his perseverance that even though every day is a struggle, he still gets up and faces his problem with all his might. Even though they sleep on comfort rooms, subways, boarding houses; he never gave up his son. He did everything to reach his goal but still keeping his son with him. It was so touching that he’s willing to fight as long as his son is with him. I like his motivation that he gets his strength from his son. He is such a brave man to make it to the finish line.

Living is different from surviving. You can only you are living if you stop dwelling on your hardships and trying to get through them. Even though they are only surviving, he still finds time to make his son happy. At the end, he was the one chosen for the internship. After all the struggles he faces, he was able to surpass them and he got the job. I realized that you can never find true happiness unless you experienced the opposite. He found happiness when he finally overcomes the problems on his plate. He found it because of his will to make his son happy, to

see his sin living comfortably. In the move, money seems to be a big factor but I’d like to think that the purpose of money is to live a comfortable life not for the word happiness. Happiness is not just something you can feel rather it is a choice.

The movie is very touching since for me because it just portrayed how real life goes. There’s no sugarcoating about the struggles one experiences or about her complaints, her miseries, her hopes and dreams. It’s just full of emotions and I just wish people learned a lot from it. Happiness doesn’t mean you have everything you need, it’s about having what’s the most important for you—your loved ones.

The Pursuit of Happyness

Review Paper

The movie, “The Pursuit of Happyness” was directed by Gabriele Muccino, an Italian film director who has worked his way from making short films only aired on Italian television to become a well-known and successful American filmmaker. The movie was produced by Will Smith, James Lassiter, Louis D'Esposito, Todd Black, Steve Tisch, and Jason Blumenthal; screenplay by Steven Conrad. The movie was a success when it was aired the 15 th of December 2006. The movie was based on the book that has the same title, “The Pursuit of Happyness” by Chris Gardner which is about his journey to become the man he is now. It is said that the book was an autobiography starting from his childhood to his success.

Based on Box Office Mojo, the movie earned about 307,077,295 (Dollars) worldwide in just a span of 13.4 weeks or 94 days. It earned 163,566,459 (Dollars) on domestic sales and 143,510,836 on foreign viewing. It ranked first in 2853 theaters with an average of 9,306 (Dollars) in each. It was released to over 3,169 theaters until it ended by the 18th of March 2007.

Will Smith played the lead role as Chris Gardner together with his son, Jayden Smith as Christopher Gardner, Chris Gardner’s son. This casting of movie proved to be challenging since Will Smith seemed to not fit in the role because his previous roles are on action movies. Nevertheless, he portrayed the character successfully. Some critics say that he’s not the typical men who bawl out their eyes when they cry and growl in pain and it was very good. He successfully portrays the type of man who tries hard to stay strong and not show weakness. He clearly acts on his character being a good father—being the foundation of their home.

The movie gained several nominations and wins. From IMDb, it won as the “Top Box Office Films- Andrea Guerra” at the ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards; Capri Movie of the Year Award for Gabriele Muccino at Capri, Hollywood; Outstanding Motion Picture at Image Award; Special Silver Ribbon for Gabriele Muccino for an Oscar-nominated Film at Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists; Breakthrough Performance for Jayden Smith at MTV Movie Awards; International Star of the Year for Will Smith at NRJ Cine Awards; Best Performance by a Youth Leader in a Lead or supporting role-Male again for Jayden Smith at Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards; Modern Master Award for Will Smith at Santa Barbara International Film Festival; and Choice Movie: Drama, Choice Movie Actor: Drama for Will Smith, and Choice Movie: Chemistry for Will and Jayden Smith all at Teen Choice Awards.

People shared their thoughts about the movie saying it is very inspirational; it made them laugh, cry, and love life. It truly shares with the struggles of life and it’s refreshing to think that there are still people who don’t blame anybody for his miseries. I agree with them. The movie as well as Chris Gardner’s life truly portrays one’s struggles in life and the reality of failures and successes. I think that everybody wants to find happiness, they just don’t think at the right direction and just succumb to their miseries. Finding happiness is a tough job, a long process because you need to free yourself of your emotional baggage before you can take the path towards it.

The movie is about the life of Chris Gardner, a multi-millionaire, founder of Gardner Rich & Co. and famous as an entrepreneur who also had a rags-to-riches story. It started by 1981

at San Francisco when he demonstrated himself as a smart man but only has a few opportunities for him to be recognized. He is the epitome of a humble beginning based on TheFamousPeople, since he survived many struggles in his life starting from his abusive stepfather, rapist foster relative, and indifferent foster relatives to his struggles while surviving for his son. He had two wives, one he left, the other, left him and two children both with his second wife. He wrote his own biography, as stated before, “The Pursuit of Happyness” with an award as NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work- Biography/Autobiography.

On the first part of the movie, it is seen that the word happyness is spelled with a “y” not with an “i” the same with the title of the movie. Chris Gardner said that he chose that spelling because it was very personal, the place where that word is on a mural was very important to him and his son’s life since it become a witness to all their struggles. On my opinion, looking further into the context, I think that happiness with that spelling implies that one cannot be happy alone. Happiness should not be just by yourself but with a “y” to emphasize being (the suffix –ness or ion the state of being) happy.

It is about obtaining happiness and passing through holes of needles in order to find that happiness. The chase for being happy is about surpassing your problems, bravely facing them no matter how hard it is and never giving up. It shows how a parent’s love can endure any pain, any sacrifice just to give that happiness to his child. Many people relate to the movie since everyone has their own struggles but only few overcame it. Being poor don’t always mean in terms of money, it is also in terms of emotional aspect. Everyone experiences either physical or emotional poverty that’s why happiness seems to be on the other side of the road. Still, happiness is obtainable if you have patience for good things come to those who wait.

The Pursuit of Happyness

Critique Paper

The movie is intended to be inspiring. It shows different values and different ways of people coping up with their problems. It shows the factors that affect people’s happiness. It also shows the things that motivate people to keep going on with their lives. Lastly, the movie connects to people through letting them realize that it takes multiple failures to reach success and multiple pains to find happiness.

On the first part of the movie, Chris Gardner, the protagonist, labeled his life—putting titles like a chapter in a book. With this, it is concluded that life is like a book. It may be similar to others but it is a completely different story. People start their life, then there’s the conflict that may either make them or break them. Conflicts are inevitable, it’s based on a person on how he/she will face them like how Chris portrayed in the movie. He never sees them as the end already; it’s just an obstacle, just an opportunity to be tougher. Then there’s the climax, the highest point of people’s lives… the one where a person feels the most intense of feelings he/she may ever feel. Here, he/she became open to all sorts; began to understand the whole context thus knowing what should he/she have done and must do. The happiness and regret, anger and contentment—those feelings increased by ten folds may shadow a person’s judgment despite of knowing the truth of everything. Fourth is the falling action of a person’s life where that person either found a solution or failed to overcome the problem. Lastly, the dénouement; it is the conclusion of the story of people’s lives. But, this ending can also be a new beginning; another chapter of one’s life is yet to unfold. Also, like every story, everyone wants his/her life’s ending to be happy. People are the protagonists of their lives. They are the one who decides the path they will choose, the decisions they will make, the life they will live. It’s based on them if they will be happy or not.

As the famous line says, “Happiness is a choice.” It is up to a person if he will dwell on things that will make him fall apart or never let himself sink deeper. Chris Gardner just proved that it is in one’s hands on how he will live his life. He became a model to the people who also struggle with their lives. He is an epitome of greatness, one of the best role models for being great. It’s because of the measures he went through in order to find that happiness. Let’s start with the values he showed. The story starts with him selling bone density scanner that is quite unsalable but still he didn’t gave it up sooner no matter how his wife is often spiteful because of it. It’s like he has this mindset that no matter how imperfect a thing is, still something good will come out of it only if he has the patience. He never gave up on something and the more the problems rise; the more he became determined to face them, the more he strives each day. The time they lost their home, his taxes ate his money, his friend turned his back on him, his previous landlord nagging him, being imprisoned, and his wife leaving him; his heart did not falter. He still acts tough for his son. He still tries to be happy as to not affect his son. He is thinking of his son too. Aside from thinking of alternatives, he still has the time to think about his son’s education and still he tries to be a good father to him. In the end, his patience paid up, he was the one who was chosen to be in the internship which means stable job that means providing Christopher, his son, a comfortable life. He is also a persevering type of person. He avoids self-pitying which is the most common case when people experience unfavorable things. Instead, he

is persevering. He approach people trying to get a stable source of income and he never feel ashamed of the prying eyes of people whenever he runs to someone because that someone has his scanner or the instances when he got hit by a car. He perseveres in all things he does as seen in the movie and as you read his book, The Pursuit of Happyness which is also written by himself, an autobiography, it is. In every opportunity that was given to him, he never let it slip away and be taken for granted. He worked hard in everything he does and he doesn’t let himself be intimidated by people who look more decent than him. The thing is, when he sees something, he has an eye for it; he won’t let it get out of sight. He’ll do everything to deserve it just like how he was the one to pass the internship. It became his choice to have that success in life. He wants to smile too when he saw people coming out from that building with smile plastered on their faces. He wants to be happy so when he saw the opportunity to be one, he grabbed it and it the end, he became one.

People have different ways on facing their struggles. The movie greatly showed the reality of the nature of people. Some people really leave when they got tired of the struggles. They choose to avoid the conflict by leaving, vanishing into thin air and never coming back. They gave up that fast and it seems that they don’t trust the other person and his capability. It’s the reality that people leave when the going gets tough. They can’t face the current. However, there also seems to be the type of person who bravely stood against the waves and go with its flow enduring its instability and the bumps until the sun shines again and calmness walks over.

Moving on, it is shown that the wife left because they are bereft of money. In real life, Chris Gardner had two wives. He left his first wife, the one dearest to him, Sherry Dyson, a Virginia native. Based on TheFamousPeople, an article about Chris Gardner, the reason Chris left his first wife was because the marriage seems to fail especially when Chris decided he could not pursue his medical career and went with his affair Jackie, because he got her pregnant. Then after just several years, Jackie left because they were bereft of money. People say that money can’t buy happiness, it’s true though but they forgot to say that money plays a part in one’s happiness. It may not buy happiness but it’s one of the factors a person needs to make his loved one happy. Living a comfortable life without stressing over due dates of bills, debts of 4 months, budgeting a week’s allowance into a month’s allowance… needs money. Money affects one’s psychological aspect that’s why a person’s happiness is also affected. Friendships broke because of money issues even if you call him best friend. Relationships are destroyed because of money especially if you are really struggling. People can’t help but be controlled with money.

On the other hand, while struggling, people find motivation in certain things and the strongest of them all is family. Family isn’t always about a mother, a father, and child or children, sometimes it’s the people who never left you despite the fact that you’re quite a burden to them. They are the ones who would make you want to change and strive. In the movie, it is shown that Chris was able to face all the challenges in his road because he wants his son to live a comfortable life. He wants what was best for Christopher. The kid became his motivation to wake up early and study hard during the internship while struggling to be a good father too. The kid is his reason to wake up each day and continue fighting his way to success. People chose to not give up because that certain someone brings them hope for tomorrow. People are most motivated by the person who has a big part in their lives—to the ones they are willing to sacrifice anything just for that person to be happy.

As said by Danusha_Goska Save Send Delete at IMDb as a review for the movie, it is seen that Will Smith, who portrays the character of Chris Gardner keeps on running emphasizing how he pursues happiness. She also said that people can only feel happiness once in a while, in eye blinks, most of the time, they are chasing it, pursuing it. People tend to often chase what they think that will make them happy then by next days, there’s another. It’s just an endless cycle. One chases but once he attained it, there’s a new one by then that’s why everyone pursues happiness for the rest of their lives because the reason of their happiness changes as time goes by.

Also, looking further at the movie, one can see that it is greatly emphasized that being hard working pays off but looking at the faces of the rich people sporting their expensive cars, they seem to be effortless of what they are doing yet they are rich. Some people may question why the movie depicts hard work will give you success when the people who aren’t even working hard also have success in their hands. Also, it is seen in the movie that the people who get out of the Broker’s building seem to be happy. This, to Chris, means he wants to be there because maybe it will make him happy but then once he gets in there, the office; it is very different by the calm and carefree faces of the people who get out of the building. When he found out that there’s no salary for internship, he nearly backed out. This happens to most people. People tend to go where there is easy money, where one can be sure of that certain thing. But, as Chris portrayed in the movie, he signed up for the internship. This may mean there are two types of a person: one who needs to be sure of something and the other, who takes a risk. Mostly, those people who take risk achieve higher goals and are braver since they face the challenges ahead of them especially the uncertainty.

Happiness is spelled with a “y” in both the book and the movie, aside from it came from the place which is the most memorable for both Chris and his son, also because Chris wants to convey that happiness should not be by one’s self only. He wants to emphasize that people’s happiness depends on someone not by himself. Happiness needs reason. Why one should be happy? Why one is not happy? It needs answer. Lastly, it’s because one can be happy without being perfect. He can live a life without having everything but still happy. It’s just up to that person if he will live happily.

It takes multiple failures to reach success and multiple pains to find happiness. In every success story, there are many battles before it. Just like in “The Pursuit of Happyness”, one’s failures can mold him into something greater. Learning things the hard way helps a person become tough for in the future when he face other battles; he is strong enough to win it over until he reaches success. Everyone should welcome failures and judgments in order for them to know what to change and how to be better. One can never say he experience success unless he already experience what it’s like to fail because everything big starts with something small; it’s a transition, a process just as how it takes multiple pains to find happiness. A person can never truly say he is happy unless he knows what it’s like to be hurt, be betrayed, be in pain, be in loneliness, and be alone. Happiness is only felt when a person frees himself from his baggage and chooses to be better; when he chooses to not dwell in the flaws and imperfections; when he learns to accept and see the positive side and choose to be positive despite of the pain. Be happy not because everything is good but because you see the good in everything for being happy doesn’t mean everything’s perfect; it means you’ve decided to look beyond your imperfections.