Overcoming Adversity - Movie Study: The Pursuit of Happyness

Character Snapshot
Chris Gardener is a man of whom is pushed into the face of adversity in San Francisco 1981. At this point, Chris is officially homeless with a 5 year old son, Christopher Gardener. Prior to this, Chris had invested all his savings into Osteo National bone-density scanners, portable devices for giving only slightly better imaging quality than X-rays. Linda Gardener, his wife, wanted to separate because of financial difficulties and moves to New York after agreeing that Christopher Jr. is better off with Chris.
After catching a taxi with the manager of Dean Witter from downtown San Francisco (after trying to sell a scanner), he realises he doesn’t have enough to pay for the fee, Chris runs from it and manages to run home without getting caught up by the furious taxi driver who follows. He then gets arrested for not paying rent and the morning he is released, he turns up at Dean Witter Stockbroking Company. However, on the taxi ride, he had managed to impress Jay Twistle by solving an ‘impossible’ Rubix’s cube. It was from his new relationship with Jay that he was able to receive an internship for stockbroking of which stretches on for 6 months with no pay.
He then realised after he took up the internship that the government had taken the rest of his money so he and his son took up on living on the street and in toilet stalls. Chris sent his son to day-care every day and left work early every day to make sure that his son was safe (note: “Happyness” is spelt incorrectly instead of “Happiness” as it was written with a “y” on Christopher’s day-care) Being there 19 other trainees going up for the position, Chris was in a tight race to get the position.

Letter
Dear Frank,
How are you? Recently I have been in a tough patch. As you may have heard, I was investing all my savings on the portable Osteo National bone-density scanner like an idiot. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to sell enough of these to make a profit. Also, because of my hard work on the scanner, I have also been slightly turning my back on Linda and as a result, this pushed her off the edge and she moved to New York to take up on a job at a pizza parlour leaving Christopher with me as she is “unable” to be a single mother. Because of my sudden financial downfall however, I haven’t been able to pay my rent and my land lord has kicked me out making me officially homeless right after I get out of jail. Tomorrow, when I get out of jail, I will go to Dean Witter Stockbroking Company to see if I can become a stockbroker somehow (I saw this rich guy in this awesome looking car and he said he was a stockbroker). I am also worried about Christopher Jr. as he is still a kid of 5 years old and I don’t think he can handle being homeless for very long, even though he is a very mature and resilient young boy. Anyway, it is almost time for out disgusting lunch at the prison.
Sincerely,
Chris Gardener

Coping Strategies
Chris Gardener coped and fought adversities using these following strategies:
He believes he will get through adversity.
“Every negative event contains within it the seed of an equal or greater benefit” – Napoleon Hill
He concentrates on the positive thoughts and gets rid of restrictive thoughts.
He is clear about. what he wants and is definitely clear about what he doesn’t want
He focuses on the positive points and makes them even better as opposed to focusing on the bad points and making them worse.
He avoids the temptations that would have made his situation worse than it already was.
He keeps reasonably optimistic as not doing so would also discourage his son of which he doesn’t want to happen.
All of these strategies allow for Chris and Christopher Jr. to get through the adverse condition that faced them with greater benefit.

What I Learnt
I learnt that giving up in the face of adversity is basically giving up on life, the only way of getting out of the hard times is to overcome and surpass the challenges you are faced with. What I have also learned, is that in times of adversity, keeping something not directly related to, but something which can yield positive results, as something to keep passionate about can help profusely in helping morally during the battle of adversity. In other words, having something to fight for makes the fight to overcome any type of adversity profusely easier and helps you to stay optimistic. What I also learnt along the way was that everyone will experience adversity at some point in their life and that if you give up on overcoming that adversity, it will definitely be something that you regret as it will definitely have a profuse negative outcome on your lifestyle, on you and the people around you. Being able to pursue something and to be able to overcome any challenges is a really strong character trait and a strong and resilient character is certainly something that employers would look for linking back to the film “The Pursuit of Happyness” as Chris Gardener is not only hired for his stockbroking skills but also for his character.

Review
The film The Pursuit of Happyness directed by Gabriele Muccino is an inspirational story of which draws the audience closer to the protagonists. The movie had a message of which was along the lines of never give up in the face of defeat and being committed to something which you care about of which really connected with me as I have had similar experiences as the protagonist.. This effect of giving a secondary message to complement the main message of “Overcoming Adversity” really provokes a stronger emotional response from the audience towards the protagonist. The movie also connects with the audience because of its relation to reality and how these things actually happen and did happen to the real Chris Gardener. Overall, the movie flowed at a good progression and the actors were almost perfectly suited for their roles. Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith was a brilliant combination because you could really see the connection and the love between them which helped make the film so much more touching in my opinion. Thandie Newton also made the perfect wife to the character Chris Gardener as her attitude is perfectly polished. The classical styled orchestral music was very good and complemented nicely with the scenes however it made transitions quite jarring which could have been improved with more mellowing music, the reason of which was the contrast to the 20th century setting of the film. The setting of the film was perfect which was greatly improved by camera angles that looked down on the protagonists in times of need which gave an intensified effect of helplessness. The script was very well written which helped the plot flow. The dialogue was realistic which helped in defining the characters and in giving them an extra level of depth. Muccino has given this movie an exaggerated realistic theme in dramatizing the areas that matter and phasing out the details which doesn’t matter giving it a more focused view on the main messages and issues of the film. This feel enhances the feeling of loss and ultimately gives this movie a more triumphant ending.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Bibliography
The Pursuit of Happyness – Sony Pictures. 2014. The Pursuit of Happyness – Sony Pictures. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thepursuitofhappyness/ [Last accessed 09 March 2014]
The Pursuit of Happyness – Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. 2014. The Pursuit of Happyness – Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pursuit_of_Happyness [Last accessed 09 March 2014]
The Pursuit of Happyness, 2006. [DVD] Gabriele Muccino, United States: Colombia Pictures

Bibliography: The Pursuit of Happyness – Sony Pictures. 2014. The Pursuit of Happyness – Sony Pictures. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thepursuitofhappyness/ [Last accessed 09 March 2014] The Pursuit of Happyness – Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. 2014. The Pursuit of Happyness – Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pursuit_of_Happyness [Last accessed 09 March 2014] The Pursuit of Happyness, 2006. [DVD] Gabriele Muccino, United States: Colombia Pictures