The Pursuit Of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness
The Pursuit of Happyness Movie is a real life story based on Chris Gardner (role play by Will Smith) who used to work as a bone-density scanners salesman. A bone-density scanner works like X-rays but is portable and of course, more expensive. Gardner spends all his life selling these scanners and although he has made it, the time lag between his sales is long and slowly erodes his relationship with his wife who eventually leaves him as he could not afford to pay for bills. Their son, Christopher (role play by Jaden Smith), however, stays with Gardner after he insists. Gardner sees an opportunity knocking at his door when he is offered a chance to work as a stockbroker internship. During his unpaid internship, Gardner and his son goes through a lot of adversity such as finding out that the government has taken away his $600 for taxes, causing him to not be able to pay rent thus he and his son become homeless. They have once slept in a restroom in the BART station. Other times if Gardner is early, he can get a room in the homeless shelter. This means he has to quickly finish his job so he can come out on time to queue for a room. At the end of his internship, Gardner is called to the office. Gardner thinks it will be his last day of work in here so he dresses up for his last day. The heads of Dean Witter then tell him that he shall dress like this for the rest of the days, which also means that he is employed as a stockbroker in Dean Witters! Gardner is very happy and tries to fight back his tears. Then, he runs to his son’s daycare and hugs his son knowing that everything will turn out fine from now on. The final scene shows Gardner and son walking down the street and a man passes by. Gardner turns to look at him. That man is who this true story is based on, the real Chris Gardner. (AlAzhar, 2014)
I really enjoyed this film. It kept my interest and I appreciated that although many bad things happen to the main character, Chris Gardner, he never lashes out or gives up. He is also discriminated against, but does not complain, he just smiles. The facts that he worked so hard and also took care of his son and studied diligently were very moving to me. This movie inspired me to not give up on improving my own life. However, success and happiness are solely equated with money in this film, and in real life, yes of course, money is important, but it alone doesn't make you happy. Chris Gardner obviously had a "the glass is half full" attitude. We all face trouble all the time but what would you do if you have no money left, no friends, no place to spend the night in and a child aged 5 with you all the time? From the movie, we can see that we all can be a hero if we keep fighting and never give up for life. Chris Gardner is hero for himself and his family, because he makes his dream come true by his hand. I can still remember that Gardner cried twice in the whole movie. The first cry is when they don't have money to live in a motel, and they just sleep in the subway's bathroom. When he looked at his son he could not help but cry, and in that time he swear to try his best to give his son a better life. The second time when he cries, he gets the job which can help him to make the dream come true. The positive psychology theory we could see here in Chris Gardner is strengths and virtues. Strengths and virtues are more than just useful tools for adaptation to stress or difficult circumstances. Despite Chris’s troubles, Chris Gardner continues to honor his commitment as a loving and caring father, using the affection and trust his son has placed in him as an impetus to overcome the obstacles he faces.
Chris Gardner is a man who has chased dreams and never gotten them fulfilled. He lost his life savings in a face down business venture that he still believes in and cares about, he is stuck in a relationship with a woman who does not believe in him or support him, and yet it does not slow him for a minute in chasing another dream that does indeed work for him after a struggle unlike anything before. The true underlying message of the film is that you don't ever give up on your dreams no matter what the cost and his dream almost costs him everything, in fact does for a lot of time. But Gardner never stops fighting, never stops trying despite desperation and homelessness and trying his very best to raise his son. Both father and son go through so much and give up so much of what they both love to accomplish something bigger. Chris Gardner’s goal was to get the job at the internship and become a stock broker; another one of his goals was to fix the bone density scanner so he can get money and find a better place for him and his son to stay in. He worked really hard and achieved his goal. From here, the positive theory he applied is pursuing goal. In my opinion, Chris Gardner taught me a really good lesson through this movie. Our goals lead us to the situation where we do certain things in our life and leave other things aside. We can therefore influence other people in a simple way, if we influence their objective or at least the choice of their partial goals. Our deep longing for peace, happiness, calmness and harmony – as described in the highest needs of all beings – is also at the same time our weakness. (Rohrer, 2007)Chris Gardner knows that if he works hard and is fortunate, he can emerge from the unpaid internship with a paid job as a broker at Dean Witter. That was his goal, and what he had been pursuing.
In addition, one of the positive psychology theories applied is motivation. Motivation is divided into intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is a want or need driven by the people from within them whereas extrinsic motivation is driven by external rewards such as money, praise and status. In the movie, despite all the hardships Gardner meets, he is driven by a motivation to success, to earn money and support his family. Gardner works very hard to promote his bone-density scanners to various doctors in different hospitals in order to take care of his family. Although some days he fails to sell any of it, he still gets himself together to try again tomorrow. When his wife left him for New York, Gardner is determined to land an internship in Dean Witters because he knows he has to get the job to take care of his son. Gardner shows intrinsic motivation because it takes him a lot of inner strength to not give up after all he has been through. (Haron, 2013) Gardner also shows extrinsic motivation because at the same time, while he is working at Dean Witters , he also tries to sell the remaining bone-density scanner in order to get the money to live through his unpaid internship. Also, Gardner works his best everyday in order to finish his work by 5.00pm to queue up at the homeless shelter so that he and most importantly, his son can have a more comfortable place to live at compared to living in the restroom of BART station. Gardner tries to provide his son a comfortable place to stay despite all the struggles he has gone through. Gardner knows he has to succeed so that he can provide his family a better life. Furthermore, the fourth of the positive psychology theories applied in the movie is growth, development and self-actualization (Marie Johada 1958). It is ability to accept challenges and tension in the present in the interest of future goals. Gardner has invested in a device known as a "Bone Density scanner". However, they do not sell as they are marginally better than the current technology at a much higher price. Gardner tries to figure out how to sell them .When he applies for an internship with a stock brokerage firm, the internship is unpaid and one of the 20 interns will be chosen to work fulltime in the company. The ambitious salesman battles insurmountable odds to make himself stand out from his competitors in the hopes of landing the position. Gardner decides to do it but when his wife leaves and he is evicted, he has to take care of his son on his own. Gardner did not pay the rental fee, so he forced to live out in the streets with son; Gardner is determined to make it. Finally, the company hired him as a stockbroker because he has been an excellent trainee, and he has signed 31 customers from Pacific Firm. He accepts all the challenges includes financial problem, his wife leaves him, he loses his house and his bank account, he also pursuit of his dream of a better life for them. (Elliott)
In conclusion, The Pursuit of Happyness was heartfelt and touching movie that depicts a love of a father for his son. He did a great job as the father trying to protect his son from their circumstances of becoming homeless as much as he can, while at the same time he also trying to work at the stockbroker company without salary. Although his wife left him to pursuit a better living, Gardner did not give up and work even hard to pass the internship. When he is out of money, he trying to fix the "Bone Density scanner" and forced to sell his blood for their living. In addition, he is unable to pay off his house rent and he is forced to sleep in the church. They would have a queue up in order to get a bed for them for the night. When he couldn’t get a bed for them at the church, he is forced to sleep in the subway station with his son. Despite Gardner is facing a lot of problem, his son still have faith on humanoid do everything together. He loves his son so much because he could not even leave his side till his son asleep every night. After he have sold "Bone Density scanner", he took his son to stay and sleep at the hotel a night. In my opinion, I am impressed by his did not giving up spirit and work hard just to pursue his happiness. The movie is shown that if you work hard and never give up, you will succeed in your life no matter what you are facing. It has reminded me of how much my parents struggled to provide for our family as much as they could. I am very grateful because I grow up in a wealthy family. My parents are capable to afford me to a university and get knowledge.