Kiersten Slade English 2010 Sat.

11:30-2:20 March 28, 2014 The Pursuit of Happyness The Pursuit of Happyness is based off a true story about a man named Chris Gardner chasing the American Dream in the 1980s. The movie was written by Steven Conrad and directed by Gabriele Muccino in 2006. Chris, played by Will Smith, and his wife Linda, played by Thandie Newton, are struggling to make ends meet. They have a 5-year-old son named Christopher who is played by Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, Will Smiths son. Linda works double shifts as a maid and Chris tries to sell bone density scanners. He runs into a stockbroker and finds out about a competitive internship. The movie is about his journey going from rags to riches through the internship. Chris is a positive person with a go-getter personality. He isnt as happy as he could be, but given his situation, hes not as miserable as he could be. Linda is the exact opposite. Shes barely keeping it together. Shes angry, tired, and wants out. You can see how they struggle in their relationship and with the ups and downs of life from the first five minutes. They live in a small, broken down apartment with a kitchen about as big as my bathroom. The walls are a grungy brown, the sink is dirty, and theres barely any food. While Linda works double shifts, Chris tries to sell his bone density scanners to doctors and hospitals. He spent their entire life savings on them because the scanners were the next big thing, and would make them rich. The scanners do the same thing as an x-ray machine does but

costs twice as much. The doctors turn Chris down more often than not because its an unnecessary luxury. Chris struggles to sell them and looks for other ways to make money. Chris starts up a conversation with a wealthy stockbroker and learns about an internship program with a prestigious firm called Dean Whitter. He has a meeting with the HR manager to turn in his application. Before he goes in, he asks a hippy on the street to watch his scanner for him. What a stupid mistake. First of all, she was a hippy. You dont trust hippies. Second, you dont trust someone youve just met with something that is that valuable to you. While Chris is in the meeting, he spots the hippy taking off with his scanner. He excuses himself and runs after her. Hes always running after people with the scanner. Its not the first time hes left it somewhere he shouldnt have. Chris misplaces the scanners several times throughout the movie. It seemed unnecessary to show him losing them that often. I understand the scanners were valuable to him, but there are other parts of the story they could have elaborated on. It made me wonder how many times they had to shoot those sprinting scenes. Was he really running as far as it looked? He never seemed to be out of breath from running. I would have had to lie on the ground like a dead fish and scream girl down, girl down. Its Christophers birthday and Chris and Linda give him a basketball as a gift. As hes unwrapping it, the camera is on Lindas face. You can see in that moment, shes done. She cant do it anymore. I dont know what caused her to feel that way, but weve all reached that point. Some small miniscule thing happens and all of a sudden everything is put into perspective. You realize that this is not the life you want to live or could see yourself living. Maybe she looked at the basketball and around her apartment and thought, This is as good as it gets? This is all were ever going to have? A basketball is all Im ever going to be able to offer my son?

About a month after Chris turned in his application, he sees Jay Twistle getting into a cab. Mr. Twistle is one of the men who select the 20 people for the program. Chris hops in the cab too and talks about trying to get an interview. Mr. Twistle is attempting to figure out the new rubix cube and isnt paying much attention. Chris offers to solve it for him. He succeeds and it impresses Mr. Twistle enough to offer him an interview. If I had to solve a rubix cube in order to get an interview, I would never get an interview. Its obvious why it impressed Mr. Twistle. Money is an issue for Chris throughout the movie and Mr. Twistle didnt pay the cab when he got out. Chris cant pay for the taxi. Cue the running without being completely out of breath. Chris calls home that night to apologize for not making it back on time. Linda tells him shes leaving. She cant do it anymore. She takes Christopher with her and shes gone. Chris sees her the next day on the street and tells her that he will be the one to take care of Christopher. Linda doesnt fight it. To me, she just wants out of the whole situation because shes so unhappy. She loves her son, but she knows she wouldnt be able to take care of Christopher. You could see that even though she chose to leave, she was still struggling with her decision. The night before Chriss interview, he gets arrested for his unpaid parking tickets. Hes forced to stay the night in jail until his check clears, and has to go to his interview with paint all over himself. He finds out that its an unpaid internship. Knowing his financial situation now that Linda is gone, he struggles with the decision of whether to take it or not. He knows how competitive it is and what a big risk it will be, but he accepts. Chris has a great work ethic. It shows throughout his internship program. He calls people and makes sells to bring in money. They arent just evaluated on what they sell, but on their overall performance. Chris teacher doesnt think he can come through and asks him to perform

demeaning tasks. Chris can only work at the internship for 6 hours while everyone else does 9 hours. From a business standpoint, I would be watching Chris more than the others. If he can do the same amount of work as the others in the program but in less time, hes more of a valuable asset. After 4 months, they sell all the scanners and things are starting to look up. However, his bank account gets garnished because he didnt pay taxes. Im a legal assistant. I garnish peoples wages and bank accounts all the time. I never see the affects it has on the persons life. I dont know how bad they are struggling. One time, I garnished someones bank account for $15,000 in one hit. I felt bad at first because thats a lot of money. Then, I didnt feel bad because they had that money sitting in the bank the whole time and didnt set up a payment arrangement. You cant spend $50,000 and not expect to pay it back. There are consequences. Times are hard again and Chris has no money. Hes lived without Lindas paycheck for at least 4 months, but with him having the unpaid internship he has nothing. He was kicked out of the apartment and now cant pay the hotel theyve been staying in. They have nowhere else to go and have to stay in the subway station for one night. They play make believe that there are dinosaurs all around. Its really a cute moment. They sleep in the subway bathroom and my heart breaks watching it. No human being wants to have to do that. The subway restroom is the only time he cries from his hardships. I thought that was a good idea. Life is difficult but you cant cry when something goes bad every time. I liked that it was exactly how life is. Bad things dont come in 3s. They come in 10s and 20s. Its not as easy as it looks and I like that Gabriel Muccino portrayed that. She didnt sugar coat it. It was real and made it that much more relatable. They end up bouncing from shelter to shelter. Chris has to carry his suitcases

everywhere he goes each day. Its not a guarantee each night if they will be able to stay in the shelters or not. Its time for the test. Chris feels good about it, as he should. He worked his butt off for the internship and proved himself. The next time he goes in, the head CEOs offer him the job. I cried. I was so happy for him. How could you not be? He was a single dad with nothing to offer but his brain and hard work. He did it! Sometimes even when you put your heart and soul into something, it doesnt work out. In his case, it did. He ended up founding his own firm called Gardner Rich and selling a multi-million dollar deal. Will Smith really stepped up to the plate for this role. He normally plays less serious types and jokes around a lot. This movie had a much more serious tone to it. I thought he and his son both did a good job. Because Christopher is his son in real life it made the story more real and emotional. Gabriele Muccino really took her time with this project and studied the lifestyles that were portrayed. The rich, higher class people all wore designer suits and shoes. They drove expensive sports cars and their entire aura came across as well off and confident. I liked that the wealthy characters werent portrayed as egotistical businessmen who were above everyone else. When you saw them walking along the street, the only thing that gave them away was their clothing. Movies and media have a lot of power in influencing how a person thinks of someone. Normally wealthy people are depicted as snobs and that they will only talk to people that are like them. It gives wealthy people a bad rap. Sure there are plenty out there that are stuck up like that, but there also very kind, wealthy people who are willing to lend a hand.

I chose this as my artifact because Chris was a single dad and had to do it all on his own. I watched him struggle, but he pulled through. He leads by example. He doesnt complain and wallow in this self pitty, he gets up and still goes. He works hard even though he had many setbacks. He was extremely busy but he always found time to educate his son and teach him values.

Works Cited Dargis, Manohla. "Climbing Out of the Gutter With a 5-Year-Old in Tow." The New York Times. The New York Times, 14 Dec. 2006. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/15/movies/15happ.html?_r=1&>. Elliot, Belinda. "MOVE REVIEW The Pursuit of Happyness." CBN.com. The Christian Broadcasting Network, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 214. <https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbn.com%2Fentertainment%2Fscreen%2FElliottB_Pursuit-ofHappyness.aspx>.