Reflections on the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness”

投稿類別 : 英文寫作類

篇名 :

An investigation into perceptions of happiness,

based on reflections of the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness”

Is happiness the most important goal in our lives?

作者 :

李聖恩。私立淡江高級中學。雙語一

黃玟綺。私立淡江高級中學。雙語一

指導老師 :

Teacher Adam Sutcliffe

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 Reflections on the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness”

I Prologue

When we were in junior high school, our homeroom teacher recommended that we
watch the Hollywood movie, “The Pursuit of Happyness”, as a way to help us develop a
subjective point of view about the important life subject of happiness.

We had not been instructed to think about our future lives in this way before, and
certainly not about a subject like happiness in our early years as students. The homeroom
teacher often discussed happiness and how it was more important than studying for a college
place or getting a highly paid job, but we still had many unanswered questions about the
concept of happiness.

After viewing the movie, we felt strongly inspired by the way the central character
showed constant perseverance and commitment to succeeding, even though he was suffering
more than most people could tolerate. It raised some important questions, such as, why did
Chris Gardner not give up on his dreams despite his hardship?; what motivated him?; and
what is happiness? We wanted to consider and analyze these questions further to hopefully
find some answers.

In this thesis, we will try to answer these questions through discussion, the
investigation of viewpoints from different age groups and by looking at how the movie
attempts to show the true meaning of ”happiness”.

II Thesis

1.0 Thesis Statement

In this essay, we discuss three key questions about happiness, firstly, what does the
movie “The Pursuit of Happyness” highlight as true happiness, secondly, what is happiness?,
and finally, is pursuing happiness the most important goal in our lives?

Our research and discussion showed that the rules for happiness cannot always be
clearly defined, but people's ideas about what makes them happy can change with age.

2.0 Reflections on the film “The Pursuit of Happyness”

The film “The Pursuit of Happyness”, stars American actor Will Smith, who plays the
lead protagonist, Christopher Gardner. Released in 2006, the story tells of his struggle over
hardship and desire for a better life.

2.1 Chris Gardner bio

Christopher Gardner‘s work as an entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, and dedicated

single parent, has been recognized by many esteemed organizations. He was born on
February 9, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is famous on Wall Street as a stockbroker and
for his personal story. He went on to become a millionaire and now helps others who find
themselves in difficult situations.
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Chris Gardner experienced a traumatic childhood, being exposed to poverty, domestic

violence, alcoholism, sexual abuse and family illiteracy. His life story was published as an
autobiography, “The Pursuit of Happyness”, in May 2006, and was a New York Times
number one bestseller.

Chris Gardner’s goal, through his speaking engagements and media projects, is to help
others accomplish their full potential. He inspires people to never give up on their dreams
despite hard times and always go after their life goals. He is an amazing person and one we
can all admire.

2.2 Movie summary

This film “The Pursuit of Happyness” is based on a true story about a man named
Christopher Gardner, who fights adversity to pursue his ambition of becoming a successful
entrepreneur.

Christopher Gardner has invested all the family savings in a system called a "bone
density scanner", however, they do not sell well, as they are priced higher than the modern
technology. He has made a serious mistake and tries desperately to figure out what is the best
way to sell them, because he needs money to pay his bills. Worse still, at the same time his
wife leaves him because she is tired of his failures, and he has to care for their young son
(played by Jaden Smith, Will Smith’s real life son). He fails to pay his bills, so he loses his
house, his bank account and credit cards. He is compelled to live out on the street with his
son, sometimes sleeping at a hostel for the homeless and on one occasion when desperate, in
a subway station restroom.

Through a chance encounter, he eventually wins an apprenticeship as a stockbroker

with a prestigious Wall Street company, but he needs to train for six months without any pay
and ready himself for the company’s stockbroker test. During this time, he lives a very hard
life, he earns little money, and has to juggle his responsibility to his son and his career.
Finally, he passes the test and becomes a stockbroker, the result of his continued hard work,
his perseverance and his ‘never give up’ attitude.

2.3 The message of happiness

After watching this movie it's hard not to admire Will Smith's character, Chris
Gardener, for his work ethic and devotion to his family. Even though his wife leaves him
alone to care for their son and he's unemployed, his positive attitude toward life gives him the
power to create opportunities to better his life. In the end Chris Gardner realizes that true
happiness is not about wealth or power, but about achieving your goals through personal
drive and motivation, and through the connection he has with his son.

When Chris Gardner is finally employed as a broker, there is a section of voice over in
which Chris says “This part of my life, this little part, is called happiness”. At this moment,
Chris Gardner is expressing his belief about his own happiness and that what it takes is effort
and achievement. At one point in the movie he says that he knows how to find the answer and
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he will find the answer. Is this is the answer to success or happiness, we believe in Chris
Gardner’s mind he believes that one will lead to the other.

‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ also depicts a love of a father for his son. It also conveys
to people, the ‘never give up’ message, that you too can be as successful someday as Chris
Gardner. He was a normal person who did special things and that is not above any of us.

The “Pursuit of Happyness” is a movie that can make people laugh, cry and ultimately
realize that we should never miss out on any chance in life. The key message of the movie is
that happiness comes from catching those chances, taking the opportunities and through
dedication, doing something you really want to do and that makes you happy. You can’t
always guess what’s going to happen in the next second, so just enjoy every moment, take
opportunities when they arise and don’t let regret ruin your life!

3.0 Survey Analysis

Based on the messages in the movie, we decided to research happiness further and
complete a survey which tried to answer the questions - what is happiness? What makes
people happy? Is age a factor? We also decided to make comparisons to things that make
people sad or depressed, and see if there was a relationship between the two concepts.

We conducted a survey of fifteen students and teachers in three different categories

based on age. Children were from Tamkang Elementary School and aged between eight to ten
years. Students were all aged fifteen to sixteen from Tamkang junior high school and teachers
from the high school ranged between 20-40 years of age. Each participant was asked
questions verbally from a questionnaire (appendix 1). A chart showing the responses to the
questionnaire is shown below and is ranked in order of most popular response.

3.1 Survey results and analysis – What makes you happy?

WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?

Adults Teenagers Children

1.Learning something new 1. Friends 1. Sports

2. Family 2. Money 2. Playing with friends

3. Teaching 3. Food 3. Computer games

4. Good health 4. Cartoons 4. Drawing

5. Being successful 5. Horse riding 5. Reading

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Adults Learning Teenagers

something new Friends
2 Being successful
1
1 Money
2 6 Family 6
3 Food
Teaching Cartoons
3
1 4 Horse riding
Good health

Children
Sports
1
2 Playing with friends
5
Computer games
3
Drawing
4
Reading

In analysis, it seems we are all in the pursuit of a happy life, but most people face an
unknown anxious future. However, everyone wants to be happy but with advancing years
everybody seems to be chasing different things. At a young age children have less worries, so
care more about playing and spending time with friends, and basic needs such as food or
having a little money.

Adults tend to lead bustling lives and have more responsibility, so the responses show
they care more about money and success, but surprisingly the most popular response was that
they feel happy when learning something new. These results showed that happiness seemed
to be linked to work and family life, being successful at work and spending time with family
were the most important aspects of achieving a happy life. Yet continued learning is also very
important to achieving happiness in early adult life.

We then went further with our research to discover what generally made people sad, so
we could try to find out the connection with the things that make people happy and if these
things emphasize and enhance happiness.

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3.2 Survey results and analysis – what makes you sad?

WHAT MAKES YOU SAD?

Adults Teenagers Children

1. Death of family 1. Quarrels with friends 1. Parents yelling at them

members

2. Money worries 2. Stress of school work 2. Quarrels with friends

3. Stress 3. Having no money 3. Parents compare them

with siblings

Adults Teenagers
Quarrels with
2
3 Death of family friends
members
7 Stress of
Money worries 8 school work
5
Having no
5 Stress money
Children

Parents yelling at
3 them

Quarrels with
8 friends
4
Parents compare
them with siblings

We found out that each age group has different factors in their lives that make them sad,
and that they are related to the factors that make them happy.

Adults in their twenties and thirties like to learn and see new things, but there is no
knowing what the future may bring forth, so they seem to dread uncertainty. Losing loved
ones is a significant worry and brings about strong feelings of sadness. However, more
common as a day to day worry, is money and stress. Adults face a lot of stress about their
success, job security and the ability to earn enough money to provide for their families.

Teenagers like to talk with their friends, but they don’t want to argue with their friends
and this causes sadness when it happens. They also seem to worry about this much more that
adults would. Teenagers don't like to be lonely, that's a serious thing for them. Like adults, it
is also true that teenagers have stress because of the pressure of exams, school work, teachers

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and parents. They need to study hard to get good grades or they can't pass the tests, so they
worry about their future.
Younger children are often sad but it’s over quite quickly, they get sad when parents
compare them to their siblings or scold them for things they have done wrong. It seems that a
child’s happiness and sadness is linked to the effect their parents and teachers have on them.

Our primary research would appear to show that what makes people happy is different
the older they get and the more responsibility they have. It also shows that this is closely
linked to the things that make people sad. Worrying about things that might happen is also a
big cause of sadness, but this seems to be something we can’t do anything about. Like
happiness, sadness is also an important part of our life’s.

After asking these questions, our thoughts about people’s general state of happiness
have not been dispelled. So we asked participants a further question “Are you happy?”

Most respondents gave the affirmative answer of ‘yes’; so we also we asked them why,
to understand their reasoning. Responses did vary, but the most popular answers were
because they are healthy and they have good family and friends. For the adults (teachers),
they also said that happiness came from their teaching. Some of the participants said that
there’s no single reason, but that they have a number of reasons to be happy.

A few respondents who answered in the negative, said they thought that stress from
work, tests or feeling tired made them sad. They also said that this was how they felt at that
moment, but would probably say they are usually happy.

As a result, we can see that as you grow older, you will have more stress. This is a
result of having a job to do and other responsibilities. At a young age, people care more
about playing and spending time with friends, while adults care more about money, success
and family. This is also true for teenagers who have stress because of exams and their
teachers. They should study hard to get good grades, or they can't pass the tests. Teenagers
also care about partners in school; they like to share things with friends. Because they don't
like to be lonely, that's a serious thing for them. Thus, they don't like to quarrel with friends,
that can be the worst thing for them.

Leading on from our survey, we wanted to analyze these responses and link them to
secondary research into happiness to determine the concept of happiness, and answer the
main question of “Is happiness the most important goal in our life?”

4.0 Discussion

We discussed two key questions about happiness, firstly, what is happiness?, and
secondly, is pursuing happiness the most important goal in our lives?

4.1 What is happiness?

The Merriam Webster online dictionary defines happiness as, a state of well-being
and contentment or a pleasurable or satisfying experience ¹. Happiness according to the
dictionary is about a positive state of mind, but is it easy to keep a positive state of mind with
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all the stress of responsibility of work, school or other things we experience in our lives.

Happiness is something most people want to have. People can be a success and be
rich, but without happiness it will be meaningless or just a passing pleasure. However,
pleasure is a factor in happiness but it’s not always equal to happiness. For instance, when
you get a prize for something, you will be excited and proud, but after a while happiness will
vanish like smoke, becoming a memory. If we want to keep that enjoyment, then we have to
do more things which give us the same pleasure every day. But in fact, we cannot because it’s
impossible to sustain. Many people do things like drugs or drink alcohol to give them
pleasure every day, but these things are destructive and give a false sense of happiness.

Happiness can be’ subjective well-being’ which means comfortable and based on
one’s idea or opinion, so life satisfaction and a positive mind are an important part of
happiness. Everyone has a different point and opinion of happiness. Some people think
happiness is learning a great deal from somebody or something. Other people think happiness
is living a happy life with family. Aristotle, a famous Greek philosopher, once said
“Happiness depends upon ourselves”2, by this he means that happiness is in our minds, so is
dependent on what we think and how we act.

For further analysis of happiness, we viewed the website TED (Ideas worth
spreading), which is a selection of speeches from different experts in a variety of subjects.

In the TED video ‘What makes us happy’ by Dan Gilbert (www.TED.com/2004)3,

Mr. Gilbert offers the audience two futures, one is winning the lottery, and the other is
becoming a paraplegic. Most of the audience choose ‘winning the lottery’ as being the thing
that would bring most happiness, but interestingly the result of his research shows that the
happiness of both groups is actually equal. How can this happen? Paraplegics think of their
lives in a different way, to them just being alive brings them happiness. Why they do that?
They do that to make themselves feel happy and to think more positively. Mr. Gilbert states
that “This shows us that we have within us the capacity to manufacture the very commodity
we are constantly chasing”. This further reinforces that happiness depends on state of mind,
and that people are capable of making themselves happy by doing things that they enjoy and
feel happy doing.

4.2 Why we believe pursuing happiness is truly the most important goal in our lives?

From the survey, it was shown that most people think and believe that money is not
always associated with happiness. Our research points to the question of “Can money buy
happiness?” The fact is that the rich are not necessarily happy because they are sometimes
lonely or may have bad health or simply don’t trust people. Our research also showed that
health is very important, because without health we can’t do anything. If a person has cancer,
they can’t simply go out and buy a new body.

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As for those less fortunate, money can be the most important thing and make them
happy in their lives, but this is usually to satisfy basic human needs such as food, shelter and
clothing. The psychologist Abraham Maslow published findings on human needs in 1954 4.
He states that there is a list of human needs from top to bottom, the most basic being food and
a house. The highest being psychological needs like a sense of esteem. He believed that
people gained happiness by achieving these needs.

Alternatively too much happiness is not necessarily good for us. Without any worry or
pain, we cannot develop our lives and thought or learn from our mistakes.

Happiness also has to be appropriate in improving our lives. So we believe happiness

is truly the most important goal in our lives, but life will always give us hardship and it’s how
we cope with that in our minds, that will allow us to continue to be happy.

Chris Gardner often tells his son “You got a dream, you got to protect it”; “You want
something, go get it”; in these words he is advising his son but also telling himself that what
he is doing is right. That his and his son’s suffering will be worth it in the end and that the
end goal is worth the hardship they suffer.

Ⅲ. Conclusion

In conclusion, we believe that the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness” is a really

significant piece of filmmaking and has made us think deeply about the subject of happiness.

After completing our research into the concept of happiness, we have shown that
different age groups have different perspectives of what happiness means to them. Many
people answered our survey describing something that made them happy, but we wanted to
determine if this was real happiness? For example, if no one ever died or we had all the
money we would ever need, then would we be truly happy? There is no definitive answer to
this question. Happiness is not that far from us, it's very close to us. Our research and self
analysis has shown that real happiness is not necessarily achieved by gaining something we
want, but by how we process that gain in our minds. Happiness is a mental challenge and one
we must work hard at internally, just as we work hard externally to achieve what we want in
life.
Happiness comes from our thinking, and our mind. If we think we are happy, than we
will be happy. The author and philosopher Dr Wayne Dyer wrote Happiness is something that
you are and it comes from the way you think.5 All in all, we would say that happiness is a
decision. One's happiness is one's decision to make. Happiness requires positive actions on
our part and actions require positive decisions.

Most people know that happiness has a positive effect on health and
relationships. Lots of people pursue happiness and find their happiness in small events in

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their life, such as going out with friends or winning a sum on the lottery, and these small
events can lead to the perception of a happy life. But true happiness is an innate quality.

Dr Steve Mariboli, a behavioral scientist wrote, happiness is a state of mind, a choice,

a way of living; it is not something to be achieved, it is something to be experienced 6, but can
we train our minds to be happy? All we can do is ask ourselves what is happiness or we can
just take a look around to find our happiness. Happiness will never be far away from us, it is
always by our side. It may be trivial or it may be central. So, we hope all of us are able to find
something for which we are grateful, no matter how big or small. Hopefully through these
things we will live a successful and happy life, much like Chris Gardner.

At the moment, we have a certain perspective about happiness, but after a few years
we will have another perspective, because everyone is different at different stages in their live.
However we believe that if we are able to capture and cherish the happy moments and cope
positively with moments of hardship, we will hopefully live lives filled with true happiness.

Happiness is surely a goal we should and can all pursue.

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IV. References

¹Happiness. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved November 13, 2013, from

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/happiness

²Aristotle (n.d). The Nicomachean Ethics. Oxford World Classics 2009. NY. Oxford
University Press Inc.

³Gilbert, D. (2006). http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html

Retrieved October 25th, 2013 from TED Talks website: www.ted.com
4
Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper and Row.
5
Dyer, W Dr. (2004). The Power of Intention. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House Inc.
6
Mariboli, S Dr. (2013). Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and Human Experience.
Port Washington, NY. A Better Today Publishing.

V. Appendices

Appendices 1: Contents of the interview questionnaire - This was given verbally to

selected age groups, categorized as ‘children’, ‘teenagers’ and ‘adults’.

Tell us three things that make you happy and sad

1. What makes you happy? - state three things

2. What makes you sad? - state three things

3. Are you happy right now? □ Yes □ No Why?

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