The Pursuit of Happyness Analysis

ANALYSIS OF

Directed by

:

Gabriele Muccino

Produced by

:

Todd Black  Jason Blumenthal Blumenthal James Lassiter Will Smith Steve Tisch

Written by

:

Steven Conrad 1

Narrated by

:

Will Smith

Cast  Chris Gardner Christopher

Will Smith Jaden Christopher Syre Smith

Linda

Thandle Newton

Jay Twistle

Brian Howe

Martin Frohm

James Karen

Alan Frakesh

Dan Castellaneta

Walter Ribbon

Kurt Fuller

Mrs. Chu

Takayo Fischer

Chinese Worker

George K. Cheung

Doctor at 1st Hospital

David Michael Silverman

Ferrary Owner

Geoff Callan

Hippy Girl

Joyful Raven

Cab Driver

Zuhair Haddad

Release date(s)

December 15, 2006

Running time

145 minutes

Country

United States

Language

English

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A. INTRODUCTION The Pursuit of Happyness The Pursuit of happyness is based on a true story. However, not all parts of the movie are as happened in reality, as written at the end of the movie....

The unusual spelling “happyness” instead of “happiness” of the title comes from a graffiti Chris Gardner saw outside the daycare facility his son attended. Later in the movie Chris Gardner indicated that the word “happyness” had a special meaning. That is something he had to pursue, as Thomas Jefferson put the phrase “pursuit of happiness” as a basic right in the Declaration of Independence Independence "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit Pursuit of Happiness". In short, this movie struggles from rags to riches, to his shows the audience the bitter sweet of a salesman’s struggles happiness.....

B. SETTING Setting of Place

:

San Francisco, USA

Setting of Time

:

1981

:

A city modern life. Mostly gives the pictures of 

Socio, economic and Cultural setting

‘struggling’ side of busy San Francisco when USA was facing economical problem as mentioned by President Ronald Reagan that the country was under great financial defisit . C. PLOT 1. Exposition (Prologue)

The story began in 1981, 1981, when Chris Gardner lived lived with his wife, Linda, and Christopher, Christopher, his only son. They spent their entire life savings on portable bone scanners for a living. He sold the revolutionary revolutionary machine to doctors at hospitals, hospitals, while his wife 3

working as a part time worker. They lived in a s imple apartment in San Fransisco. He could not expect too much from the scanners as it turned out that many doctors thought that his scanners were just unnecesarry luxuries. So, selling at least two was only enough to finance their daily needs. The problem was that Chris could not sell any scanner for a while to fulfill the living costs such as the taxes, daycare fee, and parking tickets. His wife, who seemed to be dissatisfied and distressed with the financial conditions asked her husband for more.  2. Complication

When selling his scanner, Chris met a broker with his luxurious luxurious red Ferrary car in front of his office building. Impressed by the man and people around him, he wanted to try to be a stock broker. From the friendly broker that day, day, he learned that to be a rich and happy stock broker, he did not have to go to college. He only needed to be good with numbers and people. The problem was, his wife did not support him. She even discouraged and underestimated him by askingy him why he didn’t didn’ t want to be an astronout instead! The problem got worse when they both had their own decisions. Linda decided to leave and stay with her sister in New York, while Chris was determined to be a stock broker by applying for the six-month training program. While Christoper would stay with with Chris. Chris met a manager of Dean Witter Witter and impressed him by solving a Rubik's Cube during a short cab ride. This new relationship with the Dean Witter manager earned him the chance to become an intern stockbroker. The manager, Jay Twistle, invited him for for an interview. Despite arriving arriving there shabbily dressed like a garbage man due to the fact that he had to spend the night in the police jail the night  before, Chris was offered the internship. He took the offer though it was hard for because there was no salary and a job promise in the six-month training. His only resource was that he had to sell his six scanners. So he had to be able to sell them in order to live, and attended the important training to succeed to become a stock broker. 3. Crisis/Climax 

He was happy for only a moment as he had to continue his hard journey. A letter arrived and he had to pay his income taxes. If he didn’t pay them, the bank would block  his account. That’s what happened. He had only 21 dollars and 33 cents left in his account. At the same time, Ralph, the owner of motel, kept asking aski ng for money for the rent. From a simple apartment, Chris and Christoper moved to a small motel. Now, as he could not pay the rent again, they had to be evicted from the motel. 4

As a result, they became homeless, homeless, and once were forced to stay in a bathroom bathroom at a subway station! They were suggested to find the Glide Memorial United Methodist  Church, which had a homeless shelter primarily for single mothers and their c hildren. The church's owner did not let him stay due to the fact that it was for women and children. However she told him about a local church that also provided shelter, but had very limited space. Due to demand for the limited rooms, Chris had to race from his busy internship work early each afternoon afternoon in order to get in line on time. Luck caused Chris to get his lost bone scanner back from a demented man who believed it to be a time machine. He lost it in the subway station when running away from a taxi driver because he could not pay it. But it was now damaged. A doctor did not want to buy it. Then Chris finally repaired it after selling his blood to replace the broken bulb of the scanner. 4. Falling Action

The doctor then bought that scanner. From the money he got from the scanner, Chris and Christopher stayed one night in a hotel, went to a beach, away from buses, noise and his disappointment. 5. Resolution (Epilogue)

At the end of the internship, Martin Fohm informed Chris that he was accepted as a broker in Dean Witter. His work had paid off and he was offered the position. With tears running on his cheeks, he rushed to his son's daycare, hugging him. Last scene of  the movie shows them walking down the street, joking with each other and were passed by a man in a business suit . This man was the real Crish Gardner, concluding the movie version story. This epilogue shows Chris Gardner walking steadily in his happiness.......... Other ways of staging the plot 

As seen in the the title, The Pursuit of Happyness, the plot can be divided into two big parts. The first four parts of the plot (exposition, complication, complication, crisis, and falling action) present the pursuit part of the story. It presents the struggles done by Chris in order to get his happiness. happiness. The struggles shown shown in the movie are actually the the series of  problems faced by Chris. The problems, among others, are; difficulty in selling his scanners, being abandoned by his wife, getting parking tickets, loosing his scanner, could not pay the taxi fee, could not pay the taxes, being broke that made him homeless, joining unpaid training program while he was broke and jobless. The second part is called happiness where Chris was finally accepted to work as a stock broker at Dean 5

Witter and built his own firm that means Chris Gardner already gets his wealth (happiness). The falling action can function to bridge the pursuit part and the happiness  part.

The plot can also be divided the way Chris called his parts of life. Riding the Bus is when Chris was doing his daily activities; selling scanners and sending his son to

daycare. Next, Being Stupid, when he trusted his scanner to a hippy girl but she took it  away. Running, when he had to run to get his scanner back from the hippy girl as to simbolize how important important the the scanner is to his life. Internship point is about anything happening while he was joining the training program. And the last is Happiness when he finally won his painful struggle struggle for his family happiness, happiness, that is being accepted to start a career as a stock stock broker at Dean Witter. Conflict(s):

As mentioned earlier, most part of the story is about  the pursuit part , meaning that this movie is full of problems of life that lead to conflicts. Conflicts are dominated by Chris. External conflicts are, for example; -

between Chris and his wife when arguing about financial problems,

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Chris with the hippy girl who stole his scanner,

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Chris with the taxi driver when he did not have money to pay the taxi fare,

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Chris with a homeless man who cut his line spot,

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and Chris with Christopher when he had to force Christopher to forget his Captain America on the street in order not to miss the bus

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Chris with the owners of the apartment and motel

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Chris and his friend Wayne

Internal conflicts also happened when Chris had to decide whether he took the

unpaid internship offer or not, when he realized that he did not have enough money to pay for the taxi fare, when he was evicted from the motel and had to calm down Chris, and when he felt underrated and unappreciated by his trainer to get him a glass of coffee and doughnut. Principal Incidents

The principal incidents that make up the plot are as follows;

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1. When Chris could not sell any of the scanner yet. This influenced the financial conditions of his family and and caused the relationship between him and his wife to be worse. This part is the beginning of the story (prologue). 2. When Chris met a happy-looking broker with with his red Ferrari car. This is the starting point that Chris wanted to be broker and the rest of the story tells how Chris managed to overcome his problems to become a stock broker. This middle part starts the the complication that leads to the crisis/climax. crisis/climax. 3. When his account was blocked. This made Chris broke and homeless and then brought him to the most miserable moment in his life. Here the audience can feel the crisis/climax. 4. He passed the training program and was accepted to start a his career as a stock broker in Dean Witter. This is the end of the pursuit, that is happiness. So, the epilogue of the story is happy ending. Plot development 

Based on the actions of the characters, the movie develops in chronological order from beginning the end, from Riding the Bus part of life to Happiness. But as this movie is based on a true story and interrupted interrupted by a narration a future narrator, that is Chris himself, the movie also uses flashback device. D. Characterization Characterization

:

1. Chris Gardner (Will Smith):

Main/Major Character

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Protagonist. Protagonist. He is the hero in the movie that dominates the whole plot.

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Dynamic character. Chris entered the plot as an unsuccesful unsuccesful bone scanner salesman, but then left the plot as a broker. Though the story ends up that way, the audience know that the career has led Chris to be a successful businessman.

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An unhappy-looking (gloom- looking most of the time instead) portable bone density scanner salesman. This was due to his problem in selling his scanners. In fact he was humorous, too. For example, he joked with Chris and with the Ferrari owner about the car. We can also see it from the way he narrates the story. There is no distrresed feelings in it.

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Consistent in trying to do the best for his family, but inconsistent in how he did that. First, he believed in scanner for living but then he was ditermined to be a stock broker as he wanted to look ‘happy’ like them. 7

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Had a lot of problems including tax bill notice, car tickets, scanner selling difficulty and not supporting wife

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Optimistic, trying to be relaxed in facing problems

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As a father: he was a loving daddy, cared about his child; told his son not to use the word “fu..”, protested Mrs. Chu about the kid’s watching TV at daycare. Let  his children know who their father was. He was a responsible and motivating father. He said to his son,”Don't ever let somebody tell you......you can't do something. Not even me. You got a dream......you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves...they themselves...they wanna wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want  something, go get it. Period”. He did not want his son to blame himself why she left. When Christopher asked,”Did mom leave because of me?”, Chris answered,”Don’t answered,”Don’t even think something so mething like that.”

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As a husband: perhaps he was a kind of modern type of husband. He was democratic. He let his wife speak of her expectations, complaints, etc. Unfortunately he was not a type of husband who was convincing convincin g enough for a wife to stay with him in joys and sorrows. He could do nothing when Linda decided to leave. He just let her go.

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Cared about language; asking his son whether he could spell what he was thinking of (list of birthday gift), telling the Chinese man that happyness should be with an ‘i’ not ‘y’, ‘y’ , telling the kid that happyness is a noun. Suggesting the word “fu...” at the daycare wall to be erased.

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Good with numbers, the first in his class in high school among 12 students, the first student in radar class among 12 in the navy

2. Christopher Christopher (Jaden Christopher Christopher Syre Smith): -

Minor Character

He is a son of Chris Chris Garner, Garner, about about 5 years old old (not clearly stated). He He was obedient and easy to handle most of the time. He only protested his father when his Captain America doll fell on the street. He wanted to get it but his father asked him to forget it in order not to to miss the bus. Also when Chris took him out  out  of the motel and he said angrily,”Open the door!” and at the subway he asked,”Where are we going?”. In other words, his character can be considered dynamic. He was not only very inquisitive about language but also about the reason why his mom left them. He asked, “Did mother leave because of me?”

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The existence of this character is very important since Christopher was the reason why Chris worked so hard. Christopher was the one Chris left and the one he came to when he finished his work daily.

3.

Linda (Thandle Newton): -

Minor/Supporting Minor/Supporti ng Character

An antagonist. antagonis t. Linda only appeared at the begining of the story. She had a flat  character most of the time as she showed distressed and dissatisfied looking. Like Christopher, she existed in the story to give more emphasis on how difficult  it was for Chris to pursue his happiness.

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She represents a type of modern wife (and perhaps of western culture) who freely to speak out of her dissatisfied feelings to her husband.

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She was was also a self-selfish self-selfish wife and and mom mom as she just just left her family family just just because because she thought that Chris could make her happy.

4.

Jay Twistle (Brian Howe): -

Minor/Supporting Minor/Supporti ng Character

Jay Twistle is only a minor character but his existence is very important. He was the one who recommended Chris to be accepted in the training program and put  Chris on the right track for his happiness. Thus he is a protagonist. protagonist. Though he is white, he treated Chris so friendly and appropriately. appropriately. He represents the American policy about about equality among black black and white.

E. Point of View: First Person Point of View . The story in the movie is narrated by the main character himself, that is Chris Gardner. F. Tone : Touching/Symphatetic Touching/Symphat etic: Most of the tone in the movie is touching and sympathetic since the movie is about someone’s struggle, which is not easy, in pursuing his happiness. The audience is made symphatetic for what happened to Chris and his family. Loving:

Audience can feel it when they see how Chris treated Christopher so well

in joys and sorrows.

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Nostalgic: This is the tone that is used by Chris Gardner in narrating his earlier part of  his life when he was still pursuing his happiness, such as,” This part of my life story. This part is called “Riding the Bus”. Bus”. Or “I remember that that moment...They all looked so damned happy happy to me...”. Though the scene shows himself in trouble, the way Chris narrates the story is far from being in trouble. He sounds more relaxed, not sentimental, even proud, like people feeling freedom. G. Theme:

From Rags To Riches

This movie tells the viewers about the struggle of someone from nobody to somebody. At the beginning the main character, Chris Gardner, was just an unhappy salesman as he really worked hard to be able to sell a single scanner to finance his daily needs. The problem is he could not pay the day care fee, apartment rent, the taxes, and the parking on time. His wife kept complaining about the financial conditions and finally left him. When he was then determined to be a succesful broker, he could make it despite his financial problems and homelessness. At the end, he not only became a stock broker, but  even also built his own firm. H. Moral Value :

No Pain No Gain. Or, similar in meaning, the moslem people may quote

The Prophet Muhammad’s statement, “Man “Man Jadda Wa Jada”. Anyone who is serious and persistent in getting something, will get it. This movie tells us how difficult it is to pursue the happiness. Many things could be sacrificed to get our dream, including our loved  gain something, we should work  one. (Chris lost his wife). This means that if we want  gain

very hard (pain). No success comes easy. This movie also sends a message that  everybody should know what he or she is good at (potential). Success is when the potential meets the chance. I. Symbol:

The hard work shown by Chris Gardner symbolizes

the

American Dream.

It is the spirit of the Americans who want to “realize their success, fame, and wealth through thrift and hard work”, not by ways of “getting “ getting rich quick ” such as winning lotteries or joining a tv game shows. L. Comments: It is a very inspiring life story especially for husbands who think there might not  be any more hope. Chris Gardner gives us that hope and tells us to be persistent and never give up. This is a good movie and worth seeing expecially for young people; SMA

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students or university students. This movie can be used as teaching materials at schools for several aspects, among others; 1) Listening. Students Students can watch the movie movie in the lab while listening to the dialogs. dialogs. 2) Speaking. Students can learn and practice practice the expressions used in the movie. movie. Students can also discuss the contents on the whole plot or parts of it. Discussions can also be on the characters and the moral values. 3) Motivation. Motivation of how to be succesful and help the students know their potential. Like other American movies, The Pursuit of Happyness also tries to show the excellence of American people. For example, though though USA was defeated in the Vietnam War, their movies about it always present the present  the heroism of its people. “Rambo” and “The Last Platoon” tell about the heroism of American soldiers. The ending is always that they can defeat their enemies. Here, the heroism is shown by Chris Gardner who could win in his struggle to be a succesful broker. The movie can also be used to portray the conditions of American society in 1980s, the relationships of a husband husband and wife, and parents and children children as well. The conditions of the homeless people also well well portrays the American people during the economical problems. The last but not least, the issue of racism racism (black and white) is minor in the movie. Most of white people treat Chris approriately. approriately. The managers of Dean Witter, for example. They did not see whether Chris was black or white. He was given the offer for the internship, and he was finally the last man standing. Even Mr. Frohm did not feel embarraced to borrow 5 dollars from Chris for his taxi. Other example can be seen from the line for the free room. Though the line was dominated by the black people, there were some white people too. Even when a white man sliced the line and took his spot in the line, it was a white white man who who defended him. The only smell of racism racism was when his trainee asked him to to get him a glass of of coffee, to get him him doughnut, doughnut, and to move his his car. It is possibly racism, but his face and gestures do not show it. Perhaps he only wanted to test whether Chris is loyal to his superior or not. We do not know for sure. He even the one who calls Chris to meet Fhrom to tell that he is accepted. A participant Chris met  in the lift was clearly racist. From his cynical face and utterances, we know that that he

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underestimated underestimated Chris. In my opinion, as portrayed in the movie, in general, at least in 1980s, American people thought that all humans were equal. No more racism. Racism only existed among individuals, and it was only few in number.

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