The Pursuit of Happyness Analysis

7/31/2019 The Pursuit of Happyness Analysis

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ANALYSIS OF

Directed by : Gabriele Muccino

Produced by : Todd Black

Jason Blumenthal

James Lassiter

Will Smith

Steve Tisch

Written by : Steven Conrad


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A. INTRODUCTIONThe 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 "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness". In short, this movie

shows the audience the bitter sweet of a salesmans struggles from rags to riches, to his

happiness.....

B. SETTING

Setting of Place : San Francisco, USA

Setting of Time : 1981

Socio, economic and

Cultural setting : A city modern life. Mostly gives the pictures of

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, when Chris Gardner lived with his wife, Linda, and

Christopher, his only son. They spent their entire life savings on portable bone scanners

for a living. He sold the revolutionary machine to doctors at hospitals, while his wife


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As a result, they became homeless, and once were forced to stay in a 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 children.

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 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 intotwo big parts. The first four parts of the plot (exposition, complication, crisis, and falling

action) presentthe pursuit partof the story. It presents the struggles done by Chris in

order to get his happiness. The struggles shown in the movie are actually 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


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Witter and built his own firm that means Chris Gardner already gets his wealth

(happiness). The falling action can function to bridge the pursuit partand the happiness

part.

The plot can also be divided the way Chris called his parts of life. Riding the Busis 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 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 for his family happiness, that is being accepted to start a

career as a stock broker at Dean Witter.

Conflict(s):

As mentioned earlier, most part of the story is aboutthe 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,- Chris with the hippy girl who stole his scanner,- Chris with the taxi driver when he did not have money to pay the taxi fare,- Chris with a homeless man who cut his line spot,- 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

- Chris with the owners of the apartment and motel- Chris and his friend WayneInternal 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 thefinancial 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 his red Ferrari car. This is thestarting 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 complication that leads to the crisis/climax.

3. When his account was blocked. This made Chris broke and homeless andthen 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 astock 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 by a narration a future narrator, that is

Chris himself, the movie also uses flashback device.

D. Characterization :

1. Chris Gardner (Will Smith): Main/Major Character

- Protagonist. He is the hero in the movie that dominates the whole plot.- Dynamic character. Chris entered the plot as an 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.- 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.

- Consistent in trying to do the best for his family, but inconsistent in how he didthat. 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.


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

- Optimistic, trying to be relaxed in facing problems- 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 kids 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 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,Dont even think something like that.

- As a husband: perhaps he was a kind of modern type of husband. He wasdemocratic. He let his wife speak of her expectations, complaints, etc.

Unfortunately he was not a type of husband who was convincing 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.

- Cared about language; asking his son whether he could spell what he wasthinking of (list of birthday gift), telling the Chinese man that happyness should

be with an i not y, telling the kid that happyness is a noun. Suggesting the word

fu... at the daycare wall to be erased.

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

2. Christopher (Jaden Christopher Syre Smith): Minor Character

- He is a son of Chris Garner, about 5 years old (not clearly stated). 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 miss the bus. Also when Chris took him 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 Character

- An antagonist. 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.

- She represents a type of modern wife (and perhaps of western culture) who

freely to speak out of her dissatisfied feelings to her husband.

- She was also a self-selfish wife and mom as she just left her family just because

she thought that Chris could make her happy.

4. Jay Twistle(Brian Howe): Minor/Supporting 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. Though he iswhite, he treated Chris so friendly and appropriately. He represents the

American policy about equality among 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 : Most of the tone in the movie is touching and sympathetic since

the movie is about someones 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. Or I remember that moment...They all looked so damned

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 Muhammads statement,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

one. (Chris lost his wife). This means that if we wantgain something, we should work

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 wealththrough thrift and hard work, not by ways of 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 can watch the movie in the lab while listening to the dialogs.2) Speaking. Students can learn and practice the expressions used in the 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 theirpotential.

Like other American movies, The Pursuit of Happyness also tries to show the

excellence of American people. For example, though USA was defeated in the Vietnam

War, their movies about it always presentthe 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 and wife, and parents and children as well. The

conditions of the homeless people also well portrays the American people during the

economical problems.

The last but not least, the issue of racism (black and white) is minor in the

movie. Most of white people treat Chris 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 man who defended him. The only smell of racism was when his

trainee asked him to get him a glass of coffee, to get him doughnut, and to move 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 he


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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.

The Pursuit of Happyness Analysis

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