Pursuit of Happiness

The movie ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ I feel was a work of art that deeply connected with the audience. It portrayed Will Smith as a sales man who struggles to make ends meet. Particularly with the slackening economy of the US, certainly a lot of people will be struggling to make ends meet too. The film talks about its protagonist, Chris Gardner (Will Smith) who has invested his meager fortunes in bone density scanners, where these provide denser images than the usual scanners that the hospitals usually employ. However, being a shade too expensive than the ordinary bone density scanners most doctors’ decline buying the equipment, which means that Gardner doesn’t have the money to bring home from selling his investment. This leads to unpaid rent and other utilities bills, which is similar to the problems that most average-income people are worried about. Unable to deal with the intense frustration and depression that this brings along, Gardner’s wife Linda leaves him and their son Christopher to pursue greener pastures in New York. Even Gardner’s home and car are snatched away from him because he didn’t pay his bills on time. Nevertheless, in the midst of this entire hullabaloo, Gardner always tells himself and his son Christopher to never lose hope and to always believe in oneself. His determination finally pays off when he lands the only trainee job at a brokerage firm.

It was the simple outlook of the movie I believe which people appreciated the most because they could relate easily to the stresses and the strains of everyday life that was portrayed on-screen rather than a glamorous life style. The film shows how determination can bring the best in people even in the face of supposedly insurmountable odds. It was a simple re-affirmation of the infinite potential of an individual; if he/she would only take the time and energy to believe in themselves, a message that the audiences were only too happy to take home from the film, back to the real world where their problems lay awaiting. The film was able to put the viewers directly into the shoes of the protagonist. This experience is what I believe separates the good horror movies from the great ones that are given the “Classic” status. An example befitting the Classic status would be the ‘Saw’ series. The protagonist ‘Jigsaw’ always believes in giving people second chances, even though the risk involves losing one’s life in the process. In the series, victims brave enough to endure excruciating pain for relatively small times are rewarded with freedom while those who were weak were left to die a slow painful death. Both revolve around the same idea essentially, of motivating oneself to attain the desired results, in two different formats.