The Pursuit of Happiness
Jun Xi Zhou
DeVry University
The Pursuit of Happiness
I would like to comment on a movie called “The Pursuit of Happiness”. It is based on a true story of the famous self-made millionaire Chris Gardner. When I saw this movie, I thought it might be another old story of inspiring people to stick to their dreams, nothing new. But I decided to watch it for the reason that it stars Will Smith who was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Actor because of his performance in this movie. I believe that a good movie must have a good plot, wonderful acting, and the most important thing is the audience’s feeling when they have finished watching the movie. I expect the movie to give me the strength and let me feel happiness.
Protagonist of the story is the American black’s investment expert Chris Gardner. Film tells a bankrupt salesman through their unremitting efforts, finally become famous financier of the inspirational story.
The most important thing is that what people will know and what are people’s feelings after they have watched the movie. When watching the film I was considering whether to continue to go to college, and I don't know direction. I considered whether I should continue to pursue my dream. After I finished watching, I found that unlike a usual success story, this movie is realistic because there are many failures, defeats and missed opportunities before success happens. An important clue in the film is the change of their living environment. Left by his wife and totally broke with less than 30 dollars in Chris account, he and his son move from their old apartment to the motel, and are forced at one point to stay in a restroom at a subway station. They are down and out. But instead of worrying about their ultimate fate, which is expressed clearly in the movie title, I paid more attention to how do they overcome difficulties and continue to adhere to their dreams. We have been educated since we were children about how a miserable man escapes from a desperate situation. I found the persistence of the dream through this movie.
The plot of the movie is also very important. Chris Gardner was 28 when first time to see his father, so he was determined to be a good father when he had children. But his life was down and out, he can only sell bone density scanners in hospital every day. Because cannot endure the poor life, his wife left him. He and his son depend on each other for survival. But Chris has been very optimistic. He taught his son don't lose heart. Then Chris earns a chance to become an intern stockbroker. He develops a number of ways to make phone sales calls more efficiently. He also reaches out to potential high value customers and finally he has won the full-time position. In fact, although we are very desperate, we couldn’t give up looking for the hope. No matter how desperate we are, we still expect the miracle will occur one day. The spirit in this movie did inspire me and gave me the strength and told me not to give up no matter
