Perseverance; the desire to keep going when things seem impossible. It is a measure of success, or at least how much one is willing to sacrifice in the pursuit of success. It is difficult to achieve a goal without a plan or direction, but the end goal and path that pushes us to attain is perseverance. It is the desire to step forward through failures that threaten to undo any attempt to succeed. This is very well presented in Gabriele Muccino’s “Pursuit of Happyness.” “It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that?” We see Chris Gardner struggle to provide enough funds to pay taxes and cover living expenses for him and his son Christopher, while working towards becoming a stockbroker from scratch and facing the difficulties of fatherhood along with it. Ultimately due to our perseverance and determination to succeed, we can overcome the obstacles we endure and achieve anything we want to in life. Although Chris starts out as a seemingly unlucky and careless character, he proves to be capable of personal improvement mostly due to his perseverance and willpower, he manages to prioritize his goals and address the issues that hinder his happiness directly. Namely, he manages to identify his personal flaw that prevents him from building relationships with his son and creating a parent-child bond hat creates the sense of emotional fulfillment.
We meet Chris as a salesman in the streets of San Francisco in the early 1980’s, struggling to make ends meet after losing his entire life savings on his investment of bone density scanners that eventually grew into a financial instability. Yet every morning he wakes up, suit and tie, face intact and ready to face the uncertainty of coming home with a paycheck. An abundance of friction with his wife began to enter the picture due to his unsuccessfulness in selling his medical scanners. The many tiny things couples struggle with over time begin to drag this couple away from each other. When Chris announces he has an interview at the Dean Witter for an internship, she instantly rejects the idea. “Salesman to intern is going backwards” Linda says when she starts to voice her disrespect for Chris’ business decisions (Smith, 2006). With the stress on his wife, Linda as she is trying to keep in striking distance of solvency, she starts pulling double shifts at the restaurant and Chris not making an income, drives her away to the point where she abandons Chris and her Son, Christopher, alone. The pressure was too much to the point she just could not stay any longer. The film uses dark lighting in this scene where Linda leaves to represent one of the most crucial obstacles that started Chris’ transition. It also shows how his house and life with his wife was very cold and they were very unhappy.
Arguably, some of the stylistic choices mad in the movie could be seen as slightly exaggerated, including the use of lighting mentioned above. Specifically, the shift from the darker tones to indicate a negative change in the character’s life to lighter ones as he learns the error of his ways and redefines his priorities could be considered as slightly on-the-nose. However, in the context of the movie, which creates and maintains the atmosphere of unadulterated sincerity and openness, the specified approach works perfectly (Smith, 2006). Namely, the choice of lighting contributes to the atmosphere and impression of sincerity that the film conveys. As a result, the journey of the main character becomes easier to follow, with the milestones in his development being marked visually.
Chris had found a 6-month unpaid internship job barely before Linda had left him and their son. This became the beginning of Chris’ life as a single parent. Trying to balance him working all day and taking his son to daycare and having to pick him up, feed him and get him to bed continues to increase his stress. Chris then receives a letter insisting on paying taxes, “This part of my life is called paying taxes. If you didn’t pay em, the government could stick their hands into your bank account and take your money” (Smith, 2006). This is a huge burden on Chris as he does not have very much money in his bank account and due to his inability to pay his bills, he is then forced to move out from his house and live in a rented apartment. This began the start of his transformation as we see that the love for his son and how he can make his life better is his top priority. When Chris does not have any income, he and Christopher live in a homeless shelter and even in a bathroom at the subway station. One unforgettable scene is staged in the subway, as Chris attempts to bring to life Christopher’s imagination of them time travelling using the bone density scanner. This is a significant aspect of the movie as the mise-en-scene has been shown to reflect the challenges facing Chris and his attempts to find happiness. This scene allows the audience to marvel at the environment that Chris makes for his son and the unexpected shifts in atmosphere when they lock themselves inside a bathroom, having to spend the whole night there with no other place to sleep.
The last significant scene in the movie is the basketball scene. It is on a Saturday and Chris takes his son to play basketball with him. His son is really into the games and gets the ball into the net, despite being the size he is. Chris is trying to do the same thing but struggles. He advises his son then that he will be able to succeed in things, but basketball is not one of them, so he should not spend his time practicing. He goes on to say in the game, he himself was mediocre and that his son could not be better than his father. Christopher is devastated hearing these words come out of his father’s mouth and Chris realizes he made a big mistake, starting shortly after: “Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they want to tell you, you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period. All right?” (Smith, 2006) There is so much passion with Chris’ words that we start to feel very sympathetic towards him. The camera also really works by playing levels and really recording the deepest emotions of Chris and Christopher and the environment.
The specified scene is particularly powerful since it marks the emotional and personal transformation of the character. Specifically, Chris’s realization of the significance of encouragement in his son’s life and the role that the plays as a parent in it allows him to change for the better and provide his son with much needed support. Remarkably, the described point in Chris’ character development also turns out to be the moment at which viewers also reconsider their first impression of Chris. Instead of viewing him as a deadbeat father, the audience recognizes his humanity and his need for a more profound and emotional connection with his son. Therefore, what was first recognized as Chris’ sternness and see as aa rather unappealing characteristic transforms into the willingness to support his son and care for him, which is an instantly relatable and much more appreciated feeling,. As a result, Chris’ gradual transformation starts as his humanity is discovered and salvaged in the eyes of the viewers.
What makes the specified scene even more powerful is the fact that Chris does not magically change to become a perfect father and resolve all of his problems, including the financial ones, immediately, Instead, the movie shows that he is going to face a range of struggles while striving to maintain the focus on improving his relationships with his son and turning his life around so that he could have financial security, job, and a basic support system. Instead, the movie does something entirely different, outlining the depicted scene as the point at which Chris realizes what issues he must prioritize. Specifically, he accepts that his relationships with his son are what makes him happy, and that he needs to work toward improving them (Smith, 2006). While the specified change does not negative the need for developing a more mature attitude and taking charge of his life as an adult, it still implies that Chris must start with mending his relationships with his family.
Despite Chris being portrayed as a deeply flawed protagonist, his perseverance and the dramatic change that he makes as he recognizes the value of the relationships with his son turn him into a likeable and engaging character, which makes the audience follow his development closely and engage with him emotionally. Chris Gardner never let his dreams, his one true love, deter him from everything. He knew how difficult and rare it was to discover something that he not only wanted to do, but he understood. For everything he had, every fiber of his being, he followed that purpose. He was bombarded by miserable incidents that would usually drive another person to give up. “The Pursuit of Happyness” reveals how he could do his very best, hit rock bottom and use his own tenacity to improve his unfortunate situations. This is what shaped his transformation, Chris Gardner, a man who loses everything, but eventually gets everything. Our direction, our concentration, we must find it. It is important for us to keep our dream alive and keep a clear eye on the final objective. It is not about the failures or errors along the way, it is about how they can make the road to the end stronger for us.
Reference
Smith, W. (2006). The pursuit of happiness. United States: Sony Pictures Releasing.