An
Analysis of a Film
“The Pursuit of Happyness”
By
Gabriele Muccino
- Setting
Setting of Place :
San Francisco, Lodging House, Glide Memorial
Church, a bus, Stock
Broker Office
Setting of Time :
1981-1987
A Socio-cultural Setting : A modern life. Many people have modern
job
as stock broker. It indicates that the character lives in a modern life. In
addition, the use of modern health tool, a bone-density scanner machine also
indicates that the story took place in a modern life.
- Character and Characterization
Main Character :
Chris
Gardner: He is a salesman of bone-density
scanner machine. He is a smart, tough,
and hard worker. He is the main character because for all the time the film
shows much about him.
Christopher: He is Chris Gardner’s
son of five years old. He is also the main character as Chris Gardner. He is
full of understanding to his father’s condition. He is smart and strong in term
of his mental.
Supporting Character :
Linda:
She is an employee of a laundry service. She is Gardner’s wife. She is
impatient. She is hard and bad tempered. She is the antagonist character
because she was always in the opposite opinion to Chris Gardner.
Charlie:
He is the owner of the lodging house where Chris
Gardner
and his family live.
Ralph:
He is the owner of the lodging house where
Gardner
and his family live.
Deborah:
She is another owner of a lodging house.
Driver:
The
taxi driver in which Chris Gardner got in. He got very angry to Chris Gardner
because he avoided paying for the taxi fare by escaping from the taxi.
etc. (many other
characters.)
They are the supporting
character for they made the story
complete.
- Plot
Exposition :The story began in 1981. There was a
small family of
Chris
Gardner, Linda, and a five year old boy,
Christopher, their son.
Chris Gardner was a salesman of a
bone density scanner
machine.
Complication:
The problem started when Chris Gardner could not
afford enough money for
paying taxes, for their family’s
daily needs, day care of
their son.
Crisis :The crisis happened when Linda, Chris Gardner’s wife
could
stand living in poverty, so she left Chris Gardner. Then, Chris Gardner received
a letter of obliging to pay taxes while he did not have enough money in the
bank. In addition, Ralph, the owner of the lodging house asked Chris Gardner to
pay for the rent or they had to leave the
lodging
house. So, Chris and Christopher spent the night
in
the rest room.
Falling Action:In
his hopeless condition, Chris Gardner got
opportunityto
have training/work as a stock broker after
passing
the test without any salary in Dean
Witter
Reonolds. The best
candidate would be the employee of
Dean Witter. In such
condition, he was expelled by
Deborah, the owner of
the lodging house because Chris
Gardner could not pay
for the rent. Chris Gardner and
Christopher stayed in
Glide Memorial without any fare. At
the same time, he maintained their life by
selling the
broken
bone scanner machine. In order to get money to fix
the machine Chris Gardner sold his blood as a
donor.
Resolusion:
Having finished training, Chris Gardner was informed by
the
officer of Dean Witter that he was accepted as the
permanent
employee. He achieved his success as a stock broker. Eventually, Chris Gardner
established his own
stock
broker company, Gardner Rich. Success was his. He
could
sell some of his own company’s stake in 2006 and
he could achieve millions dollar.
- Point of View:
First-Person Point of View (Limited Omniscient)
The narrator/story teller is the doer of the
story.
- Symbol : Love, sadness, struggle, and
happiness
Gardner’
love to his wife, Linda makes
him patient to
hear her curse and anger almost. He also
loves his son.
Gardner’s life is full of sadness. He seems to be
always
in a sad condition because of his condition.
Gardner struggles for his family and life. He
struggles for having a complete family but
fails. Linda
leaves him. He struggles for better
earnings. He
struggles for his success in financial.
At
the end of the film it is known that Gardner lives
happily because he succeeds as stock broker.
His very
long effort and struggle comes to a happy
ending.
- Tone : Touching and deep compassion
Almost all the scene seems to be touching
and deep
compassion. The condition of Gardner who is
always
blamed
by his wife, the words of Gardner’s son of
asking
why his mother leaves them really touch and
compass us. In addition, the Gardner and his
son struggle
because of having no place/house to stay,
having no
money is really a very compassion.
7.
Theme : Family Life
This film specifically tells about the life
of a small
family of Gardner with his wife and his only
son, Christ.
Though in the middle of the story, his wife
leaves him.
8.
Message : We should do our best to achieve our
goals and we
should win
the battle and the struggle in our life.
- Comment : This story is written based on the
true experience.
It is valuable for everyone in building their
good
characteristics. We have to be able to learn
to be
responsible and well-trusted.
The word is typed “happyness” instead of “happiness”.
It indicates and symbolizes that the
person/doer of the
story
pursues the happiness in a very hard condition that
makes him get angry.
The word “pursue” is used for the title to show that the happiness
is
chased in a hurry, very quick moment, no time to loss.
- Summary/Synopsis
This
story is taken from a true experience .The story started in 1981.
A small family of Chris
Gardner with his wife, Linda and his five year old son, Christopher lived in
small apartment. Chris was a salesman of a bone scanner machine while Linda
worked for a laundry service. However, Chris could not make money as much as Linda
hoped because the machines are expensive enough for doctors to buy.
Quarrel between Chris and Linda often happened when they
had much burden for daily life and for paying the apartment rent as well as
taxes. Chris also had to pay the fine of his careless parking. They did not
have enough money to pay. In the hopeless situation, Linda could bear the
poverty. She finally decided to leave Chris.
In his hopeless hope, still he had to face the problem
that Christopher and him had
to leave the lodging
house because Chris could not pay for the rent. Yet, surprisingly, Chris
met a successful stock
broker. It made Chris want to be a stock broker too.
Chris got an opportunity to work/training for Dean Witter
Reynold,
a stock broker company
although without any salary. In the very difficult situation, again Chris was
expelled from his lodging house. So, he finally decided to stay in Glide
Memorial without any rent. At the same time, for the daily needs he only had to
be able the only broken bone scanner machine. To repair the machine, Chris sold
his blood for donor.
Eventually, Chris was accepted as the permanent employee
of Dean Witter. Having made a lot of money on stock broker, Chris was able to
establish his own stock broker company, Gardner Rich. Later on, he was able to
sell his company’s stocks and made a lot of money. He had enjoyed his success
after a very long suffer.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGreat movie Analysis! Thanks ! :)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi, I was wondering about the characters of the movie. Could you help me? Is there a true opponent in this story?
ReplyDeleteThanks
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