The pursuit of happiness
I think that the movie pursuit of happiness is a good movie. In my opinion happiness is subjective; people differ in defining happiness, most agree that it’s a positive feeling but most differ in the causes of that great feeling. The fact that the movie is after a true story makes more effective, however, I believe that nothing really comes out of the hand of Hollywood without some varnish!
The movie has been realistic, motivating, and inspiring by emphasising on the idea of: fighting for what one wants, and not giving up. I see that the idea beyond the meaning is that happiness comes after achieving your goals, no matter what these goals where. The misunderstanding happens because the writer made the goal that had been achieved is money, which ruined the beauty of the message, because it made it more materialistic, maybe if the goal was something else the movie would have been less realistic and nobler. Still making money is the goal is realistic because we are in materialistic world, and money can sometimes make people act better, because they are not under the pressures of life any more, but it absolutely doesn’t mean that it makes them better people from the inside, and also doesn’t mean that its going to solve all their problems in life.

The pursuit of happiness

This movie is one of the best movies, because it deals with a true story. This story is a big issue that we all should think about. This issue is world wide, and it could happen to anybody in anywhere. Being homeless and in trouble is nothing if you are hopeless. So this story asks us not to stop dreaming. It improves that dreams can come true, but only if we tried hard and never stopped. In fact, it also leads us to the ways of approaching happiness. It’s not always by money, or other material stuff. This movie tells us that we can find happiness any where. But we have to start with our hearts, and our look to other people. We all also look forward in our life and forget the past. If you achieve your goals, then you found your happiness. Will smith and his boy, made this clear.

The pursuit of happiness

This is wissam hassan’s post:

I really enjoyed the movie, powerful performance of will smith. The movie is very depressing in a way that when I finished watching it, I thanked god for what I have.

There two conflicting main issues that the movie points. The first point is “ how to find happiness?” The movie shows that true happiness of achieving anything can’t happen except by working hard for that. This is a fact that runs on us on daily basis. Life was never easy, if there is anything that one might grave for, working hard for it is only way to make it happen. For example, as a student, I only enjoy getting goods grades if really worked or studied hard for that subject. The pain of the amount of work dedicated to a subject suddenly disappears and transforms to true happiness, and the pursuit of happiness becomes worth it.

On the other hand, the movie shows that the true happiness is by having money, purchasing a fancy car, setting in the first raw of a football game and owing a mansion. I think that director of the movie missed out on the true meaning of happiness. Chris Gardener is gifted man, he is talented when it comes to numbers, and that for me is the true happiness. Yes, you need money in order to survive, but money is something that comes and goes, it is a limited resource, but when someone is gifted from god with a talent that is rare, I think we to be happy for ourselves and hold on to it as the pursuit of happiness is already given.

For me, the true meaning of happiness is by achieving something, making difference in the real word, and by having a family, someone that can take care of me, who supports me and help me with my decisions and struggles, whether at university or at work.

The Pursuit of Happyness

Since we all have watched the movie and a lot provided us with a summary of it, I would like to focus on the fact that this movie is based on a true story.

While I was watching the movie I was in shock and even in denial to admit that this is in fact based on an event that happened in real life. There is a big focus on emphasizing the hierarchy of the class system; however, don’t you find it at least a bit odd that the rich are happy, understanding, delightful and very generous while the poor are the exact opposite. I have personally watched interviews by Oprah and Tyra dealing with the daily life of homeless people and their struggles to let the rich at least to notice them might as well give them the chance of a lifetime.

I believe that this movie deals with a rare event rather than with the real struggles of homeless people. It is true that we cannot generalize and assume that the entire wealthy act in the same manner perhaps this case was exceptional. But, if we were to look at another aspect of the movie, which is the direct relation and connection between wealth and happiness, I find the movie a complete failure in sending a mixed up signal and messages to the viewers. At one point the movie pushes us to strive for the best, never give up and whenever we fall we should always get back on our feet and run after our dreams, and that on its own is a very noble message to peruse and communicate to the viewers. And yet, the movie fails when the message transformed into showing how grand wealth is the solution to all problems and it is the door to happiness. I personally find the movie a bit far from showing the real life and it leaves me with questions that I failed to find the answer for such as knowing about the small yet crucial details of the hazard daily life Gardner must have went through every single second of his life.

Persuit of Happyness

A movie that discusses our real issues that we face in our world today, but don't you think it is a bit exaggerated? I mean we all know that there are really poor people in this world that really do go through that, but are they saints like Smith's character in the movie? Through out the whole movie we did not see the main character do something wrong or maybe unethical. The character was pictured as a perfect person who saw the worst out of everyone and still showed the best to them. I am a realistic person, and I admit that we have problems in our world, but I also admit that humans are humans, and humans are not perfect! On the other hand, I strongly believe that it was an amazing movie, Will Smith did a really good job, specially by choosing his son to play the character's son role in the movie; that showed added alot to the movie. Now, I go to my last comment about this movie, which is my favorite thing about it, its that this movie is more like a message than it is to entertain us. There are always hidden messages to us, like "never give up", "always have hope" and more. This is actually why I really liked the movie regardless to my first comment.

The American Dream

In The year 1981, Chris Gardener (Will Smith) tried to make a living by selling bone scanner machines in San Francisco to doctors and medical centers. Although he is a natural born salesman, this African-American believes that he is destined for a better career. His wife Linda works at two jobs to help pay the bills, and they are behind on their rent. Their five-year old son, Christopher (smith’s son), goes to a day care center, and it bugs his dad that on the outside of the building, the term "the pursuit of happyness" is misspelled. He is convinced that these little details make all the difference in life. Because of the financial pressure Linda decided to take a job in a restaurant in New York and leave her husband and her son. The father and his son had struggled a lot they wind up sleeping in bathrooms and bus stations, but soon the drama had ended when Chris decided to achieve his American dream by enrolling in a risky unpaid internship program.
Will smith rich performance was very great and so his son. The movie was very emotional and it gives hope for a lot of people. I believe that this film teaches us a lesson that if you want something, go and get it. This film gave me hope that I can achieve what I want by hard work and belief in god. I left the movie thinking that people who are in Gardener situation cant do what he did. They can’t break the cycle of poverty. But this is the story of one man who really made it!

Pursuit of HappIness!

This movie drew me in to reality in many ways, unlike many other movies. Will Smiths spectacular acting helped with that too as he grasped the essence of being unhappy, unfulfilled and in need and portrayed it to us. His relationship with his son was well done. There were many scenes in the movie that showed an example of reality and acted like a lesson for me. I watched in more than a month ago, twice and I can still remember Will Smith trying to simply change the spelling of happyness to happiness with an “i”which made me think how people can take things like that so meaninglessly in their lives! All the wanted was to be happy, to make his son and his wife happy (who eventually left because she couldn’t wait for that any longer). And that is what each one of us want, but the movie showed the struggle of that for many people. The movie also showed that it wasn’t what we had (objects or position) that would make us happy, but what we achieved in life that could pursue our happiness!

Hello everyone,
As expected, Will Smith made a fantastic performance in the Pursuit of Happiness, he showed a different actor than the one we all saw in most of his previous movies. In the movie Will Smith and his son are pursuing to get the thing that all people live and strive for and attempt in a million different ways to get: happiness. The main message of the movie is to send hope to people and tell them that no matter what your circustances are there is always hope in the horizon. Will's relationship with his son in real life helped them really click in the movie and create a great father-son bond. It is not a surprise that Will Smith got nominated for an Oscar for his outstanding performance in the Pursuit of Happiness.

The Pursuit of Happyness

This movie showed me a different dimension of Will Smith’s character. Considering some of his earlier movies, this was a very different role for him. Most of the movies I had seen from Will Smith, were very energetic and active but not this one. He was very successful in acting as a real character just like he has been in other unreal movies.
I think I can summarize the whole movie under one word, which is hope. He faced a lot of difficult circumstances. Whenever he had given up on his problems, the movie would have ended at that moment. Even the ending part of the movie wasn’t really about the end. It was a starting point of a new life. He just never gave up. He never lost hope.

The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness is a great drama movie. Actually, I think it is an ordinary movie, but the fact that it’s based on a true story makes the movie so special and real. It all begins when Will Smith “Chris Gardner” finds himself jobless and homeless. The man is so smart, but his luck is not helping him at all. After facing many troubles Chris finds work as a trainee at a brokerage firm. Finally, by working hard he becomes a partner and owner of his own Chicago-based firm.

The movie sends great messages to all people around the world. However, I think there was one key message behind the movie which is “NEVER LOSE YOUR DREAM”. People shouldn’t give up their dreams easily; they must work so hard and run after their goals till they achieve them. Life is tough and people earn their desire by sweat not by talking and dreaming. Besides working hard, believing in god and having a high level of faith will make people reach their dreams. Honestly, we can learn many lessons from this movie and there is a lot more but I think these are the most important ones.

On the other hand, I didn’t like the idea of linking happiness with money. There are much more important things in life other than money which will make you happy, such as: being healthy. What’s the value of your life if you are too sick and you can’t enjoy anything?? Money is not happiness, it’s just a way to make people happy.

The uniqueness of the movie comes from the excellent performance of Will Smith and his son. The chemistry between them is outstanding. Choosing Jaden Smith ,Will Smith son, to act with his dad in such a sensitive movie is one of the reasons that make the movie full of real emotions that break the wall between the actor and the audience.

Note: The name of the movie is The Pursuit of Happyness not The Pursuit of Happiness.

the pursuit of happiness

The pursuit of happiness is a very interesting movie, because it brings up a true story of the multi millionaires struggle in his life before getting rich. I loved the way will smith acted in the movie, he was really convincing and really touched me. I also loved the chemistry that was between him the boy that was playing his son’s role in the movie. The movie made me really thankful of what I have and satisfied. However, I really was enthusiastic about my career and it made me really willing to work harder to improve my standards. The movie also changed my whole perspective of life, it made me think of things more deeply and not being superficial like most people around and that nothing is impossible, with hard work, passion and honestly a person can pursue their dreams. Although the movie is called the “the pursuit of happiness” it was really depressing, the only happy part was the last minute of the movie.

the pursuit of happiness

The pursuit of happiness is a very interesting movie, because it brings up a true story of the multi millionaires struggle in his life before getting rich. I loved the way will smith acted in the movie, he was really convincing and really touched me. I also loved the chemistry that was between him the boy that was playing his son’s role in the movie. The movie made me really thankful of what I have and satisfied. However, I really was enthusiastic about my career and it made me really willing to work harder to improve my standards. The movie also changed my whole perspective of life, it made me think of things more deeply and not being superficial like most people around and that nothing is impossible, with hard work, passion and honestly a person can pursue their dreams. Although the movie is called the “the pursuit of happiness” it was really depressing, the only happy part was the last minute of the movie.

The Pursuit of Happyness

Walking into the movie theatre to watch "The Pursuit of Happyness", I knew what to expect, and I walked out of it at the end of the show getting exactly what I expected. As the trailer suggested, it is a story of a man struggling financially to support his wife, his son, and himself. He makes some risky decisions that lead to a lot of difficult situations snowballing one after the other (including his wife leaving him), but he manages to pull through in the end. I guess you can call it a dramatized success story.

When we were asked in class to blog about this topic, I thought "what can you possibly say about it?" Decent film, strong performances, touching story. What else is there? Someone suggested that the message the film is giving can be deceiving, as it unrealistically portrays the fact that people can ultimately get anything they want, and that it uses the word "happiness" as a synonym to "money". I disagree. Films like these aren't meant to make us believe in the impossible; they are meant to boost people's morale and give them the idea that they can achieve anything WITHIN their reach and their abilities. No one said anything about waking up tomorrow and being able to work in NASA. The accomplishment Will Smith's character achieved in the movie is a very possible one, bearing in mind that is was inspired by a true story that actually occurred. As for the fact that the idea of happiness was symbolized by money, this isn't entirely incorrect. The reason the main character was struggling during the film was because of the lack of money, which lead to a difficult life. He couldn't even afford shelter for his son anymore. It is an animal instinct in human beings to be able to provide for their offspring and make them comfortable, so imagine being so incompetent that you cannot achieve that. By getting a decent job, with a great salary, most of the problems he was dealing with in life instantly get abolished. He can now provide for his son, give him shelter, food, and comfort, get him a good education and so on. Although this does not constitute the entire meaning of happiness as an ideology, it still makes important aspects of life much easier. Without having to struggle on how to make ends meet, there is more time to enjoy a good life with his son and do normal everyday things.

If I were to criticize the film, the one thing I would say is that they gave too much of it away in the trailer. Most of the sensitive, critical parts were shown in the trailer, making the impact in the film much less (like in the scene where his son was sleeping in the bathroom of the subway station, and he was holding on to him with tears rolling down his eyes). That was a strong on-screen scene, and it would've been a lot more powerful if the audience had not seen it before numerous times in the trailer. Overall, a good film, and a very powerful performance from Will Smith, who was unfortunately snubbed at the Oscars (although Forest Whitaker's Oscar was well-deserved). His son was a good actor as well, and that probably was an important factor in why the performance was really strong.

The Pursuit of HAPPYness

The central theme of this movie is the clichéd pursuit of the American dream. Its story revolves around the main character, a young salesman by the name of Chris Gardner, who is struggling to maintain a stable job, in order to make ends meet and support his family (wife and 5-year old son). However, despite the fact that he is talented, hard-working, and is desperately trying to keep his family together, his wife decides to leave in the end. This leaves Chris alone with his son.
He then gets an internship at a stock brokerage firm, for which he initially gets no salary (for a period of 6 months). However he still sticks to this job hoping that once he is done with the program he will be able to provide a more prospering future for his little boy. Meanwhile the two soon get evicted from their house and end up being homeless. They have to go to shelters, sleep in toilets and use bus stations as refuge.

What is really interesting and touching about this movie is the close bond that the father and son both share (this may be thanks to the fact that the two actors are really related which makes it easier for them to act out such feelings). Chris is willing to do anything it takes to provide a better future for his child.

However in some sense, I’d say that the movie is also overly optimistic. Although we do know that it is based on a true story, it seems too ideal in certain aspects. There are millions of talented yet poor people out there, and hard work and effort are often just too little for them to make it. You don’t just see very many people who are overly poor becoming millionaires in the future (yes, it does happen but is very rare and sometimes movies like that just stray too far from reality). However I’d say that this movie is also a good motivator because it stresses on the fact that if you try hard, you will make it one day and you will be successful, regardless of your social background, race or current job position. In a way, it is like “a dream come true”, a happy ending.

The Pursuit of Happiness

It is a good movie. Will Smith performance was amazing. And as many critics suggest the chemistry between him and his son was exceptional.
I asked you in the theories of perception class to list four things make you happy, you did, we found out that each one of us think differently about happiness as well as life and other meanings and feelings in our lives. Here we are talking about the message in the movie, the meaning of happiness as offered by this film and what do you think of it comparing to your own meanings and interpretations of happiness and its requirements.
we can look too at the possible effect of this message on people's attitudes and behaviours and approach to life and being happy.

hala show

I think it is 100 percent not ethical to use lies in order to entertain people or to increase the number of audiences of a ceretain TV show. In the Arab world the media is not given the enough freedom to discuss every issue in the society freely. In such a world a TV show that brings up sensitive issues like prostitution and presents live cases, is really unique and grabs attention. it is not an issue to be proud of, i do appreciate the fact that she is trying to discuss the problem since this is an important step in solving the problem.but then get real examples and not bunch of actors as if they are in a stage playing with peoples emotions. I think the only possible reason for hala’s action is that she wanted more attention. Yes I strongly believe that there should be committees to supervise the performance of the Arabic entertainment TV shows. I think people are starting to loose there trust for the media. Since one of the most watched TV show was caught in an action of manipulation what about the other less famous shows. Actually I do think that the committee is a more civilized method to control media but in the same time in some cases like what happened in Hala show the involvement of the polices authority is necessary.

Oprah Winfrey

She has the leading show that appeals to international audiences at a time because of several factors. Her approach is very humanitarian and she tackles many subjects that are of interest not only locally but also on the global level in many communities regardless of their ethnicity. The success that she has acquired from even her most local and American shows is due to the fact that she can add a level of humanitarian interest that personalizes any topic she discusses. Another factor, in my opinion the most effective, is the fact that her show does not only explore and expose issues, but it also tackles them and solves them in many cases, from domestic problems of drug abuse to world disasters like the Tsunami catastrophe.
If I was Oprah Winfrey, I would be a more objective with regards to tackling issues that deal with the Arab world. In episodes like the one that displayed women globally or in ones about the war in Iraq, many misconceptions and stereotypical negative imagery about the Arab world were displayed. As an objective talk show host that has fans on a worldwide level, Oprah should have at least considered the other side of the story.
This show is an important source of entertainment in the Arab world. Some topics may be less relevant to Arab communities than others, and sometimes the topics can be provoking, but on the overall there is a large audience for it. There is a widespread knowledge and attitude acquisition from this show.

“The Pursuit of Happiness”

It’s entirely a truthful title, because you watch the film praying for some kind of a happy ending to such a gloomy story. Will Smith stars here as Chris Gardner, who alongside with his wife& son. he’s a authentically likeable guy, who made the mistake of sinking his life savings into High-Density Bone Scanning machines, which he describes as “a machine that gives a slightly better image than an X-Ray, but costs twice as much” – and his incapability to put up for sale the machines brings Linda to the edge, and she leaves her family behind for a new life in New York. Facing a hard future and the threat of deportation, Chris takes on a highly competitive internship at a prestigious Stock broking firm, not realizing that .It doesn’t pay anything for the full six month traineeship, and, Out of the twenty successful applicants, only one of them is likely to be hired for a paying performance. The rest of the movie centers more on Chris’ struggles to provide some sort of normalcy for his son, without having any true means to do so. Will Smith is painful to watch in this movie, and I bought into his resist 100%. In a move that could have gone completely off the rails, Jaden Smith is also fantastic in this ; there’s no doubt that the onscreen teaming of family members has worked before in films; but usually with proven actors. Here Jaden is apparently ready to follow in Will’s footsteps, he plays the role with just enough purity to make the struggles he goes through that touch more horrendous. Overall, it’s a terrific movie I really recommend people to watch; it can easily be designated for an Oscar.