The documentary HAPPY looks at the lives of different individuals from around the world, finding what source of leisure gives them the feeling of “happiness”. From the start many perspectives of how to be happy are shown, from Americans wanting to live the American dream, a rickshaw driver from India, elders in Okinawa Japan, a car accident survivor, and families living in co-housing communities in Denmark. These combine to create different cultural views through interviews with real life people and leading scientists, showing new research in positive psychology throughout the documentary in attempts to discover what happiness truly is. The film was directed by Roko Belic in 2011, and has won numerous awards including best documentary and …show more content…
Recognizing that happiness is a fundamental part in integrating motivation, personality, and subjective experiences into the human experience calls for a greater attention to the impact it plays in our lives (Moneta & Csikszentmihalyi, 1996). Flow theory represents the enjoyable and rewarding experiences expressed through the even balance of challenge and skill, and can be found in multiple aspects throughout HAPPY. In the film tai chi is found to be a common practise among many elderly and even children throughout different regions of Japan. This promotes a sense of self, challenge, and skills to remain in the moment while carrying out the moves in an “absorbed” state of activity. In addition another example of flow throughout the film is the annual gorilla run, consisting of people dressing in both banana and gorilla costumes while running different length marathons. Although this may seem odd it creates an optimization of experience that creates an intense and complex structured activity, allowing for substantial control over an individual’s difficulty of task by allowing the choice in which distance they run (Moneta & Csikszentmihalyi, 1996). Flow furthermore relies heavily on intrinsic motivation and self-determination, which can be found in the story of Melissa Moody. Voted most beautiful women in her younger years, tragedy stroke when she was run over by a car, causing her to become severely disfigured and disabled for over nine in a half years. Although it was a challenge to recover, Melissa found her happiness again through reconnecting with her sense of self and motivating herself through rehabilitation while also finding comfort and flow through horseback riding. The balance of challenge and skill will ultimately decide the quality of the experience, creative talent, mental
Over many years, people have attempted to seek out what happiness truly is and how it can be obtained. It could be described as a feeling, a goal, or a state of mind. The definition of happiness can vary depending on the individual, race; even the religion someone follows can influence what happiness is to them. In Roko Belics documentary Happy, we see many different examples of happiness from people living in diverse parts of the world and what it means to them. Whether it’s a poor father from India transporting passengers on his bicycle making pennies on the dollar, or a successful business man on Wall Street living in New York with a six figure salary, happiness can come to anyone no matter how different their lifestyles are. I agree with
It is a common thought that happiness is key to a successful life, and many try to find out how to achieve the
In the essay Why Happiness, Why Now? Sara Ahmed talks about how one’s goal in life is to find happiness. Ahmed begins her essay with skepticism and her disbeliefs in happiness. She shows her interest in how happiness is linked to a person’s life choices. Ahmed also tries to dig deeper, and instead of asking an unanswerable question, “what is Happiness?” she asks questions about the role of happiness in one’s life.
The studies given as examples and discussion focuses on teenagers and young adults, but includes anyone is struggling to find happiness. Evidence to Support Thesis: Point 1: The level of well-being is emphasized as more people continue to lose track of what makes them happy. Shawn Anchor is reminding people to capture the essence of simple contentment and asking his audience to think about what they value. Anchor’s book provides seven principles that involve having an open mind to becoming happier. Anchor includes other research studies as evidence to his claims throughout the book.
In this documentary, Roko Belic an American film producer and director tries to explain happiness by traveling the world from Louisiana, United States to Okinawa, Japan to learn more about happiness of different ages, classes and ethnicities of people. He explains that in his documentary by interviewing several normal people about their
In contrast to Aristotle, Roko Belic’s documentary “Happy” provides a fresh perspective that takes place far more recently. The film sets out to similar goals of Aristotle in defining the nature of happiness and exploring what makes different people happy in general. Unlike Aristotle, however, the film’s main argument refers to makes people happier. In this case, the film argues that merely “doing what you love” is what leads to happiness (Belic). The argument itself appears oddly self-serving, considering that message is what underlines the foundation of happiness, yet there is a subliminal message that a simpler lifestyle is what leads to what the film is trying to convince you of. The message itself is obviously addressed to Americans, considering
In the book, The How of Happiness, author and researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky sets her book apart from other self-awareness books by being the first to utilize empirical studies. She uses data gained through scientific method to provide support for her hypothesis. This hypothesis consists mainly of the idea that we have the ability to overcome genetic predisposition and circumstantial barriers to happiness by how we think and what we do. She emphasizes that being happier benefits ourselves, our family and our community. “The How of Happiness is science, and the happiness-increasing strategies that [she] and other social psychologists have developed are its key supporting players” (3).
Happy is a documentary that brings to light the different types of livings of people around the world and contrasts how they define happiness. The movie starts out in Kolkata Slum, India, with a man Manoj Singh. Manoj is living a relatively impoverished life. His house isn’t the best, in fact the roof is just a tarp however he says “my home is good.” Manoj is quite happy with his life and it’s not because of his minimal possessions but the community around him. His happiness lies in the fact that he can see his son smiling every day and he is so grateful for his neighbors and friends. He even states himself that he doesn’t consider himself as “poor but the richest person.” Manoj’s happiness is described as the same as the average American.
“Hector and the Search for Happiness” film by Peter Chelsom demonstrates what happiness looks like and how come it is important to our life in depth and in an entertaining way. The movie demonstrates many things across the movie, but the three main things that being emphasized the most were love, fear, and money. These points are connected very strongly and affect almost all of our happiness because we cannot miss any points of it in the modern life, and it is motivating make us happy.
But in this debate, one question still raises its head - What is happiness? Happiness is not actually leading a luxurious life, but the luxury of living a life. Happiness is not actually about expanding your business, but it lies in expanding the horizons of life. Happiness is not having a meal in the most famous restaurant, but having it with your most beloved family. It does not lie in attending honorable parties, but to attend a party with honor.
According to Webster dictionary the word Happiness in defined as Enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy. People when they think of happiness, they think about having to good feeling inside. There are many types of happiness, which are expressed in many ways. Happiness is something that you can't just get it comes form your soul. Happiness is can be changed through many things that happen in our every day live.
Real happiness is more than brief positive feelings but rather a lasting state of peace or contentedness. According to Reich, a former professor of psychology at Arizona State University, happiness is “deeper than a momentary good mood” (Reich). When ordinary happiness is experienced, Jacobsen, a professor in the Department
Happiness is how something is viewed as opposed to a physical thing. However, happiness is not only a perspective but also a choice. Success and happiness are frequently linked to contentment but happiness should not be dependent on success. In spite of not succeeding in my chosen sport of horse riding the enjoyment it provided for me far outweighed any d...
Happiness is a feeling that humans naturally desire. Without it, one feels incomplete. In this generation, happiness has taken on a definition by how we are presented to one another. It is measured by how much money we have, how famous we are, or the things we possess. When in reality, none of these things guarantee a happy life. Happiness is something that cannot be bought with money, but rather, it must be found, earned, sought after. Each and every one of us has our own list of things that we consider to make us happy. However, happiness shines brightest through the relationships we create, and the goals we make for ourselves to strive after. Along with these two essential sources, we then can mix and match those things in life that we enjoy to create our own unique formula for happiness.
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, said in his book “Nichomachean Ethics” that "happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the aim and end of human existence." (Aristotle). He means that happiness is a central purpose of human life. It is true when we all wish to be happy. However, when we are asked what happiness is, we cannot define happiness in a general concept because it means something different to each individual person. For example, for one person, happiness is a sense of satisfaction from success in career, whereas for others, it may be a feeling of being loved by other people. Meanwhile, philosophers indicate that happiness has two senses. The first one is psychological sense related to a state of mind (Haybron). The other sense