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Film summary of the pursuit of happiness
Film summary of the pursuit of happiness
Brief summary on poverty in America
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To what extent would a parent go to keep their child protected, safe, and happy? The movie “The Pursuit of Happiness,” a biographical drama based on a true story, portrays the hardships that an African American man (played by Will Smith) and his son face together. This movie reveals the striking reality of poverty and emphasizes that most Americans are not living the ‘American Dream.’ Hollywood generally portrays an unrealistic image of the average American and leads people to believe that everyone is meeting financial requirements on time, purchasing nice vehicles, enjoying life in fancy homes, and not dealing with constant money shortages. Director Gabriele Muccino does an amazing job at reversing this image by exposing viewers a different side. He reveals how some people in America are struggling …show more content…
His bank account was wiped out by the IRS for unpaid taxes and he had less than thirty dollars in it. Furthermore, he and his son would spend some nights at a restroom in the subway station as Chris could not make rent. Chris struggles throughout the whole movie as he attempts to manage his work in the office and the long lines outside the church where the homeless could spend the night. Despite all the difficulty he goes through, he never shows a sign of weakness. His motivation and consistency are inspiring and uplifting for the viewer. The work ethic reminds viewers of the hard working blue collar class, because Chris is willing to work and sacrifice to overcome any hardship and preserve in order to provide the best for his son. While finishing his internship, he gets called down to the boss’ office once again where he is offered a permanent job at the company. This moment of realization causes an overwhelming rush of emotions for Chris and for the viewer as final captions on the screen describe how he later becomes a successful multi-millionaire and proceeds to open his own brokerage
High crime rates not only put the children at risk as potential victims but also robs them of the male role models that are vital to their development. Most of the fath...
Government assistance was designed to help those in need, yet if an individual works the system to their benefit, it is seen as taking advantage. However, the biggest question is, do governmental programs provide all of a family’s needs or are they given the bare minimum necessities? This movie helped achieve the course objective of taking a personal exploration of African American cultural experiences for several reasons. Becoming dependent on welfare is the reality of many African American families. The government has become the father of millions of children. If the father does not step up to take care of his responsibilities, welfare will. The relationship between welfare and employment is also significant because although Claudine is employed in addition to receiving help, she can barely make ends meet. Furthermore, the moment Rupert married Claudine, her welfare would be terminated, although it was no way he could take care of the large family on a garbage man salary. What would be the ethical decision, to choose love or welfare? With all of the outside forces, there was no way for Claudine to succeed in a system that was designed for her to
The American dream was at one time the idea of visionaries and people willing to sacrifice everything to achieve the best life possible. But like everything in life, things begin to lose their luster. As seen in the film Revolutionary Road, this American dream is more of an idea of comfort. Quite relatable to a participation trophy, people are content with doing just enough to never leave their comfort zone. There isn’t much risk in owning a home in the suburbs with a wife, two kids, and a pet dog. Although, with a life like that you will often never experience the pain of catastrophic failure or the loneliness in going against the grain everyone else chooses to follow. But without the opportunity to fail, how you can you ever feel like you won? The cookie cutter life previously described also has no opportunity for
The research article "If We Are So Rich, Why aren 't We Happy?" By Professor of psychology Mihaly Csikszentmihaly is written to provide information to people and psychologists, with various examples and techniques from his books. Mihaly is the founder of "Positive theory" (1990), and originator of the "flow" concept, so through his studies Mihaly shows us that people in the United States believes materialism and having and excess amount of money will bring more happiness. This however is not the truth his studies show the opposite in fact, and it is clear that his article is more about providing information to the average person, rather than simply stating the facts of his books for a professional study. This is proven to be true when he talks
As stated by Franklin D. Roosevelt, “the test of our progression is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” Many people may agree with this statement considering that the United States is such a wealthy country and in 2012, 46.5 million people were living in poverty in the United States and 15% of all Americans and 21.8% of children under age eighteen were in poverty.The honest truth is that many people do not know the conditions this group of people must live in on a daily basis because of the small number of people who realize the struggle there is not a great amount of service. In the article Too stressed for Success, the author Kevin Clarke asks the question “What is the cost of being poor in America?” and follows the question by explaining the great deals of problems the community of poverty goes through daily by saying, “Researchers have long known that because of a broad reduction in retail and other consumer choices experienced by America's poor, it is often simply more expensive to be poor in the United States.
The movie Born Rich at first seems like a kid who wants to overcome the “voodoo of inherited wealth” (Born rich, 4:24). Jamie Johnson the heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune is intent on getting his inner circle of friends to address this controversial issue. From the beginning of the movie there seems to be an unwritten rule that it’s in bad taste to discuss your wealth. This point seems funny that those with money don’t want to talk about their wealth, while those without money only talk about having wealth. As reluctant as they say they are, it seems that they are more than willing to babel on about it and the privilege that accompanies it throughout the movie which seems hypocritical. These kids, seems to range from very grounded to on the verge of paranoia about their money. However when you look at the range of problems, insecurities and unhappiness that exists among these kids it’s easy to say money doesn’t solve your problems.
In The Hunger Games, the inequality between the rich and the poor is the biggest theme presented in the book. Throughout the book, Katniss mentions that starvation is common in District 12, and she has often gone hunting illegally in the woods for food for her family. This is an example of how the rich and the poor are separated. Wealth is only centralized in the hands of the rich, while the poor are left to starve, leaving disparity. The best examples of the inequality between the rich and the poor is seen in the tessera system, and the way the tributes are selected for the games. In the novel, they have what is called “the reaping”, which is the lottery at which they choose the tributes for the games. It is said in the book that the poor is more likely to be picked than the rich are. In the tessera system, children
money. The reason i think this is because the reason people go through all those
The American Dream can mean a number of different things to number of different people. Over the years this ideal has evolved and its definition will continue to change for many more years to come. What has not changed is the desire to achieve this dream. For decades now, people from all over the world have immigrated to the United States with hopes of obtaining this dream. However it seems that, to many immigrants the American dream has a very different and more modest definition. To many foreigners it means having the basic necessities in life and giving their children opportunities and life they ever had. Immigration can be a good and a bad thing. On one hand the overall standard of living is better but on the other hand it is almost inevitable that the family, especially the children, will lose some of their culture as they Americanize and assimilate. This is partially the reason why the mothers of The Joy Luck Club continue to have the Joy Luck Club meetings. Even though they are now in America, they want to make sure their daughters are exposed to and maintain the Chinese culture. Mother/ daughter relationships are a large component in Amy Tan’s award winning novel, The Joy Luck Club.
The society that humans exist in faces social problems everyday. Social problems can be unique to one society, or they can be universal. Poverty is a universal problem that is felt, and seen in every society, although what is seen as poverty in one society may not be seen as poverty in another society. You live in poverty when you are poor. Poverty can become a deadly trap to those affected, and leaves them unable to escape.
...fines happiness in America for the lower class African-American males. This American dream depicted in film tells people that money is the key to happiness and when they set out to get money they ultimately start to forget about the things that truly make them happy like their families for instance. Everyone is entitled to happiness, but it’s up to you to actually pursue it. I believe America needs to promote a more diverse America Dream. American Dreams those are obtainable for the average American. Movies like the pursuit of happiness can still be displayed but let’s change the story line. Let us show the world that a daycare teacher is living her American dream or a cop that lives to serve and protect America’s citizens. From here on out we should try to kill off the misconceptions of this dream and let the real America shine through film and media.
“Why should I pay higher taxes so that some lazy poor person can pick up another unemployment check and go back on their couch and spend my money?”(Johnson). Does this sound recognizable? Unfortunately most of us have heard these anti-welfare point of view bountiful times before. Recent Census data display that about 48.5 million people equivalent to about 16% of the population are currently dealing with poverty (Johnson). This is the fourth continuous year that the poverty rate has expanded. The recession launched a vastly great deal of Americans into poverty, and despite the economy now repairing, wages are still delayed and people continue to battle nationwide. For plentiful, the only remedy is to curve to safety net programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, child care assistance, TANF, and unemployment benefits, to name a few. The ability to rise from poverty can be accomplished with one willingly to succeed however with society trying to over help them makes them lackadaisical so I would blame the structures of the society such as the economic structure and the fluctuations.
The American dream today is based on the fact that anyone living in America can achieve a perfect life if they work hard. Willy Loman, the father in the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, tries his hardest to reach the American dream as he grows up. The Loman’s life from beginning to end is a troubling story based on trying to become successful, or at least happy. Throughout their lives they encounter many problems causing Willy to have a tragic death due to the desire of succession. Willy wants to provide his wife Linda, and two sons Biff and Happy, the perfect life. Willy strives for the American dream throughout the entire play, yet never achieves what he hopes because there are too many problems standing in his way.
In America there is countless of different definitions of what the American Dream is, but according Xavier University “many Americans most commonly define the American Dream in terms of opportunity, freedom, and family” (Good). A great definition of what the American Dream is” no matter what your race you are, what country you come from, and what financial background you have you can be anything you want to be” said Sidd Singhal an investment banker (National: Defining the American Dream). While on their journey many Americans realize that the American Dream bring a different paths of happiness which includes alcohol, sex, and drugs. In both movies “Wolf of Wall Street” and “The Great Gatsby” are great representation of what the American Dream is and the paths of happiness that comes along with it. Both movies were released in the same year, have the same theme and one the main characters Jordan Belfort and Jay Gatsby are both played by Leonardo DiCaprio My focus in this essay is to compare both Wolf of Wall Street and The Great Gatsby to show the connection between the American Dream and the paths to happiness.
Imagine, someone losing a close love one; they are already grieving but also their love one had a large amount of debt and lived an unhappy life with no exposure to new experiences. Happiness is the state of being joyful; it’s the feeling that comes when one knows life is good. However, the question is can money really buy happiness? According to Gretchen Rubin, “No money cannot buy happiness, but money can buy a lot of things that will contribute mightily to happiness.” Money can buy happiness when one wisely uses it for experience’s, helping others, and investing in life.