The Pursuit of Happyness

Where to begin...

Will Smith does a decent job in the movie, as others have remarked--he's not playing the Fresh Prince of Bel Air here.

It is supposedly based on the life of Chris Gardner, who started his career as a stock broker at Dean Whitter Reynolds and went on to start his own brokerage firm Gardner Rich in 1987. Here is the original book (wiki).

I wonder if the gentleman Will Smith passes by at the end of the movie is Chris Gardner doing a cameo. It is! Look at the picture of Chris Garnder and compare with the man in the film; it's the same person. Another photo:


Was Mr. Gardner very fortunate? Yes. He had the opportunity to climb out of poverty and be "successful," but only by becoming a part of the same system that is the cause of the social and economic evils seen in the film--homelessness, unemployment, and so own. It is only because he had the relevant skills that could be put to service of that economy that he had the opportunity. Shall we say that hard work only is enough for anyone? And if so, does the implication that all of the poor are responsible for their plight hold? What then of those who have been made obsolete by the system, who do not have skills that can be of use, or cannot acquire new ones? What of them? "Let them be employees of the service economy."

One could ask what Mr. Gardner's understanding of happyness is, and how it fits with a 'classical' or Catholic understanding of eudaimonia and beatitudo. Certainly he possesses many qualities of character that are admirable, as is his devotion to his family, particularly his son. I don't know how I would handle being in his situation, even as I try to see if Lady Poverty waits for me in the future. Not a happy prospect indeed, as she will not be there because I've decided to be a monk.

One notes that in the movie Mr. Gardner realizes that his job of selling medical equipment that is expensive and not necessary is not going anywhere. And yet how many jobs like that exist in this economy? Without continued technological innovation and obsolence (preplanned or otherwise), what would happen to our design and manufacturing jobs?
What do we say of an economy in which most people have 0 chance of being economically independent, and must sell their labor to others?

The movie is meant to be inspirational/motivational, feel-good, but it had none of those effects on me... because it is true to life its portrayal of life in the early '80s undermines its own message.

Glide Memorial and Rev. Cecil Wiliams have prominent cameos in the movie. I remember making a trip there while I was in high school for an Interact outing.

Yahoo movies page for The Pursuit of Happyness