Power of Dreams in The Pursuit of Happyness Movie Essay Example

 "You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves,   they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period." - 'The Pursuit Of Happyness'

A movie as well-known as this line from it "The Pursuit of Happyness" effectively depicts the power of dreams and the desire for them. The movie is based on the life of Chris Gardener, an American businessman in his thirties who is trying to provide for his family of three. Chris is shown attempting to sell a portable bone density scanner that he spent all of his life money on, and his marriage is also seen to be failing. On his way to sell one of the scanners, he comes across a sportscar and its owner introduces him to the profession of stock brokering, which piqued his attention and matched his level of intelligence. Soon after, he meets Jay Twistle, a lead manager and partner at Dean Writer Reynolds, who is impressed by Chris on a taxi ride when he solves a Rubix cube. His relationship with Jay earns him a chance to become an intern stockbroker, a position which he eventually lands due to his honesty and confidence, which greatly helped in his interview. Even though he was given the chance, the position was unpaid, which resulted in more problems for Chris and his kid, such as losing his car, losing his house, staying in toilets, and living in homeless shelters. On one of these days, Chris is with his son Christopher, and he is unable to handle the overwhelming stress and dismisses his son's dream of becoming a professional basketball player as unattainable for people like them. Chris's son, clearly moved by his father's remarks, stops playing, places his ball back in his polybag, and stands looking at the building nearby. This scenario, as well as all of the events leading up to it, establishes our Kairos, the appropriate conditions for our crucial declarations.

Observing his son's depressed demeanor Chris recognizes the mistake he has just made; he recognizes that this is what has been happening to him that has led him to this position; he recognizes the contradictory events in his past that have allowed him to be better than the rest of the students in his small class despite having adverse situations, such as his son, right in front of him. Chris also recalls that his desire of becoming a medical doctor was never realized because he was thought that it was simply too far out of reach for him, but now he wonders whether that really was the case. Is his son's ambition out of reach? The answer to this issue was clear to Chris now; it was an attainable goal for him and one for his kid, and no one, not even Chris, should stand in his way of achieving it, and so Chris walks to his son to express his heart, which is our telos or the valid purpose.

Addressing the emotion of his speech, Chris speaks from the heart, not only as a parent, but as a child, a dreamer, and imparts important words of wisdom to his son. When he adds, "you have a dream," he accepts Christopher's dream as an essential part of his life, which serves as a powerful start to which even the audience can feel their emotions sparking. This beginning is very similar in emotional aspect to Dr. Martin Luther King's famous speech, where he emphasizes a dream that is not only his but of all black Americans, which brings us back to what Chris said, we can clearly see that now his son's dream is also his dream, his dream to see that his son achieves every dream he yearns of. When he speaks about how people will tell you that you can't do something just because they weren't able to do it, he speaks in guilt of what he said, realizing that he did his son wrong by telling him that he can't do something just because he wasn't able to do that thing, and how this same reactions from others stopped him from achieving his dream, but here he doesn't want his son to end up the same, he doesn't want him to listen to the naysayers and move on strongly in realising his dream. He also emphasized striving for your dream no matter what and not letting even yourself stop you from realizing a dream, where he connects to how he stopped himself from attaining his dream as a child and clearly does not want his son to make the same mistake. We can see a similar instance in the movie Blind side when Michael oher chooses to follow his dreams and a path that is not dictated by his surroundings ,or in the movie Forest Gump when he makes a promise to his ex military friend that he'll buy a shrimping boat with him and even though his commander Lt. dan made fun of his dream, he eventually joined forest when he saw he actually bought a boat and was working hard on it even though it wasn't

The major reason Christopher never responds to his father dismissing his aspirations is that it's his father telling him something, and if he thinks something can't be done, maybe he's right. Chris utilizes the same position of authority (Ethos) to rectify his mistake and to impart his son with the right wisdom. When he tells his son that his dream is genuine and worth fighting for, even if it means going up against his father or himself, he knows he is touching his son's heart. When Chris talks about naysayers, he doesn't want his son to just listen but  to make it a fact that throughout his life, he will encounter people who will tell him that he can't do something just because they couldn't, and sometimes it could be he himself, but he should always remember that their inability doesn't dictate your chances of trying and achieving something, or  dreaming about something. Chris's words as a father here provided his son with much-needed confidence and support, and that too from a trusted source, much as how Forest Gump's mother supported him and did everything she could to support and provide everything to Forest as a normal kid or in the movie Blind Side,  Leigh Anne Tuohy protected Michael Oher and welcomed him into her family, keeping him out of harm's way and providing him all the care he required to follow the right path he chose. Showing parent or guardian figures recognizing their loved ones' dreams as their own and working with them to achieve them.

Chris also demonstrates his intelligence in these three lines, not just by his authoritative position and passionate delivery of this speech, but also through the crystal clear reasoning he employs. He genuinely wants his kid to realize his ambition, but his rationale of not listening to naysayers is one that is frequently observed; it was also one that the whole audience could connect to. The clear connection between someone's own fear and sorrow of not being able to do something and their projection of that same fear and sorrow onto others is the clear implication here, and Chris' words clearly mention that at times like this, one should also trust himself and his dreams, even if the person on the other end is a loved one. Chris also addresses fighting yourself or your demons when chasing your ambitions and not giving up when it appears difficult, implying that our greatest battle is ultimately ourselves. While talking about believing in one's dreams, he also stresses giving one's all, working hard for one's aspirations, and perseverance since you can't realize a dream if you only dream and don't act on it, even if you battle yourself and others. His rationale of working hard for your dream is solid advice we all hear frequently and is a clear mantra to success for all who strive for their dreams and those who have reached them. This logic of hard effort can also be observed in MLK's previous speech, in which his goal, and the dreams of all others suffering at the time, became a reality after years of hard work and determination. Not only in these two instances, but this quality of the human race in working for their dreams can be seen today and throughout history, lending credence to Chris' statements.

Even though people can dismiss these lines because they are from a movie, and movies are usually supposed to set unrealistic expectations, this being a true story has a clear logic and credibility in everything being established, even in these three lines, imparted to a son by his father, to a dreamer from another dreamer.