Pursuit Of Happiness Theme

"The Pursuit of Happyness" is a biographical movie based on the true life of the entrepreneur Chris Gardner’s struggle to create a better life for him and his son despite he faced a lot of hardship such as financial pressure and being homeless. However, due to his perseverance and determination, and also the feeling of love and trust from his son, he overcame the obstacles he endured and became a self-made millionaire who owned a brokerage firm. The theme of the movie is defining happiness. It is about the journey and understanding Chris Gardner went through in pursuing the true meanings of happiness. The movie defines the true meanings of happiness for Chris Gardner at the moment his eyes were filled with tears of joy, when all his hard work

In the movie, Chris Gardner went through a lot of hardships and each of these scenarios can be seen as building blocks of his journey in pursuing happiness. For example, Chris Gardner joined a non-paying intern program at Dean Witter’s brokerage and security firm, his bank account garnished by the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid income taxes, having less than twenty-two dollars in his bank account, being jailed for not paying his accumulated parking tickets, being homeless and have to spend nights in restroom or queue for homeless shelter every day. However, his mind sets are

There are five stages in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model which is the physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, self-esteem needs and self-actualization needs. Physiological needs are the physical requirement for human survival. In the movie, the physiological needs of Chris Gardner are food and water. Chris had to provide the physiological needs for himself and his son although he couldn’t afford due to poverty. So, Chris got food and water from the apartments and motels they stayed in like the homeless shelter and the memorial church that serves free meals. The second stage is the safety needs. Chris had a hard time trying to find a safe place where his son and himself could sleep and feel safe and secure as he can’t afford the rental so they stayed in places like motels, apartments, subway train, bathroom and Glide homeless shelter to sleep and survive. The third stage is the social needs. Chris is very attached to his son and his son is what motivated him to work hard and get them out of the situation that they were in. The fourth stage is the self-esteem needs. In the movie, Chris get himself an internship that can boost his self-esteem and ego so that he could work harder to get the job. Besides, Chris showed his self-esteem needs by doing what he needs to appear the best when he struggles very hard to keep him and his son fed and sheltered. The fifth stage of the Maslow’s