Yesterday I watched The Pursuit of Happyness for the second time on DVD, and it got me wondering. It’s a brilliant movie based on the true story of struggling salesman Chris Gardner who managed, against all the odds, to land a top stock-broking job for which he had no experience. This despite the fact that while he was trying his wife left him, he had to raise his son by himself with no money and suffered prolonged periods of homelessness. He fulfilled the “American Dream” and managed to create a better life for himself and his son. A feel good movie, right?
Well, it is a clear case of where a Hollywood movie promotes values which some may see as completely wrong. The main character is turned onto his dream job after noticing stockbrokers in their fancy cars and observing that they are all happy! After he lands the job, the voiceover announces “This is the part of my life called happiness”, before it flashes up on the screen that he went onto become a multi-millionaire. Whilst I don’t think money will make you happy, I personally have no problem with people making money, working in finance or with capitalism more generally. After all, that is where I am working! Yet, many socialists, for instance would disagree. I wonder what they are thinking whilst watching the film. Do they notice the messages? Are they writhing in their seats? Are they being convinced? Or is it seen as harmless entertainment?
If they do disagree, I wonder how they express exactly what in the film they disagree with. Equally, I wonder how their criticisms are taken by most of their friends- the unthinking consumers of the product who just went and enjoyed the film without analysing it. It would appear mad to start criticising the character for his actions. After all, it is surely undeniable that he was happier having money which enables him to properly provide for his child, and should be congratulated for following his dream and doing so by honest hard graft and labour. You start criticising the film, and go off on one about the film’s morality, you’d just appear really mean-spirited.
Yet, one may feel that this is just because the film is engineered to mean you must come to this conclusion. In this very specific instance, with the two very stark options, with the limited context we see, with the motivations the writer has implanted in the characters- then, yes, we must agree with the outcome. However, one may feel the moral of the story is insidious and is detrimental to the common good.
This is how I feel about a lot of films, but unable to articulate it without seeming to have a massive bee in my bonnet. But Pursuit of Happyness is one where others (not myself) would have the same feeling.
