Pursuit Of Happyness Theme

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) is a biographical family film based off of the story of Chris Gardner’s experience being homeless with his son Christopher Jr., played by Will & Jaden Smith. The misspelled “happyness” in the title relates to a scene where Will Smith bitterly regards the spelling mistake he saw on a mural at his child’s daycare. This movie is about being grateful for what you have while you have it and appreciating the life you are given, which adds to the irony of putting “happyness” in the title. Overall, this movie portrays an incredibly strong message and the visuals of this film are critical in the audience receiving that message. Heartbreaking accuracy with the difficulties of being homeless with a child conjure striking …show more content…
This theme is excellently carried through the bleakness and run-down look of every bathroom, shelter, and hotel they stay in, and is also carried through the music. The use of non-diegetic sound through soundtracks that go along with the moments of the movie were very important to such an emotionally moving film, and the filmmakers definitely took advantage of this. Scenes where words were not needed to explain the situation, music took its place and established the same feeling of desperate sadness you can imagine Chris was feeling in that moment. Diegetic sound was also an important part in this movie because of the many scenes where you hear the busy background noise of the city, or the silence of being entirely alone, or the loud banging noises sprouted from pure frustration, induced by nearby objects flung into walls. Creating those scenes of raw emotion (anger, frustration, sadness) were crucial to the success of this film and it being taken to the hearts of the viewers, and the mark was definitely hit. Overall, emotion was carried incredibly well through both diegetic and non-diegetic