Life is a series of events all put into one. Through different events in your life, you go through changes. You don’t always have the same beliefs, the same thoughts, or the same attitude. Life changes you. In a way, you are a completely different person by the time you get to a certain point of your life. A documentary set in Britain chooses to explore this in a series of films titled 56 Up. 56 Up aims to explore the idea of human growth by following 14 different children as they grow into old age. The film jumps from character to character. They revisit these children every 7 years to see the progress they have achieved since the age of 7. The premise of the film was taken from the motto "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give
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This novel aims to explore the idea of happiness through the eyes of an adult psychologist named Hector. Hector travels to different parts of the world in order to learn one thing: What causes happiness? As he lands in different countries, he learns very different concepts of happiness from each person he meets: ranging from employment to emotions. The key, however, is that it is up to the individual to assess what makes them happy and what doesn’t. “In short, people whose glass is always half full are clearly happier than those whose glass is always half empty.” (Lelord, 180). In comparison, one character whose search for Happiness seemed to echo the overall theme of Lelord’s novel is the protagonist Peter. Peter was not satisfied with his life at age 28. As a teacher, he felt that he no longer had the same passion anymore. It also seemed that he correlated his current situation with the government, expressing great disdain for British Minister Margaret Thatcher. It was this disdain for the Minister as well as dissatisfaction with his life that led to Peter stepping out from the series until 56 Up. It is here that we learn that he has quit his job and instead taken a simple job as a civil service worker and focusing more time on his hobby as a guitar player in a band called “Good Intentions.” Peter states,“I feel a lot more happier with myself, happier in my own skin . . . it was like an epiphany. It was like I was hearing the music I 've been waiting to hear all my life.” Stepping out of his comfort zone and focusing on what he loves the most has led to Peter feeling happy for the first time in his life. Just like Hector and the Search For Happiness has explored several characters who felt dissatisfied by their current situation, Director Apted recognized Peter’s dissatisfaction and seemed to focus on it, asking him questions that caused him to question his current path in life.
This novel aims to explore the idea of happiness through the eyes of an adult psychologist named Hector. Hector travels to different parts of the world in order to learn one thing: What causes happiness? As he lands in different countries, he learns very different concepts of happiness from each person he meets: ranging from employment to emotions. The key, however, is that it is up to the individual to assess what makes them happy and what doesn’t. “In short, people whose glass is always half full are clearly happier than those whose glass is always half empty.” (Lelord, 180). In comparison, one character whose search for Happiness seemed to echo the overall theme of Lelord’s novel is the protagonist Peter. Peter was not satisfied with his life at age 28. As a teacher, he felt that he no longer had the same passion anymore. It also seemed that he correlated his current situation with the government, expressing great disdain for British Minister Margaret Thatcher. It was this disdain for the Minister as well as dissatisfaction with his life that led to Peter stepping out from the series until 56 Up. It is here that we learn that he has quit his job and instead taken a simple job as a civil service worker and focusing more time on his hobby as a guitar player in a band called “Good Intentions.” Peter states,“I feel a lot more happier with myself, happier in my own skin . . . it was like an epiphany. It was like I was hearing the music I 've been waiting to hear all my life.” Stepping out of his comfort zone and focusing on what he loves the most has led to Peter feeling happy for the first time in his life. Just like Hector and the Search For Happiness has explored several characters who felt dissatisfied by their current situation, Director Apted recognized Peter’s dissatisfaction and seemed to focus on it, asking him questions that caused him to question his current path in life.