Gardner’s Turning point in The Pursuit of Happiness movie by Gabrielle Muccino (2006)

A. Synopsis

This is a story about making a sacrifice and love by father to his son, Chris Gardner is a salesman. He lives in a small apartment with a little family. Linda as wife is a washerwoman and christoper is their children 5 years old. Gardner chooses to use up his moneys or savings to buy franchise and sold Bone Density Scanner portable. This scanner result able a good picture than traditional X-Ray, but the doctors were he met suggested that this is very expensive to have. Certainly, this price is as much as his budget in a month. For along time it is being a bad economic condition for his family. He cannot pay every claims and rent, this condition more and more difficult by Gardner who always parks his car in everywhere he wanted. It make Gardner got a traffic ticket by the police, but he can pay and so their only one car confiscated. Its being a problem and quarrel with his wife. Finally Linda to go to New York, she want to bring Christoper go but it is prohibited by Gardner.

Someday, he met with somebody who has a luxurious car. He asked to that people, how did he buy a luxurious car and he answered that he be a stockbroker. Furthermore, Gardner applied for a position in Dean Witter Reynods is a contribution intermediary company. He was ready to be an apprenticeship without wage. This company gives a chance for a job to overall apprentices who are the best. Be apprenticeships without wage is not easy for Gardner, his money is gone and he has bankrupt. He and his children are thrown out from their apartment. They are being homeless. Sometimes they must queue to get lodging for the night in Glide Memorial Church or they must sleep in public areas if they cannot. It is a difficult condition for Gardner and his children. From this reason, he work very hard and this is to be a good effort for him because he be the best apprentices and worked in Dean Witter Reynods, next years he built intermediary company namely Gardner Rich. By this work and selling his contribution, he got some moneys.

B. Biography of Gabrielle Muccino

          Gabriele Muccino was born in Rome on May 20, 1967 is an Italian director. He is the elder brother of actor Silvio Muccino, who often appears in his brother’s films. Gabriele Muccino gained success with films such as L'ultimo bacio (One Last Kiss) and Remember Me, My Love (Ricordati di me) with Monica Bellucci. He is currently making a switch to directing Hollywood films after L'ultimo bacio and won the Audience Award for World Cinema at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, it bringing him to the attention of American film industry. Muccino was hand picked by Will Smith to serve as the director of The Pursuit of Happiness and he also directed Smith's later film, Seven Pounds. Muccino enrolled in the faculty of Letters at Rome in "La Sapienza" university, but abandoned his course early in favor of the cinema, working as a volunteer assistant to Pupi Avati and Marco Risi. He was starting of course in screenwriting by Leo Benvenuti. Besides, he also course in the city experimental cinematography center. Up to now he was succeeded to produce some films such as Seven Pounds in USA at 2008, The Pursuit of Happiness in USA at 2006, Ricodati Di Me in Italy 2003, L’Ultimo Bacio in Italy at 2001, Come Te Nessuno Mai Italy 1999, also Ecco Faito Italy, 1998.

D. Historical Background

The Pursuit of Happiness is a story inspirited from the real life by Christoper Gardner, he was homeless and single parent in America. In this story seems that is a powerful and inspiring story which is made in order to share and explored the parts of life by Gardner, in his realism of life he start from zero it means that his carrier is come from in bad condition until he can manage and pass it to bring up in the one point where finally he be a successful millioner, its very contrast before and is a good effort by the Gardner in achieving his success when in 1981 I think the real economic condition of America is in crisis and bad, I have two opinions why did I said that because it can reflect in this film in the scene, first,  when here Gardner work as a salesman of the Bone Density Scanner chooser invested his saving to collect the Bone Density Scanner in order to sell it again in the centre medical of Sanfransisco he has a difficult when he offers that Bone Density Scanner to the doctors, but this tool have an rejected because they said it was very expensive. In the meaning in this condition reflected that time the economic condition in America really is in crisis where in that time the Bone Density Scanner be a very expensive to get, and make some doctors in there can not buy that medical high technology.

Second, in my opinion crisis condition effected in the social economic condition, that many people of there did not have occupation and very difficult to get. It has reflected where some people like Gardner that applied for a job in Dean Witter Reynods, in this company Gardner also other as an apprenticeship for sixth month, without wage and after sixth month, only choused one from 30 apprenticeships is achieved as stockbroker in Dean Witter Reynods.

In addition, in this background of the story belonging into the real economic condition America 1981 where is also reflected in this film through in Gardner’s life.

E. Society Proposed by the Movie

          The society in this story divided into two proposed, first the society from the low class where Gardner stayed in his small apartment. The society here showed how did life with the reality that they are always thinking about money to cover their necessary for tomorrow, for week, for month and etc. including Gardner belong to this society, society who all people never thinking another people. They only thinking about money, is it right? Yes I said, because the story here showed some scenes which can relate to this statement. They are in the scene that Gardner thrown out of from apartment when can pay rent for it or when his Bone Density Scanner was stolen by singing beggar, it showed that they are just thinking about their necessary in any ways, without care to another people.

          The second society is Upper class. They are society when Gardner is in the Dean Witter Reynods. There society proposed is belonging to rich people, they have a luxurious car, have much moneys and they did not worry where are they must live. In this society Here, Gabrielle Muccino emphasized that Gardner is a part of them. Gardner does want be like them to pursuit happiness after ha had suffering.

F. Values of Story

In this story, ‘’The Pursuit of Happiness’’ the director tried to suggest some values which it will be a deep inspiring for us, they are as follows:

First, through this story we get learning is that a single parent who can survive and solving his problematical life in order to get his achieving. Here, one purpose for the Gardner is that he able to get a comfortable home for his son. In his crisis and bad situation like that, he never blame everyone who are may be blame by his condition but he always solves the problem himself, and never hopeless. He just being his son as motivated for him to get the purpose. Besides, he keeps responsible as father.

Second, after I saw this film I have good the words that be motivation for us, is that from Zero to be Hero. This is a simple word but it has deep meaning for me and I think it also have reflected in this story by the director. Never doubt or afraid if you start your business, your work, your study or everything you do from zero because it does about process. In this achieving the process is more important than the result it. When you starting from zero you will be know the process that you have done to be hero. For instance, in this The Pursuit of Happiness here showed in the moment when Gardner was in crisis and did not have everything even a house. It is one phase where his life is in zero point but, because his patient, motivation and work hard, he can pass and out of this situation. In the end, he be a hero for his son and himself its mean that he being rich people or millionare. Gabrielle muccino here give a motivation value through this story, I think he also to tell us that we never enjoyable the happiness if we never had suffering before.

The analysis of the Eagle’s Alfred Tennyson

The analysis of the Eagle’s Alfred Tennyson

    1. Sound Values

a.       Rhyme

The eagle is a poem that consists of six lines which divided into two stanzas that have a pattern of rhyme aaa in the first stanza and bbb in the second stanza. The rhymes that used by Alfred are:

-          End rhyme: it is because the position of rhyme is in the end of line.

Ex: ………….. hands

      ………….. lands

      ………….. stands  

-          Exact rhyme: it is because the position of rhyme is near each other. It means that the first rhyme is in the first line and the second rhyme is in the next one, in the second line and then the last rhyme is in the third line.

Ex: ………….. hands    (1)

      ………….. lands     (2)

                  ………….. stands    (3)

b.      Alliteration

In this poem there is alliteration in its first and second line:

“He claps the crag with crooked hands”

It is clear that there is a repetition of consonant ‘c’.

“Close to the sun in lonely lands”

That line consists of alliteration which repeats consonant ‘l’ in the words of lonely and lands.

c.       Assonance

There is assonance which repeated interior vowel sounds in ‘claps’, ‘crags’ and ‘hands’.

d.      Onomatopoeia

Tennyson used onomatopoeia in his poem, The Eagle. He used the words ‘claps, crag and crooked’ in the first line as the sounds that produced by an eagle with its claws.

2.      Versification

a.       Rhythm and Meter

This poem is begun with the unstressed sound and followed by stressed sound. It means that there is an iambic in this poem. All of lines in this poem are in iambic pattern.

This poem consists of eight syllables in each line which divided into four feet called tetrameter.

b.      The form of stanza

There are two triplets rhymes aaa and bbb in this poem because each stanza consists of three lines.

3.      Narrative

The eagle gives us a description of an eagle which is in the first triplet tells about how the characteristics of eagle are and the next one tells about the eagle’s world and nature.

The kind of narrative in this poem is epic. It is about heroic narrative with little verbal grace and almost no sense of mystery.

4.      Emotion

The emotion is a soul of poem which can make a poem more beautiful. The eagle used an emotion of sad that depicted from the feeling of lonely that felt by the eagle.

5.      Ideas

a.       Allegory

-          The use of ‘sea’ depicts a life which has up and down like a wave in the sea.

-          The use of ‘thunderbolt’ can be an allegory because it is like a lightning or the speed or the energy that produced by the eagle .

-          The use of ‘close to the sun’ could be expressed more directly, but in using these words Tennyson accomplishes two goals. First, by bringing the sun in to describe how high up in the air the eagle is, he uses hyperbole, or exaggeration, to associate the eagle with a sense of grand majesty. Tennyson would not have believed that an eagle’s altitude could reach anywhere near the sun’s, but this association makes the eagle seem, like the sun, more powerful than anything of this earth. Placing the eagle near the sun also alludes to the myth of Icarus.

-          The world of the sky is like a mirror of the earth, complete with its own "lands." Even parts of the sky located at a relatively short distance from the earth (a thousand feet, perhaps) seem closer to the sun than to us. Nonetheless, we get to imagine what it's like to look down on the water from such a great height.

b.      Symbol

-          The eagle is a vision in Tennyson’s mind, a bird he never actually saw while trekking. Perhaps he imagined it in the mountains around him near the Mediterranean.

-          It talks about mythic figure and the eagle as a symbol of however many things (time, age, the human condition, the romantic era, etc).

c.       Historical context

The eagle was written in 1831 during a trip through the French Pyrenees but the poem did not appear until twenty years later, in the seventh edition of his poems. It was written when Tennyson was hiking in the Pyrenees, he saw above him on a crag, literally close to the sun than he was.

The eagle more generally fits into the mode of the mid-nineteenth century, when the romantic vision of the world experienced its resurgence at the end of the Enlightenment.

d.      Myth

-          “The Eagle” as being a reference to the story of Icarus, who constructed a set of wax wings and flew too close to the sun, then fell when the wax melted. The images in the poem that look directly to this myth are few and vague; a number of sun myths, sky myths, and bird legends could be invoked by the right reader with a long reach for stories.

-          “Close to the sun” resonates with the Icarus /Daedalus myth. Daedulus was the master craftsman who escaped from the labyrinth on Crete along with his son Icarus.

-          “He falls” is the heroic defeat of the mythic hero, of the one who flew too close to the wrested fire from the gods.

e.       Allusion

In Greek mythology, Icarus and his father Daedalus escaped from imprisonment on the Isle of Crete by making wings out of wax and feathers and flying away, but Icarus became too ambitious and flew close to the sun; the wax melted, and Icarus fell into the sea and drowned. By placing the winged eagle near the sun, Tennyson seems to be implying that it may be too confident of its own ability.

f.       Archetype

Tennyson was using his eagle as the representation of the archetypal tragic hero.

The Eagle

He claps½the crag½with croo½ked hands;                 (a)                    iambic tetrameter

Close to½the sun½in lone½ly lands,                            (a)                    iambic tetrameter

Ringed with½the a½zure world, ½ he stands.             (a)                    iambic tetrameter

The wrin½kled sea½beneath½him crawls;                   (b)                    iambic tetrameter

He wat½ches from½his moun½tain walls,                  (b)                    iambic tetrameter

And like½a thun½derbolt½he falls.                             (b)                    iambic tetrameter