watch The Pursuit of Happiness (2006) and link scenes/characters/themes to sociological concepts

The One Thing You Have to Pursue on Your Own: Understanding the Socio-economic Context of the Film The Pursuit of Happiness * Introduction …that maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what… -Christopher Gardner[The Pursuit of Happyness. Dir. Gabriele Muccino. Perf. Will Smith. 2006.] Released in 2006, the movie The Pursuit of Happiness, which was directed by Gabriele Muccino offered a heart-warming story of a father who was struggling to make ends meet for him and his son. This movie will be the main focus of this paper`s discussion primarily because it is giving us an opportunity to carefully analyze what the story is saying about the kind society itreplicates. The movie The Pursuit of Happiness offers us no magic and definitely no super heroes, for it is based on a real life story. Indeed that is how a real life story goes, no spell to erase negative events and there is no "good guy" to catch you when you fall. This movie reflects nothing but reality, and as we all know, reality bites. Being deeply seated in what the real world offers, this movie is a perfect picture allowing audiences to see the interplay of social problems like poverty, inequality, unemployment and homelessness. This paper aims to discuss these social issues vis-à-vis the social and temporal context presented in the film. Central to this paper`s discussion is the view that this movie directly describes a point in American history that some (strong) societal forces, during 1980s, tried to mask.. To generate the conceptualization of the main ideas this study aims to answer the following specific questions at the end of this discussion; * Why the movie The Pursuit of Happiness suggests a macro-level analysis of poverty? * How did the movie describe social inequality during the 1980s? * What does the story of Chris Gardner reveal about the medicalization of homelessness during the 80s? Who are the real homeless in America? To fulfill the goals set in this study the discussion of classical and contemporary sociological theories will be necessary. Moreover so as not to delineate from the settings of the film, second hand data analysis of the socio-economic conditions of 1980s will be the priority in this study. * Brief Movie Summary Life, liberty and happiness, these three were mentioned in the Declaration of Human Rights and among these three, happiness seemed to be the one we are never really assured of. This, probably, is one of the things we need to pursue and provide our self with using our own two feet. Same is true with Chris Gardner, the main character in the movie The Pursuit of Happiness, whose will to find happiness through a better life for him and his son is unwavering and totally inspiring. Gardner was among the "economically-challenged" people in the streets of San Francisco during the 80s. He used his family savings to invest in a load ofportable bone density scanners, which unfortunately are not wholly necessary yet expensive medical equipment. Despite the difficulty in finding interested clients to buy his products Gardner never lose hope that one day he could sell them all. Gardner seemed to be life`s least favorite for aside...