Seven Life Lessons from “The Pursuit of Happyness” Movie

The Pursuit of Happyness is one of my favorite movies ever, and this is certainly a movie you do not want to miss.

It is based on the story of Chris Gardner, a man who loses everything, but eventually gets everything. In the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, he is a hard-working, caring and loving father, who struggles financially to provide for his wife and son. Although the real story is somewhat different from the plot of the movie, you can still feel that Chris Gardner is a man of courage, perseverance, and faith.

His wife left him and fate took him to a lifestyle he had never thought of. He became homeless, and while he had to take care of his little son, he worked as a salesman (he sold medical devices, that according to one of the characters in the movie were useless). Then, he finds an unpaid 6-month-internship position at a brokerage firm.

He struggles to get contracts for the firm while trying to make an honest living for his son. He has to pick up his son at the day care center and he also has to be on time to get a room in one of the local homeless shelters. His life was the one that you think you could never handle.

His talents and skills, along with his charisma and personality, earned the trust of several people who signed contracts with the brokerage firm. At the end, we see that he got the one paid position and his life changed dramatically from that moment.

Several themes we can discuss from The Pursuit of Happyness are:

1. Raising a child on your own is very difficult.

Almost at the beginning of the The Pursuit of Happyness movie, his wife leaves him and his son, so he needs to deal with working and caring for his son. He loves his son, and everything Chris does is for him.

Almost at the beginning of the movie, his wife leaves him and his son, so he needs to deal with working and caring for his son. He loves his son, and everything Chris does is for him.

2. Being poor did not stop him from being what he wanted.

He believed that success depended only on his efforts, not fate or luck. He has a dream, he keeps it, and goes after it.

3. The relationship between father and son.

I am so glad that Will Smith acted along with his son. That makes the movie more engaging and more natural. Chris and his son are friends and love each other. They have a very mature relationship that every father wants to have with his children, especially if they are boys. This connection makes things a little bit

4. Life will sometimes be tough.

If you are rich, maybe you will never taste of necessity. But for most of us, at one point life was or is tough. Chris loses his house, goes to a motel, and eventually he ends up living in a homeless shelter. He and his son even spend a night in a subway station restroom. Life humiliates him. He tastes bitterness and then tastes happiness.

5. When things get dark, relax.

He had finished his internship and had finished selling all the medical devices. He did not have anything else to do and did not know what the future would bring him. Since he was in the final days of the internship and did not know what was going on, he decided to go to the beach and to sleep in a hotel. That shows that even though you do not know what will happen, you deserve a break and to treat yourself to something nice. After all your hard work and patience, you deserve it.

6. We receive what we want after doing everything we can.

Towards the end of The Pursuit of Happyness movie, you see that Chris Gardner sold all his medical devices, but the IRS took all his money for unpaid taxes. He takes the final exam at the brokerage firm, he does his best, and he just needs to wait. No money, no other place to go, he just waits….Then, at the end of the movie, the most intriguing moment arrives. When he does not even know what is going to happen, he receives the great news. He gets the job, and all his problems end. The scene in the office where he is talking to the managers really moves you. One of the managers asks him “Chris, was it easy?” and he replies, “No sir, it wasn’t”. That part of his life is what he calls happiness.

7. You can’t let people discourage you from your dreams just because they have been unsuccessful themselves.

If you remember the scene on the basketball court when the character Will Smith was playing was trying to discourage his son from spending too much time on the basketball court because he didn’t feel his son could excel at the sport. He was probably giving his son this advice due to the many failures he had experienced, not just from his failures at the sport but from his failures in life in general. Watch the scene in the clip below.

And that’s what people do, just because they haven’t succeeded at something, they try to discourage you from it as well, who’s to say you won’t succeed where they failed?

Don’t let people make you a victim to their failures and unhappiness, don’t let them kill your dream by projecting their negativity on you.

I’m glad Will Smith quickly redeemed himself in the scene, by apologizing to his son and telling him not to pay attention to people who try to tell you that you can’t do it just because they haven’t been able to do it. If you want something, go for it.

I hope you get to see the movie. If you have already watched, do it again. It is worth it!

Additional Content: Francesco Loli