Show Me the Money (The Pursuit of Happyness)

FIS/200

Pursuit of Happyness is a movie based on a true story about the life and financial struggles of Christopher Gardner. Christopher Gardner is an African American man who begins making a living selling bone density machines. Christopher, along with his wife chose to spend their life savings on these new yet unpopular instruments. During the early stage of their investment; life seemed to be promising until a stream of bad luck arrived. Mr. Gardner became unable to sell these instruments which caused a downward spiral of events to happen such as: losing his car, losing his home, losing his family, and sometimes even losing “his mind.” However during his fight towards financial stability he ran into a guy who decided to give him a chance based on his ability to quickly solve the rubric cube puzzle in such a short amount of time. Throughout the movie money plays a pivotal role in the direction of the story. Money is revealed throughout the story as a matter, means, and measure. Matter. When considering the matter of money there are two different things that you have to consider; (1) physically having it or not having it and (2) being or having the ability to successfully manage it. During the movie Chris Gardner goes through a roller coaster experience with physically having money. He lets us know that when he first decided to embark on his journey of entrepreneurship the profit came very easily, However when he got down to his last few bone density machines, things got very rough and tight. Because his physical means for having it was non-existent in so many cases, the Gardner family underwent numerous threats from landlords for eviction. Not only did his low means of money affect how strangers treated him, it slowly began to affect his household composition. Due to her inability to deal psychologically with the hardships the family was going through, his wife decided to abandon her role as a mother and wife in hope of finding financial stability without them. At this point in the movie Chris is really forced to account for every penny he has. He has to make sure that he along with his son is able to “display” a normal functioning lifestyle so that no one will find out about his unstable living conditions. When he was able to sell one of his bone density machines he would utilize he would use the money that he had earned to pay for clean clothing, food, shelter, and transportation. Money played a very important role to the plot of the story because without it his life was in complete turmoil. Means. Means refers to the impact that money has on a person’s social and mental interaction with others. “What do you do and how do you do it?” (Christopher Gardner, 1981) This was the question that Mr. Gardner asked himself during an apology. While standing outside of Dean Witter’s company office he ran into one of the employees and after noticing how happy he seemed, along with the others coming in and out of the building, he decided to do whatever it took to become “happy.” Throughout the movie money is being traded to compensate for the necessities him and his family’s life. Money was traded throughout the move to pay for food, clothing, and shelter which was a part of Mr. Gardner’s planned budget. However there were a few instances in the movie were Chris was asked to spend money that he really didn’t have or could not afford. For example, while standing in front of the office building Mr. Gardner along with one of his employment superiors were holding a conversation. In a moment’s time a taxi cab pulls up and the superior realizes that he need to catch that cab but quickly discovers he does not have the funds to do so. He turns to Chris and asks him to give him five dollars so that he could catch the taxi cab and make it to his destination on time. With so much hesitation Mr. Gardner opens his wallet and notices that he is down to his last eight dollars. In that short period of time Chris is able to do a mental evaluation of how lending this money could affect his life. He could give the money to the employer and be faced with not having enough late that evening to feed his son. Or maybe if he gave the money he would not be able to wash his son’s clothing for school not to mention needing the money to make sure that he has fare for tomorrow’s bus ride to work. None the less not giving his employer the money could pose great risk as well. Because this was an intern position with the company of his dreams he didn’t want to lose his status because he didn’t loan the “big man on campus” five dollars. What if the guy held that against him and terminated his internship and demolished all the changes he ever had a obtaining what Chris considered to be the American Dream. Through all the turmoil and hardship Mr. Chris Gardner was able to wear an image that displayed adequate living conditions for both him and his family. Once he obtained the position at the company he soon learned that there was no compensation for the job he was being asked to do. Although he did and even out performed many of the hourly, commissioned, and seasoned employees at the company he still held a volunteer position that many people may have felt should have been paying. Things were even harder for him because he worked around people who were financially fit and living the dream he had hoped for. In one chapter of the movie Chris takes his son on a business trip and when asked by his son where they were going he stated they were going to handle some business for the company he was working for and that immediately following the meeting they would be going to the baseball game. It turns out that he went to visit a client that the Dean Witter Company was trying so hard to obtain business with and in the midst of trying to win him over he and his son was invited to “the baseball game” that he had mentioned to his son. To his surprise they were not only invited to the game but were given box office seating passes. While congregating with the “well established crowd” he looked over to see the smile on his son’s face which gave him the motivation to go forth. Measure. Chris Gardner ties a lot of value to things in his life however; the things that matter most do not have a monetary value. The beginning of the movie starts out with Chris mentioning that he did not meet his father until he was twenty eight years old. By midway down the storyline Chris tells his wife that she could leave but she would have to leave their son with him. Mr. Gardner’s monetary values were assigned to the bone density machine and his hopes for winning the only permanent position with Dean Witter Company after his internship. The bone density machines provided a temporary measure for financial stability and the full time position would provide a permanent fix to his financial freedom. On the last day of his internship he was asked to come into the office and stand before all of his superiors. Mr. Gardner went into the meeting with the expectation of being thanked for his hard work and released for his duties however; he was given the right hand to permanent employment. All the people that stood before him viewed his tears as joy while Mr. Gardner viewed it as a new chance. Now he would be able to view the monetary measures of his finances. Throughout the movie Mr. Chris Gardner undergoes so many hardships and obstacles due to his lack of money. In doing so he lost many of the things that were most valuable to him. While watching the movie we can clearly see how money affects him physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. In the end Mr. Gardner is able to rejoice unto himself and his son because the means, matter, and measure of his money would now be a thing of the past.
References

Gardner, Christopher (1981)