"The Pursuit of Happiness"

Film Review # 102594

African-American Studies > Racism
Film

A review of the film "The Pursuit of Happiness," directed by Gabriele Muccino.

1,465 words () | 3 sources | APA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper critically reviews the film "The Pursuit of Happiness," which is about an African-American man who attains success after enduring poverty and even homelessness. The paper highlights the stereotypical, negative portrayals of race in this movie and shows how the main ideological message of the film is that success equals money, which is the 'American dream' that claims to ultimately bring happiness.

From the Paper:

"Pursuit of Happiness is about a lower middle-class African-American man and his family. During an economic recession the family falls on hard times, having spent on their savings in the man's sales business. He sells medical equipment and things are not going so well. His wife works double shifts, he owes taxes to the government and has a bunch of unpaid parking tickets. Their son goes to a private, probably illegal, cheap daycare. One day he sees a man coming out of a red sports car. Impressed with the car and the man he asks him what he does for a living a finds out that the man is a stockbroker. He decides then and there that he too wants to be a stockbroker."

Sample of Sources Used:

Madon, S. (1997) What do People Believe about Gay Males? A Study of Stereotype Content and Strength. Sex Roles, 37 (9/10) 663 - 685.
Coltrane, S. & Messineo, M. (2000) "The perpetuation of subtle prejudice: race and gender imagery in 1990s television advertising". Sex Roles. 42 363-389
Henderson, J.J. & Baldastry, G.J. (2003) "Race and prime-time television". The Harvard Journal of Communication. 14 97-112