The melodramatic theme of the film leaves a strong impact on the viewer. It identifies an era of time where people had to struggle in their lives to achieve what they want, where dreams were possible and one had to dig there own path.
A story of a man of dignity when even the hardest of the moments he did not lower his head and loose hope. The movie shows how people in the past had a strong determination in a time of struggling factors surrounded them, from being underestimated to not being given a chance to prove themselves and the mistrust present.A time of hippies being present, scarce work opportunities and colored people being discriminated to some limit. Christopher Gardner a salesman had an initial dream of fortune, doing better and achieving his vivid dreams- dreams every one of us has. But after investing all of his savings on selling bone density identifying machines he discovers that it was not as promising as he expected and not paying off. Capitalism was not encouraged in this movie, and shows the dimness and risks it conveys along with it.
It indicates that the presence of a dream is not adequate, and investing all your money into a not well studied private business can have devastating outcomes; being unlucky not everyone can overcome them. As a consequence to the failure of his hopeful plans a vast gap evolves in his family, domestic problems aroused and when his wife's finally could not put any longer with this situation and decided to abandon him in his maximized crisis time, that was the big impact. It can be considered a black woman's negative stereotype; especially that she left him when he most needed her.She decided after tolerating all that past time and being the main financial provider; that she had to leave this drowning wretched situation to take a look at herself and her own future even if it meant leaving her son behind. Familial instability has its influence on both father and son, where Chris feels that his wife which should have stood with him no matter what does not fulfill her marital duties and could not hold on to their dreams. The son even feels guilty; fearing him mother left because of him, as is the case with any separated or divorced parents' situation, which can psychologically be very disturbing with long term effects.
Even a friend of his turns away from him repeatedly and deserts him when he asks for a shoulder to lean on. Subject was greatly valued and when one's broke he is not welcomed anymore, since this only means embracing debt. Friendship bonds where shown to be loose revealing the ugly face of people appearing to be what they are not, and discovering their real element they are made of at crisis times; tells that people are not what they seem, and trust and personal relationships can be lost from such discoveries and a feeling of being alone in this world is never appreciated nor wanted.With everything else collapsing from work and social relations to pursuing a career he knew nothing about, in a situation where he was homeless, without a spouse, abandoned from friends, with his dear child hanging to him and no promising future, no human can reach to a lower level than this psychologically or dignity wise. The situation was getting complicated and his dreams falling apart placed a lot of stress on him.
Any human being in his shoes would have collapsed under such pressure and lost faith in everything.But Chris only recollected himself possibly because of his child whom he only wished the best for and would not accept anything less for him. This child was his motivation to become better, to hang on the rope of hope to rescue himself and his only child from this pitiable disaster they were both in. As a single parent he tries his best in every aspect and in the end succeeds with all these pressure upon his shoulders. But being homeless was illustrated to be too clean and tidy in the good homes and shelters, an idealism that does not exist in reality.
It even shows how being dispossessed is not a problem and that it can be resolved quickly- maybe encouraging unemployment and dependence! Also shown here is the love of a parent to an offspring, where parents do anything to protect and provide the optimum life quality they can to a child whom they cherish dearly. Whenever Chris looked at his son, he saw trusting anticipation and his determination grew bigger to lift him higher than this. Even at the utmost moments of despair and anxiety, the father concealed those facts from his son, trying to act normal and display a fairy tale life.The father-son relationship offers a family-love kaleidoscope of contravention and intensification. Chris Gardner reaches a point he analyzed his life, and the statement of "pursuing happiness" that was mentioned in the constitution left an impression that happiness may never be reached, and one can run after it his whole life uselessly without getting closer to it.
In fact he believed that as much as he wanted it the further it drifted away. The turning point when he encounters a suited merry stock broker descending from an expensive car changes his life- a positive stereotype.Standing in front of a firm and seeing all the people working there cheerful made him want a taste of this happiness. Chris believed he could be also a well suited man and ascend in his life.
He made the decision to become a stock broker, but that meant he had to train unpaid for six months and a single applicant will be elected. It was a poor probability but he clung to it. Even at the training sessions he had to pretend he is something he is not, to show a satisfied financial status of a middle classed man which he currently was no place near.Socially he had to fake this to become fit in the eyes of his superiors, a common situation some people have to mock from time to time sourcing from internal insecurity and fear of being unaccepted. The script also brings light to racism he encounters being an African American during those six months, where his responsible inspector keeps harassing him indirectly by acts he requests; such as requesting personal demands of fetching drinks and food. He was prejudiced for a single fact he was black and was underestimated for it.
With no complaints, Chris responds to his challenging inquiries and tries to gobble up his dignity. Chris also gets to know the power of high class contacts and keeping in touch with them, since he had to double his efforts to reach to the same level his other competitors are running to. Because of his hard circumstances, he had to work less to earn a living on the other hand of selling his machines, so he skips to the top contacts and discovers how high class people live and how a simple conversation lead by his charm can earn him big contact names that can cut off his efforts into half.The acknowledgment of those classes clearly shows the different categories which people belonged to. Money meant power in this script, and money was the solution to all Chris's troubles. This places men into a classification of how much do you have in your pocket; if you possess money you are worthy if you don't you mean nothing.
This reflects the life we live in, a life of materialism. The determination to reach his goal was the main objective in this script.He wanted a better quality life for him and his son who trusted him and looked at him as in idol. Hard work pays off in the end. The fine line between the American dream and its horrendous silhouette which lures in the darkness is clearly shown.
It exhibits the differentiating vision of success and failure. How human energy can be directed to achieve one of them is a sole decision of the person himself. In this movie Chris chose to be the successful one.
