Recently, I had this long argument with my Professor and friend, Rakesh Katarey, about The Pursuit of Happyness. He suggested that I blog about it to generate discussion.
The Cinema Club of Coimbatore had organised a screening of the film which was followed by a discussion. This story sort of sums up the key observations.
The Prof. is convinced that the Will Smith film, like most Hollywood products, has a hidden agenda: To re-inforce faith in the system.
“Though filmmakers claim to make films about blacks, the objective is to let the black community know that whites are not bad.”
I did point out that it was Chris Gardner himself who produced the film along with Will Smith but then his argument was that it was the studios that run Hollywood.
In this age of ‘Syriana,’ ‘Borat’ and ‘Fahrenheit 911,’ I refuse to believe in conspiracy theories about the system using popular culture as a vehicle of propaganda.
Showbiz has been, is and will always be about what Rod Tidwell famously told Jerry Maguire. “Show me the money.” And that translates to any content/story that many people around the world would buy.
The politics of business transcends the business of politics. What say?
MADRAS INK. 
As u said I do not disagree that hollywood sees only the color green. Influence (govt., external factors) does play a part and there might even be a hidden message that all whites are not bad. It might not be intentional but it might be a point to notice. White bums don’t get noticed, and even if a white trash guy made it to the top and you made a movie about it I don’t know if it will be a crowd puller. If you are talking about a movie which has the backdrop of the 70s & 80s, in real life it would have certainly had some racial behaviour which is not portrayed in the film at all.
I do have my doubts that why wasn’t this shown, maybe Gardner himself did not want to show it, since it was his story, maybe we got to read his book and see what made it to the screen and what did not. My only suspect here is hollywood itself, if you want everyone to watch your movie then you cannot show racial discrimination on screen which certainly will drive some “white folks” away.
And its a PG-13 movie, so u certainly don’t want to spread more racial rage in the teenagers..all these things make a difference when everyone walks out of the theater with a good feeling about the movie. If there were racial scenes, not everyone is going to think the same. Blacks will still think they are treated as second class citizens and whites will still think how long will they keep showing what my grandpa did to his grandpa…
By the way your ur “myrakannadi” toon is good…me will be vetti for a week so commenting 🙂
You pointed out a few facts about the Movie and the real life Incident.Like the No Stipend and Homelessness stuff being exaggerated.
Given that the real person himself was a co-producer and producers can play an important role when it comes to influencing the story, couldn’t Gardner influence the Director to show out real facts rather than exaggerate it?
Would seeing the suffering of a Black man bring more crowds to the Theatre? Seems like it did.
China:
Yes, the producers usually are sensitive towards the kind of rating they would get by including instances of racial abuse and maybe Gardner or the director didn’t want to show it as a black versus white conflict lest it takes away from the triumph-of-the-human-spirit message in the film.
and yes, you are probably right about white man making it to the top making for an uninteresting plot.
karthik:
I think the director has balanced out what he has exaggerated by also simplifying a few things.
If he had a five year old son in the movie, in reality he had a baby who was less than a year old. Now, surely taking care of an infant is far more difficult than a five year old.
So i don’t think the intention was to show suffering. It was creative licence employed to make it a nice uplifting tale about an ordinary man’s rise to the top.
Also, the fact that the author also produced it and wrote the book the film is based on, he is bound to have left out things he did wrong.
For example, Gardner was in jail for a week before his interview under the charges of abusing his wife and not overnight for non-payment of parking tickets…
So chances are that Gardner wrote the film to clear his name after his wife left him alleging abuse.
The director (who also made the very candid Remember Me My Love) very smartly tries to incorporate this allegation that he abused his wife very subtly when he shows neighbours from the distance looking at him having an heated argument with his wife.
For an outsider, it would seem like abuse because he is yelling at her.
Agreed, I didn’t know most of this. 🙂
But just one thought…If he wanted Sympathy from the Audience, why didn’t he use those things u rote bout?
Karthik:
because the intention of the director and the other producer was to make a film on the triumph of human spirit and not garner sympathy. I think filmmakers are entitled to a little cinematic liberty to make it entertaining. the means justify the end.
Hi Sudu,
I am not suggesting any conspiracy theories here about The Pursuit of Happyness or any other movie. What I shall state without hesitation however is that we are naturalised by our respective environments. A newspaper or a channel based in metros and catering to middle class paying publics for instance, can never be expected to understand or cover the real India. There could be exceptions of course. But largely, they’d rather be content convincing the audiences that what they do end up covering is indeed the world, not a segment that their newspapers may be exposed to.
Similarly, be it Chris Gardener or any other black, once you are sucked into a free market system, you can’t help using your success story to justify how fair the free market system may be for everyone. The question before us is if this representation of one successful black is true of the blacks in general. It isn’t. At least historically and sociologically this is not true. Because the free market system is a system for, of and by the whites and was always meant to maintain this status quo.
The film on the other hand, seems to only reinforce the melting pot theory, which again is a baseless construct of the whites. Because it suggests that the only way to be happy is to give up every identity dear to you and be part of the white mainstream. The harm that such a system has caused worldwide is not even considered. This is purely a World Bank thinking which Joseph Stiglitz after presiding over the international entity has himself criticised as unworthy of emulation by any poor nation. Also, according to the films churned out by Hollywood, other development alternatives are not even worth considering. It is this thought that underlines most Hollywood texts: Be rich and happy like us or remain poor, black and unhappy!
Art and politics are always interlinked much as we are led to believe that they are not! This is not conspiracy. This is just a natural way in which the Americans think. Fortunately, post Sept.11, many famous filmmakers have begun to look at their own works very critically. Therefore, we have the handful of films that you have mentioned in defence. In fact, these exceptions are not bad to start with. But to believe Hollywood to be fully reformed is to expect too much charity too soon!
Thanks anyway, Sudu. It is always nice talking films with you.
Affectionately,
Rakesh S. Katarey
Faculty, Amrita School of Communication
ishnu//Fortunately, post Sept.11, many famous filmmakers have begun to look at their own works very critically. Therefore, we have the handful of films that you have mentioned in defence. In fact, these exceptions are not bad to start with. But to believe Hollywood to be fully reformed is to expect too much charity too soon!
Thanks anyway, Sudu. It is always nice talking films with you.//
Katarey is right.Though I do not frequently watch English movies,I
can say Katarey is true.
Troy is one such example,wher the words ‘Everything is fair in Love and War’ was clearly aimed at justifying Bush’s war in Iraq.Gen.
Hollywood prod. indulge in adding govt. propaganda into their films.
Even 300 seems to be like that.
Did not see ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ though.
I got done watching the movie just 5 minutes ago.. I think it was just a story great for filming. Anything that can bring back people’s faith, be it in the system, themselves, God – whatsoever it may be, makes for a very salable story. And this was. Call me naive, but I’d like to not think of it that way though. I’d like to think of it as a movie that inspires people and like you said, a “triumph of human spirit” – if in fact the movie and Hollywood is manipulating the blacks in America, it _is_ to make them strive harder for success and hang on to their dreams. Better that than portraying them as the mundane gun-wielding, broke, alcoholic illiterates who sing Rap.
Guess I’ve rambled on enough; pardon the lack of coherence if any.