The Pursuit of Happyness

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about The Pursuit of Happyness' classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of The Pursuit of Happyness completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 7 January 2007.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie The Pursuit of Happyness contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

The Pursuit of Happyness is based on a true story about a family trying to make a success of their lives. Chris (Will Smith) and Linda (Thandie Newton) Gardner are a couple with a little boy also named Christopher (Jaden Smith). The couple have spent their life savings buying into a company that manufactures medical scanning devices and it is Chris's job to sell these. He has great trouble doing this and the family are behind with their rent and have little money. Linda has to work extra shifts just to make ends meet. This is causing more and more stress in their relationship.

One day while racing from one sales appointment to another, Chris sees a man get out of a red Ferrari. When he asks what this man does for a living he finds out he is a stockbroker and that the position does not need a college degree, but that you need to be good at maths and good with people. Chris decides that if that is all that is needed, then he can be a stockbroker. His observation at the time is that all the stockbrokers look happy.

Chris decides to study to become a stockbroker but, after Linda leaves, finds himself as a single parent. Through great determination he manages to get an internship and has to balance lack of salary, looking after a small boy and homelessness with studying and trying to reach his ultimate goal.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Family breakdown, Poverty and homelessness

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is no physical violence of concern in this movie, but there are angry confrontations between members of the family.

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

There are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under eight including the following:

• Christopher's mother leaves him to move to New York
• Chris cries when he and his son have nowhere to sleep
• Chris is hit by a car when running across the street

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Some children in this age group may also be disturbed by the above scenes

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

It is unlikely that anything in this movie would scare or disturb children over 13.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

• Ferrari
• Coppertone sun screen
• Toyota
• Pacific Southwest Airlines

Sexual references

None

Nudity and sexual activity

None

Use of substances

Linda smokes

Coarse language

There is some coarse language, including:

• Chris and his son discuss the use of 'fuck'
• shit, damn, asshole, hell, son-of-a-bitch

The movie's message

The main message of this movie is that if you believe you can do something and have a goal, you should stick to it and follow it through.

Values that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• The importance of doing your best
• Honesty
• Family support
• Valuing your own talents
• Determination
• The importance of good role modelling by parents

Parents could discuss what could happen in real life if people resort to illegal behaviour and lying in order to survive.