Thirteen is a portrayal of a teenage girl growing up in an impoverished home, with no true parental figures, searching for acceptance and love. While the world around her seems steady, Tracy Freeland feels alienated from this stability. Raised by her alcoholic mother and her mother's drug addicted boyfriend, Tracy feels lost and angry. For a time, Tracy finds solace in school, excelling academically and habitually hiding behind naive innocence and a modest form of dress. However, the dawning of puberty and the start of seventh grade leave Tracy with a wavering self worth and a desire to leave childish ways behind. Determined to gain the attention of the popular, Evie Zamora, Tracy convinces her mom to buy her a new, sexier wardrobe and begins her slow descent into a life of theft, drugs, alcohol, and sex. Throughout her journey, Tracy finds herself lost and alone, wondering who she is apart from her dysfunctional lifestyle. There are pivotal moments when Tracy reaches out to both her mother and father, only to be met with disinterest and disregard. More often than not, Tracy's mom, Melanie is too busy with her own recovery efforts, her job, and her boyfriend to give Tracy the attention she is desperately seeking. Though Melanie is a constant in Tracy's life, scenes regularly depict her as being a pushover, allowing Tracy too much freedom and not enough discipline. On the other hand, Tracy's father is absent from all areas of Tracy's life, constantly cancelling plans at the last minute. In one central scene, Melanie reaches out to him for help and when he finally shows up he merely dismisses Tracy's needs in favor of his own career.
The 1967 film, The Graduate is a classic film that is bound to stand the test of time. The fictional story revolves around Benjamin Braddock, a 21 year old graduate who returns home from college and is re-introduced to his father’s friend’s wife, Mrs. Robinson. Through enticing conversation and alluring conversation, Mrs. Robinson seduces Ben. After an affair that lasts weeks with Mrs. Robinson, Ben is introduced to and finds his heart to be with Elaine Robinson. Their relationship is strengthened and after trials of hardship and rejection, but the taBen and Elaine marry regardless of the wishes of their families. The film, directed by Mike Nichols, a German native, is riddled with Existentialist, Marxist, Feminist, and Archetypal scenes and perspectives. Approaching the film from the Existentialist lens, we find several examples throughout the film of when characters follow an Existentialist viewpoint or outlook. An Existentialist typically questions their true identity, the meaning of life, the meaning of their life, or the purpose of their life overall?
As Gene departs from Finny, he does find his own peace. Finny’s life and death taught him a way of living. Gene declares, “During the time I was with him, Phineas created an atmosphere in which I continued how to live, a way of sizing up the world with erratic and entirely personal reservations, letting its rocklike facts sift through and be accepted only a little at a time, only as much as he could assimilate without a sense of chaos and loss” (Knowles 202). Gene struggles throughout the novel, but becomes stronger and more self-aware. He learns how to deal with life when it becomes overwhelming. Gene’s achievement of peace is also seen when he acknowledges himself that the real enemy is within himself. Alton emphasizes, “We’re all liable to corruption from within by our own envy, anger, and fear.” As best friends, Gene and Finny were both likely to develop envy or anger. In this world and how human friendships work, it is normal to have these feelings. However, Gene has a bad case of it, and it affects him greatly. Gene concludes, “I never killed anybody and I never developed an intense level of hatred for the enemy. Because my war ended before I ever put on a uniform; I was on active duty all my time at school; I killed my enemy there” (Knowles 204). Overall, Gene fought his own private war of growing up.
The documentary ‘Happy’ was probably one of the best documentaries I have ever watched. It is a documentary on what truly makes people around the world happy. The movie takes you through true stories of the lives of all kinds of people with different life situations within the entire world. Through each individual story it shows how even though they may have gone or are going through tough situations, they still remain happy with life itself.
The filmmakers really amplified the idea that everyone can become happier. They filmed people from many different cultures around the world, to show that there are no barriers for being happy. Rather than starting the film with an interview from an average American, Happy began with an Indian rickshaw driver sharing his daily lifestyle. Although it may have seemed like a hard, tiring, and anticlimactic lifestyle to the audience, he was happy. The narrator reports, “Research shows that he was as happy as the average American.” This may seem unrealistic for the audience at first, considering the audience is still discovering this principle that happiness is diverse for other individuals. Especially for an audience member who finds that a majority of their happiness is related with money, this moment in the film may have not been easy for them to comprehend. This part of the film really amplifies the main claim from the director that happiness is mainly influenced by our ecology. The Indian rickshaw driver found most of his happiness when he came home, and interacted with his son. The idea of ecology has a lot to with the social interaction between individuals of the same species, in this case, it was the interaction between the rickshaw driver and his son. Not only did the interaction with his son brighten his mood, but his interaction with his neighbors also brought him to be happy.
The director seamlessly weaves five separate plot threads throughout the main story, all involving their own social repercussions and the consequent changes in the lives of all those caught up in the dilemmas they face. The film is filled with a rich
truly is, what happiness consists of, etc. But there is one not so popular subject that is
Happiness is a result that we deserved, furthermore, it becomes a motivation for us to keep trying and getting success in life.
Mankind must by this time have acquired positive beliefs as to the effects of some actions on their happiness; and the beliefs which have thus come down are the rules of morality for the multitude, and for the philosopher until he has succeeded in finding better. That philosophers might easily do this, even now, on many subjects; that the received code of ethics is by no means of divine right; and that mankind have still much to learn as to the effects of actions on general happiness, I admit or rather earnestly maintain.
The world seems to be a dark and unforgiving place, but happiness is hidden within. It is found in a beautiful view, an uplifting song, or a compliment from a friend. According to the Ted Talk video, The Habits of Happiness, Matthieu Ricard claims that everyone “has a deep, profound desire for well-being or happiness”(Ricard 2:39). Ricard uses the three techniques of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to captivate and move his audience. With the use of metaphors, personal experiences, and even graphs Matthieu explained to his audience the full force and perception of the bendable word that is happiness. This Ted Talk dove into philosophical meaning on just how to achieve well-being, without having everything in the world.
In the end, I think that The Pursuit of Happyness is a pretty inspiring film. It presents to us the struggles that many face, especially in the poorer parts of the world. It shows us that we can achieve anything as long us we put our minds to it. It is an eye-opener that tells us we should do the best in everything we do. After all, we are the masters of our own lives, in a final analysis.
But before he escapes Andy’s been doing the wardens taxes and he has made the warden rich with dirty money that Andy made clean. One day Andy tells Red about his dream of getting out of prison and moving to Mexico and living by the ocean and fixing up a boat. This shows the subject of happiness because that's Andy’s dream believing in it makes Andy happy. This connects to the theme through happiness Andy found happiness with friends and his dream, later when he escapes, he becomes rich and accomplishes his dream and achieves true happiness when Red gets out he moves in with
When having good experiences, most people, if asked, would claim that they feel happy. However, if one decided to ask Martha Nussbaum, author of “Who is the Happy Warrior? Philosophy Poses Questions to Psychology,” she would most likely respond that she was feeling pleasured. In her article, she draws a restrictive line between pleasure and happiness. She introduces the viewpoints of many intellectuals who have spoken on the definition of happiness, and then offers her own opinions in regards to theirs. Her thoughts generally align with those of Aristotle, Plato, and the ancient Greek thinkers – the very ones she spent much of her higher education studying. Her main ideas, that happiness is too complex to be concretely defined and that pleasure is a feeling that we may experience while doing certain things, are well-explained and supported. She offers the idea that happiness is not an emotion – rather, it is a state of being that we should all hope to attain as a result of self-reflection. Nussbaum continually counters the beliefs proposed by psychologists, like the notion that happiness is a one-note feeling, or the concept that happiness is only influenced by positive emotions. In my essay, I will explain how Martha Nussbaum’s explanation of the complexities of happiness is superior, as well as how the ideas of two psychologists, Sonja Lyubomirsky and Daniel Gilbert, are faulty and disreputable. However, it is important to note that just because Nussbaum is the least wrong
How does one define happiness? For many people, this question makes people think what exactly it means to “be happy.” Many philosophers have different views on the definition of “happiness,” but one that strikes several scholars is Aristotle’s view on happiness. Aristotle believes that happiness is an activity of the soul in accordance with perfect virtue. This stems to another question, what is virtue? There are two types of virtues; intellectual and moral. Intellectual virtues engage in your mental capacity and moral virtues are the balance or imbalance of the morality of a moral decision. To achieve perfect virtue, moral virtue needs to have a balance, in which a feeling of emotion is rationale, with not too much or too little of that emotion (Aristotle, 11). Aristotle’s view of moral virtue is evident in several novels and films, but more noticeable in the classic film The Wizard of Oz. In the film, The Wizard of Oz, many characters experience feelings of emotion where they have too much, too little, and balanced feeling of emotion. All in all, several characters in the film The Wizard of Oz apply different feelings of an emotion, such as confidence, compassion, and courage throughout the story, resulting in showing Aristotle’s view of moral virtue as a plausible theory of a path to happiness.
The story of the movie The Pursuit of Happyness directed by Gabriele Muccino portrays a family who struggles with finding enough money to pay taxes and afford living expenses. The movie takes a place in San Francisco during the 80s. The two main characters are the father Chris Gardner and his son Christopher, Will Smith and Jaden Smith respectively. Gardner tries to support his family. But every time he attempts to make things better, they always end up worse. Gardner in the story wonders on "how to be happy?" He earns his money by selling the bone density