The Movie Ignorance Is Bliss

David Sosa, author of The Spoils of Happiness, creates a new perspective to the “what is happiness?” conundrum. As we all pondered at the idea, I, for one never went into much depth. Sosa, intrigues us with a theoretical question based off a movie, The Matrix. Would you plug into an artificial intelligence that makes you think you are living a happy life? Well, after reading this article, Sosa himself would not. His thesis is: happiness is more like knowledge than a belief. In the following paragraphs I will discuss Sosa’s thesis and give my arguments.

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder often characterized by abnormal social behaviour and failure to recognize what is real. Common symptoms include false beliefs, unclear or confused thinking, auditory hallucinations, reduced social engagement and emotional expression, and inactivity. A person with schizophrenia often hears voices, experiences delusions and hallucinations and may believe thoughts, feelings and actions are controlled or shared by someone else.

Pleasantville is a movie where significant change occurs based on the theories of social change. In the movie, the TV show Pleasantville is set in the 1950’s and everything and everyone in that show is in black and white. And being that they’re set in the 1950’s the have the same outdated morals, values and beliefs that are associated with 1950’s culture. However, the town of Pleasantville slowly but surely turns into colour when they go against their societal norms and beliefs and have sex, read, paint, express emotions and many other things. Pleasantville portrays a town that is ready and is in need of social change and how social changes are required for humanity to progress. One could say that the colour changes in Pleasantville are viewed as a bad thing because it would mean that you broke a societal value or norm in Pleasantville where everything is always perfect. However, David and Jennifer prove to the locals that the colour change is anything but bad and how it allows them to express every facet of their minds and not be stuck in the same roles and routines day in and day out. These sociological, anthropological and psychological changes are needed when trying to move forward as a society and Jennifer and David have helped Pleasantville expand their horizons.

When the film The Matrix debuted in 1999, it was an instant box office success that captivated many viewers. However throughout the featured famed actors, costumes, special effects and fight scenes, many viewers failed to notice the philosophical issues. Plato and Descartes, just like the characters in the movie are faced and driven to extreme measures to understand the world around them. They are compelled to seek knowledge in understanding what is real, evaluating the mind-body problem, and are left wondering if there is any good. These philosophical features of the movie have raised questions and have made it an interesting film to watch. While many viewers can agree that The Matrix is highly action packed, not all can truly appreciate

'The experience machine' is one of Nozick’s best-known arguments . The experience machine is a thought experiment which posits the existence of a device that can give its user any experience desired. When one placed in an 'experience machine', it can program any experience, such as traveling to the moon. The experience machine is supposed to allow someone to have all and any of the pleasures in the world. However, Nozick states that even though if such machine exits no one would use it, which shows that there are more important things than pleasure.

The film Pleasantville shows the changes in American society over the past 50 years by placing two teenagers into the Pleasantville show, which was from the 50’s. The movie depicts how there is no longer the “American Dream” and no longer a perfect way of life and the changes the world has made. The world that the teenagers come from is filled with sex, drugs, money, and is very different from the way the world was in which the Pleasantville Show took place in. Morals and values have changed in the people and in society that the teenagers came from and shows it would be impossible to return back to the kind of life style the world had in the 50’s.

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 movie, “The Pursuit of Happyness” is a film based on a true story of Chris Gardner, where Will Smith shines a tale of rags-to-riches filled with love, family, and outcome of the American dream. Chris Gardner is an American businessman, investor, stockbroker, motivational speaker, author, and philanthropist. Based on this real-life story of Chris Gardner, Will Smith takes the role of Christopher Gardner, who was a salesman struggling to satisfy the needs of his wife, Thandie Newton, and their son, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith. With the financial problems, his wife gives up the struggles, abandoning him and their son. Things get worse as Gardner and his son are evicted from their residence leaving them with no option but to try surviving on the streets of San Francisco. They are forced to move from one place to another in the bid to get a shelter wherever they are lucky to get one. The movie demonstrates us how vigorously he is eager to chase his happiness in many burdensome ways. It exhibits how Chris Gardner becomes homeless in the beginning of the movie, but later he becomes a successful dream achiever after putting all his hard work.

Ignorance is known as a lack of knowledge or understanding. This word is most definitely not a term of endearment; in fact it’s the complete opposite. In the book Into The Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, it tells the story of a man who gives up everything he owns to travel to Alaska and live in the wild. Christopher McCandless (also known as Alexander Supertramp) is known to many as ignorant and arrogant because of the little physical baggage he carries with him. Although these people may not agree with Chris’s choice of lifestyle, many find fulfillment in life on the road. Life on the road is not suited for everyone, but the advice that Chris gives to Ron Franz, and 81 year old man that he meets on his travels, is to not settle

“There is no way to be completely happy without being oblivious to the world around you” (Maredith Close). Everybody is oblivious, sometimes on purpose, sometimes not, though it tends to be beneficial. As said by Maredith Close, true happiness can not be achieved without oblivion, but in extreme cases, too much happiness for someone can cause less for someone else. Being oblivious can cause calm thoughts, but when conceived in extreme, can cause confusion and lack of comprehension, perhaps leading to irrational actions.

To understand and attain knowledge is a key factor in achieving happiness. However, in order to pursue happiness, one must understand the implications of knowledge and understanding as because reality is all about what we make of

The film “Hearts and Minds” by Peter Davis was made in 1974. Peter Davis truly scrutinized the Vietnam War in this film along with the involvement of the United States. Throughout the film Davis interviews many people about their true opinions and views of the war and the United States involvement. Peter questioned commanders, civilians, soldiers even a bomber pilot (Randy Floyd) and more in the film. The experiences of these people were also mentioned during these very private interviews. As you watch the film you indeed recognize how the people that are very strongly against the war are portrayed much more favorable than those who encouraged it. It is important to emphasize that the title of Peter Davis’ film “Hearts and Minds” was inspired by how the president during this wartime, which in fact was Lyndon B. Johnson, announced that ultimately the victory in the Vietnam War was dependent on the United States military winning the “hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese people.

The movie Split is an American thriller that is centered around the fictional character known as Kevin Crumb. Kevin suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder which leads to him being known as many other names. Kevin is also commonly known as Hedwig, a young boy, Dennis, a perverted man who suffers from OCD, and Patricia, an older classy woman. These are only some of the personalities Kevin has taken on. These personalities began to develop young in Kevin’s life as a defense mechanism to help protect him from his abusive mother. Kevin has many other personalities, some of which are evil. These evil personalities are what give the movie its thriller genre. Kevin kidnaps a girl, and she experiences all of these different personalities until a new one emerges that dominates over the others. “The beast” as it is referred to is the one that causes all the scare factors in the movie. When Kevin sees the damage that his other personalities have done, he is horrified and scared because he does not know how to control himself.

The film Amelie provides multiple examples of individuals sacrificing, and applying Campbell 's moral objective to their own lives. One of the people from the film that follow the objective is Dominique Bretodeau. When he was a young boy, he lost his treasure box. Directly after it was returned to him from a stranger, he began to tear up over the lost memories that the box contained. He then confides in people at the bar that he has not spoken to his daughter in years, and because of this does not know his grandson. This simple act of kindness was enough to make Bretodeau sacrifice his pride enough to reconcile with his daughter and grandson. He had no idea if his family was going to open their arms, or push him away for being away for so long. This failed to stop Bretodeau. This journey of becoming a hero was a spiritual one. Most of the conflict happened within his own heart. A small act of thoughtfulness helped a man choose to create a better life for him, and his estranged family.

Filmed over the course of 12 years, Richard Linklater cast Ellar Coltrane as Mason as we follow his growth and childhood experience as he learns about life and himself. It sounds like an incredible idea and Linklater does deserve approbation for taking this approach, but 'Boyhood' fails to work as a character study. In fact, 'Boyhood' really does not have much to say besides "life goes by fast".