Fiction
Fiction is content, principally in a narrative form drawn from imagination. In most cases, the term refers to particular key forms of literature such as short story, novella, novel and narrative poetry. In addition, fiction may as well appear in other formats and media such as recorded and live performances such as ballet, television, film, opera and theater. Similarly, fiction is depicted to include creative invention so that its audience cannot assume faithfulness to reality.
Biography
The film Pursuit of happiness is a real story about the life of Chris Gardner starred by Will Smith and directed by Gabriele Muccino. It is a biography film produced in 2006 and released December, 2007. The core themes of the film touch on affection and a struggling father who strives to bring up his son. Christopher Gardner was born in 1954 in Wisconsin at an area called Milwaukee. The early life of this character was marked by sexual abuse, poverty, family illiteracy and domestic violence.
Gardner was abandoned by his father and had to pass through a lot of struggles. He joined the Navy and later moved to San Francisco to work as a medical research associate as well as scientific supply distributor (Boyle, Matthews, & Saklofske, 2008). In 1981, he became the father of Christopher Gardner Jr. due to his early life; Gardner vowed never to led his son live a miserable life like his. In this respect, he desired to have a job that will enable him work while on the other hand taking care of his son. He applied to for training programs at brokerages and was determined to excel in the new trade. He became homeless since the salary from the trainee could not sustain his needs. Despite all these problems, the film indicates how Gardner fought hard to excel. Finally, Gardner prospered and established a brokerage company that becomes one of the powerful companies in the United States.
Adlerian Theory of Personality
Adlerian emphasized a positive perception of human nature. He argued that some individuals can control their own fate. As such, they can do this in part in an attempt to help others social interests. The manner in which they do things can be understood by analyzing their lifestyles. In addition, early interactions with the peers, teachers, and family members can enhance to determine the responsibility of superiority and inferiority in their lives. The Pursuit of Happyness film is based on a true story of Chris Gardner, who successfully struggles to attain his superiority to become prosperous in his life. Adlerian focuses on the influential factors within an individual's personality to achieve their desires. It can be argued that the prosperity achieved by Chris Gardner resulted from the boost in his life to move out of the challenging problems that his faced in his early life and he desired his son to understand who his father is. For this matter, Gardner attempted to compensate his inferiority and struggled to attain his superiority.
According to Adler people construct their reality as per their own manner of looking at the world. As a matter of fact, the film Pursuit of Happyness portrays a man who views the in his own perception. And notes that he has no any other option apart from striving hard for his son and own sake. In addition, Adler believes that a person's behavior is stimulated by various past circumstances because their senses do not see the world but apprehend it.
Eysenck’s Personality Theory
This is a relatively influential personality model. It is based on the results of factor analysis of personality responses. Eysenck identified three key personalities: psychiatric, extraversion and neuroticism. He found out that people have different responses. Precisely, Eysenck worked in a mental hospital and made distinct observations. He noted that the responses put forth by soldiers seemed to link naturally with one another, illustrating that there were various personality traits revealed by soldiers' responses. Therefore, he placed the responses into different categories or dimensions. More importantly, he stated that there are two dimensions of neuroticism; stable and unstable which can be combined to form a variety of personality features (Ellis, Abrams, & Abrams, 2009). Eysenck reported that extraverts are sociable and require change and excitement.
Therefore, they can be easily bored by petty issues; they tend to be optimistic, carefree and impulsive. On the other hand, introverts are reserved, manage and plan their actions as well as controlling their emotions. Such individuals tend to be reliable and serious. In the context of the Chris, Gardner can fall under the dimension of extroverts. Gardner is stable in that he takes care of his son; he is comparatively responsible for ensuring that his son gets all the necessary needs irrespective of the challenges. Similarly, it is clear from the film, that Gardner understands how to control his own emotions. It is expected that Gardner having past all those problems could become desperate. Nevertheless, Gardner does not lose hope but strives hard to fulfill the desires of his heart.
Allport’s Trait Theory
Allport's theory stresses the uniqueness of the internal and the individual motivational and cognitive processes that affect behavior. For example, habits, skills, intelligence, attitudes, temperament and traits. As such, Allport believes that personality is a biological factor that is determined by birth and is molded by a person's environmental experiences (Smith & Columbia Pictures, 2010). Critically, analyzing Gardner's behavioral traits it evident the environment that he was brought up shaped his way of doing things. Allport argued that there were several characteristics that dominate in a person’s behavior. However, he outlined that there is one dominant trait; Cardinal Trait, which defines the person's personality and overshadows all others. Gardner's success was motivated, by the way, his was brought up in a harsh environment and the fact that he did not wished his son to live the same life.
Conclusion
The character presented by The Pursuit of Happyness is a fictional person and character who illustrates his true life story. Gardner centers his attention on how to emerge a successful person irrespective of the challenges that he faced in his life. The three theories presented above help in understanding Gardner's personality and what motivates his drive to excel. The approaches are relatively associated with the life of Chris Gardner. As such, the film deals with moral values as well as its relation to life. In addition, it indicates how a responsible father takes care of his life. In this regard, it puts forth a clear message to the viewers that challenges are part of live and irrespective of that people ought to prioritize their core objectives and goals. The Pursuit for Happyness is therefore, a biographical and motivational film.
References
Boyle, G. J., Matthews, G., & Saklofske, D. H. (2008). The SAGE handbook of personality theory and assessment. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
Ellis, A., Abrams, M., & Abrams, L. D. (2009). Personality theories: Critical perspectives. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
Smith, W., & Columbia Pictures. (2010). Hitch: The pursuit of happyness ; Ali. Culver City, CA: Columbia Pictures.
