Persuasion in "The Pursuit of Happyness"

I am writing this blog post for Communication 333, Persuasion with Professor Petrovic. The film that I will be discussing is "The Pursuit of Happyness." I chose this film due to the background story being a single father who was trying to raise his son after his wife had left them. This film is based upon persuasion; the character in the film used humor as a persuasive tactic to sway the interview in his favor. I believe that in this situation, the persuasive tactic of humor was a great way to get the businessmen for the interview. It took away from how he looked appearance-wise and looked more into his mentality and way of thinking. While also struggling with trying to pitch his invention of a bone density scanner.

The person credible for the film in persuading others is Chris Gardner, the main character. He persuades and pursues the interview in his painter suit, which was covered in paint while just getting out of jail that morning. The message in the artifact is credible because this film puts into perspective that everyone deserves happiness, and that there are ways to gain happiness through humor or life lessons on never giving up. I determined that by watching for critical points in the movie with persuasive moments.

A persuasive moment example in the pursuit of happyness is; when he was telling his son to protect his dreams. It is a scene in which Gardner manages to find a little bit of time at the beginning of his day to play basketball with his son. At this moment, Gardner proceeds to tell his son that he should not worry about playing basketball because he will not be very good at it, which in turn upsets his son. Seeing his now upset son, Gardner decides that instead of shattering his son's dreams, Gardner should instead teach him how to protect his dreams. Not to let anybody tell him that there is something that he can not do.

I believe that this artifact relates to the topics in MOD 5 by using Ethnicity. I feel as though they saw this African-American man and thought that he did not deserve to be given respect. As Chris Gardner went up to pay his respects and shake their hands, they had a look of disgust as if he had no value to them before even understanding him. I am motivated to change my actions of using humor as a persuasive tactic. I feel that using this tactic in situations is like using a crutch; people can have a normal conversation without the use of "dry humor."

I have not shifted my beliefs based on this film; it has helped me see how some may think and, too, always try to think out of the box and never give up on my dreams, no matter who tries to push their fears of failure onto me. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and if something does not go through, then it was not meant to be. I have learned that persuasive communication is a way to get a message to get an audience to listen and support the perspective of the informer, creating an attitude change in the reader to influence one's social behavior. This Analysis will help shape my future interactions with media by showing me to look deeper into the picture.

As a young, black, and educated millennial coming into my own in a social media-driven society, I find myself having to decode messages in media. I don't decode these messages for my entertainment, but for my freedom and mental sanity. I constantly feel I am coaxed to question myself, To question my beauty, my conscious, my morals, my peace, my state of contentment, and my love for myself. An example of decoded messages in the media is A Revlon Commercial that talks about representing women as a whole, but picks and chooses which women to show in their brand, picking women with primarily European standards of beauty.