Blog 6---Culture Artifact

            Culture Artifacts reflects certain notions of social identify. The film “The Pursuit of Happyness” by Columbia Pictures is inspired of a true story, and it depicts a story of an African American who became a stock-broker in the 1980s. Chris Gardner, the main character, became poor and homeless because of his failure on business. The living conditions, people’s treatments and working areas in this film suggest the stereotypical notions of class and race.

            The opening scenes of this film suggest the notions of class and race. The first scene is the “Declaration of Independent” and the word “pursuit of happiness” is highlighted, which give people an image of American mixed-bowl that has people with different races. In the second scene, a black male, Chris Gardner, is waking up his son, Christopher, in a small dark room. Everything is old, and the light is weak. The clock shows it is 5:30 am. The poor living condition and the time they need to wake up represents the life of low class. They have to get up early because they do not have a car, so they will spend more time on the bus. High buildings, Golden Gate bridge which is the symbol of San Francisco, and American flag on the top of the building appear in the third scene. As we know, San Francisco is city with numbers of immigrants due to the Western Development in the past. High buildings represent officers. Thus, this scene also suggests race and class of American life.

However, people who are white seem to have higher status than others who are not. In the fourth scene, a female with long golden hair appears in the middle of the scene, and she is wearing a suit, which emphasize the importance and higher status among those people who walk on the street. We can merely see a black male, who is also in a suit on the right side, and there is an Asian face next to the black male, and he is wearing an apron; a male is light dark on the back of the white female. This scene structures an image of a mixed-bowl of race. Comparing their clothing, the Asian male seems have the lowest status since he is wearing the most improper clothing, which is the apron, on the street. Many interesting thing are seen on the street. In the fifth scene as well, a crowded street where most people are white, and they are carrying cases. They dress elegantly, but when the camera goes downward, there is an old man who dresses poorly, and lying on the street, which send a message to people how the upper class looks like and how the lower class looks like. The great differences are shown in the fifth scene constitute the stereotypes of class.

Nobody talks in or behind these scenes, but the notions of class and race are explicitly suggest through clothing and other arrangements.

Resource from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVCvYEXuh9E