Session: February 2018

Thinking Skills
(MPU2093U2/MPU1033U2)

Title: How Creative Work Influence Your Thinking Skills

Group Name:

Program:
Bachelor in Early Childhood Education
Diploma in Early Childhood Education

Lecturer’s Name:

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TABLE OF CONTENT

CONTENTS PAGE NO.

Introduction 3

Explanation 4-7

Analysis 8-

Conclusion

List of References

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INTRODUCTION
The creative work that we decided to work on is a movie called ‘The Pursuit of
Happyness’. This movie is based on a true story about a man named Christopher Gardner.
Gardner invested heavily in a device known as a “bone density scanner”. He feels like he
has it made selling this device. However, he did not managed to sell well as they are
marginally better than x-ray at a much higher price. Despite being a better product than x-
ray machines, they are an unnecessary luxury for most physicians since they are far more
expensive. He needs to sell three scanners per month just to meet the basic necessities to
support his family, his wife, Linda, and their 5 years old son, Christopher, on who he dotes
since he didn’t know his own father when he was a child. As Gardner works to make ends
meet, his wife leaves him and he loses his apartment. He was forced to live out in the streets
with his son. Feeling like the scanner is not the answer to their financial problems, Gardner
decided to take a chance by switching careers when he sees that brokerage and securities
firm Dean Witter has a six months internship program, which only admits twenty applicants,
leading to only one intern being hired at the end of the process. Gardner continue to sell
bone density scanners while concurrently taking on an unpaid internship as a stockbroker,
with slim chances for advancement to a paid position. Before he can receive pay, he needs
to outshine the competition through 6 months of training, and to sell his device to stay afloat.
In what limited academic opportunities he has had in his life, Gardner has demonstrated that
he is a smart man with a strong dedication and determination to change his family’s life for
the better.

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EXPLANATION
The reason why we like the movie is because it inspires people to not give up in life
even though we had to struggle pursuing our dreams. It inspires us more to be a good in
whatever we do and memories of certain scenes continue to challenge us in our own
occasional moments of laziness or self-absorption. For example, in the scene where
everyday Gardner will always go out on the streets from one place to another to sell the
“bone density scanner” device in order to find money to provide for his family. Other than
that, suffice it to say that self-pity and lack of initiative are two character traits Mr. Gardner
simply does not exhibit, no matter how bleak things get for him and his son. Instead, he
elevates his son’s needs above his own over and over again. He can’t always change their
awful circumstances, but Gardner does everything within his power to meet his son’s
physical and emotional needs and to protect him. Gardner is not perfect, but one emotional
thing after another clearly demonstrate his drive to protect and provide for his son. Nothing
can deter this loving papa from lavishing affection and tenderness upon his son. Moreover,
the movie also teach us that nobody can tell you what you can and cannot do. For an
instance, in one of the film’s most powerful scenes comes when Christopher is trying to
shoot hoops with his new ball. After a strong but errant shot, Gardner critically informs him,
“You’ll excel at a lot of things, but not basketball,” perhaps projecting his own experience
onto his son. Christopher immediately lives down to Dad’s low expectations and takes a
weak shot. Noticing his son’s downcast countenance, Gardner realise his error and rectifies
the situation, saying “Don’t ever let somebody tell you, you can’t do something. Not even

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me. All right? You got a dream? You gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves,

they want to tell you, you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period.”
In addition, to such a strong father-son relationship, ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ also
presents the American Dream as an achievable reality. It begins when Gardner asks a Dean
Witter broker who he sees getting out of a bright red Ferrari what is needed to do the job.
The answer he gets back is this “You’ve got to be good with numbers and good with people.”
Gardner believes he has those skills and aggressively pursues executives at Dean Witter
once he discovers internships are available. He bounds his first contact, Jay Twistle, until
the man pays attention to him.

Scenes where Gardner has a small talk with a Dean Witter broker about what he does?
and how he does it?

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 Other that, there is a scene when several other people at Dean Witter gives Gardner
chances to prove himself, though they are not really duty-bound to do so because he ends
up in a very awkward attire at the interview panel as he was arrested and spend the night in
jail for unpaid parking tickets, and the panel refuses to give him the internship at an age of
30’s, but he speaks about himself from the bottom of his heart. Why is speaking about
yourself is important? Because unless you speak about yourself no one would be able to
know you and give you a chance. So, whenever you are asked about yourself, never get
back in fear, speak out boldly about yourself, your confidence would get you that opportunity.
Even if you have only failures in your career, they can act as a badge of honour that you
have the courage to try than to just sit idle. As Sundar Pichai says, in silicon valley “failure
is also worn as a badge of honour”.

Scenes during the interview sessions with the Executives of Dean Witter

Moreover, even though he is virtually broke, Gardner gives $5 to one of his rich
superiors so he can pay for cab fare. Later, Gardner misses an appointment with an
executive for a reason beyond his control and goes to the man’s house to apologise. The
executive, Walter Ribbon in turn kindly invites Gardner and Christopher to share his skybox
at 49ers game. Because of his act of kindness towards others, he was treated the same by
others and good things happen to him even after he had to go through countless obstacles.

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 The scene when Gardner lend his boss $5 a sum which he could not afford himself

Lastly, this movie teach us that we got to face the truth, and we have got to work to
turn things around. Gardner does that and much, much more and it gives a great impact to
us to work harder towards pursuing our own dreams. When we push ourselves to the limit,
work hard for what we want in life, never give up no matter what and most of all have faith
in whatever we do good things will come. We just have to believe in ourselves. This as much
shows in the movie at the end when Mr. Chris Gardner was selected for the job after being
an intern for six months. The moment he hears the news, tears began to flow from his eyes,
his happiness is boundless. It’s like the pursuit of happiness has become a reality and even
the background score gives an awesome feel.

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ANALYSIS
How the movie influence us are through the movie, we have learned to wonder and
think about how to pursue happiness in life. The movie recorded the life of Chris Gardner
and his determination on achieving and pursuing the happiness. By facing many difficulties
in life he finally overcome all his obstacle and challenges and become a successful business
man. This means, that in whatever situation or hardships we faced in life, as long as we
have a strong determination we can accomplish anything. There are three points in this
movie that we have noted which were, a father will do everything for his children in order to
give them comfort and shelter. If we have a dream we have to dream for it and never give

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up on reaching it, and do not let somebody tell you that you cannot do something to reach
all of it.

First of all, every father will always try his best in order to bring a better life for his
children. Mostly though, when thinking of the people that influenced me most as a person, I
think immediately of my father. He had a huge impact on my life even though I hardly talk
to him since he was not always around because he is busy trying to find money just to
provide his family. I can remember all the things that he did and does for my family. My dad
helps me to recognise that we can do everything if we have education and I also still
remember when he told me to reach out all the dreams I have in life even in a single
opportunity. This is why we have to always appreciate whatever our parents provide us even
though we may not have a fancy life like everyone else but we do not know what they had
to go through in order to give us the life we have now. It also makes me realise that I would
have not been the person I am today if it was not because of my father who has taught me
to always push myself to the boundaries and always be kind to others as well. Besides that,
the sacrifices that has been shown by Mr. Chris Gardner himself have open up our eyes to
see the world and ourselves differently. How? Through his action as a father trying his best
to provide for his family and as a human being who would still try his best to help other even
he is struggling himself to survive. It also teach us to not judge a book by its cover because
a person may seem happy now but we do not what one had to go through to get to that
happiness on their face.

Another point in this movie gives us the message that if we have a dream we must
defend and try to achieve it. In our life, everyone has a different dream, and the way people
pursue it is different. Some people can be successful with their dream. Others may lose their
dream if they do not have enough desire and patience. Our dream will never succeed if we
do not know how to make a plan in order to get it. Based from my past experience, (nanti
sambung after awak dah review.)

The last point is never let somebody tell us that we cannot do something. Never let
anybody demote you from perseverance and determination on reaching out your dreams,
never let anybody ruin your plans and be a hindrance to your success. If someone says that
we cannot do something, it means that they cannot do it and they just wanted us to feel it
the same as how they feel it and they do not want us to have it. If we are scared, and we do
not know how to work out with difficulty in life, we will never attain happiness and success.

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Happiness and success do not run across to us. We are the ones need to keep on and do
our best with our work to get them.
All in all, everyone can be successful if they know how to protect and follow their
dream and most of all don’t quit. Chris Gardener had one of the very difficult lives which we
have ever heard, but he didn’t quit and that is the one and only reason behind his success
today. It also reminds us that all parents love and do everything for their children. However,
success can come to us when we know how to deal and work out all problems and
challenges in our life.

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CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the purpose of this report is to analyse and understand the concepts
and definitions of the different methods of thinking. Through

LIST OF REFERENCES

Muccino, G. (Director). (2006). The pursuit of happyness [Motion picture on DVD]. United
States: Columbia Pictures.

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The Pursuit of Happyness. (2018, January 17). Retrieved January 22, 2018, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pursuit_of_Happyness#References

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