Kramer vs. Kramer and In Pursuit of Happyness review

Kramer vs. Kramer and In Pursuit of Happyness review

The movies in the comparison include Kramer vs. Kramer and In Pursuit of Happyness. The first movie was under the direction of Robert Benton as the film director. The movie involves Ted Kramer, Joanna Kramer, and Billy Kramer as the lead actors in the film.  They take care of the son together until when Joanna gets advice from a neighbor to separate from Ted. Consequently, she leaves Ted to take care of their son, Billy, a task that Ted finds challenging. However, he later learned to cope with the situation together with his son. The second movie, in pursuit of happyness, was under the direction of Gabrielle Muccino and based its story on the autobiography of Chris Gardner, an entrepreneur. In the movie, the main characters include Gardner and Christopher Jr. as his son. Gardner faces challenges to provide for his family from the selling of scanners. Ted’s wife, Linda, is unhappy and eventually leaves him and his son for New York. Ted is evicted and lives a homeless life. The two films have several sociological similarities despite having differences in some aspects.

In both films, there is instability in parental care and responsibility. In Kramer vs. Kramer, both parents combine to take care of their son until Joanna gets counseling from a neighbor to get out of the marriage for being unhappy. The theme of parental care and responsibility comes up in this movie. The parents might be having the urge to take care of the children, yet they fail to do so because of shaky relationships between them. In the Kramer family, Ted was the breadwinner despite having issues with his wife. Some parents, however, do not take into consideration the well-being of a child when they decide to quit a marriage. Similarly, the movie, in pursuit of happiness, bids another unstable relationship between Gardner and Linda. Despite both of them taking care of the child, they also break up because of the financial instability of the family. The case of a breakup is similar to that of Ted and his wife since the pursuit of happiness brings out the wife as the initiator of the breakup. Therefore, in both movies, the breakup process was the making of the wives in the families.

In both films, children face challenges as a result of the parental break up. For instance, in Kramer vs. Kramer, Billy is unhappy and misses his mother. Billy finds it hard to stabilize his relationship with his father, Ted. However, Ted tries hard to make sure that his son is happy despite the situation in the family. The absence of mother-child love makes Billy befriend a neighbor in which he finds solace. Many, at times, children face such challenges in life when parents break up and in any case, where there is a missing parent. The same issue comes up in the movie in pursuit of happiness, which the parents separate. Christopher Jr. had to live with his father in hardship conditions after his mother left them for New York. Consequently, he faces a challenge of living a homeless life at his tender age as his father was evicted from the residence. Christopher Jr. was indeed a casualty of a broken marriage like the many children witnessed in society. Therefore, both movies have brought up the issue of the effects of the separation of families.

In both movies, the problem of financial constraints among parents has come up. In Kramer vs. Kramer, Ted was having a paying job while his wife had no work. However, the break up costs Ted his well-paying job since he has to take care of the injured Billy after the accident. Financial issues in families escalate the problems that might be in existence in the families. A more significant population knows how to manage such difficulties. However, young families such as that of Ted and Joanna might find it challenging as they are not prepared to face such circumstances in marriage life. Similarly, in pursuit of happiness has also brought out financial issues in the families. Linda works in a hotel while Gardner sells scanners that are not well-paying as far as his responsibilities are concerned. Consequently, Linda moves out of the marriage and leaves Christopher Jr. in custody of Gardner. Gardner struggles to live with his son without having a job. Therefore, both movies have presented families facing social issues that come as a result of financial problems.

Despite the similarities, the two films have several differences. For instance, while Ted and Joanna squared out in court on the custody battle, Gardner and Linda never met to discuss issues concerned their child. Ted wanted to stay with his son now that they had struggled together, and the child was okay living with his father. However, the law required that the child stays with the mother while still at a tender age. Child custody is an issue that has always been coming up while a family breaks up. On the contrary, the movie, in pursuit of happiness, presents a case where two parents separate, yet Linda does not bother taking the matter to court for child custody. In marriage life, some parents do not care about the well-being of their children while others fear responsibilities. However, in such circumstances where one parent takes the responsibility, and another fails, the child becomes close to the parent that stays with the child.

In Kramer vs. Kramer, the family has a home and is financially stable until the time Joanna leaves the family. Ted is having a job with enough salary to feed the family. However, the wife is unhappy in the family for unknown reasons. Unlike other families where most issues in the family arise from financial constraints, the movie presents a different case. The predicaments of the family come from the wife getting advice from a neighbor who felt that she was unhappy and needed to move out. On the contrary, Gardner is facing a profound sociological problem of homelessness due to a lack of a well-paying job to sustain his family. Homeless people suffer to get a place where they can spend some time to relax. Worse enough, Gardner was together with his son Christopher Jr. who also persevered through the struggles of homelessness.

Lastly, there is a difference in the formation and production of the movies. Kramer vs. Kramer was a fiction story based on a novel while in pursuit of happiness was a creation made from a true-life story of Chris Gardner, who is a businessperson in the United States of America. Fiction movies might include more of theories that practical experiences. The formation of Kramer vs. Kramer explains, however, that the fiction stories can quickly relate to real-life issues depending on how the storyline looks more practical. Contrarily, Gardner’s autobiography encouraged filmmakers to come with movie ideas in which they partnered with Gardner to come up with such a touching movie. Seemingly, people can easily relate to a real story movie than fiction, especially when they already know the person to which the movie refers.

The two movies carry two of the most discussed issues in the country at the moment.  The films have intriguingly described the social problems that are facing the current families in the country. Kramer vs. Kramer acts as an eye-opener to people who file cases of custody battles and how such circumstances affect the children involved. However, the movie does not provide a solution to the contention where the child does not prefer the mother after the court has already decided on custody of the child. In the movie, In Pursuit of Happyness, another contentious sociological issue comes up. The film has ideally attempted to bring out the factors that lead to homeless families in the country. Additionally, the movie is an encouragement to people who are looking for happiness in life. According to the film, happiness is found in the self-drive and persistence of people. If I were in the position of Ted, I would live the child in the custody of his mother yet continue supporting and meeting Billy on most occasions. For the issue of Gardner, I would as well work without giving up in life until I achieve my success.