{"id":88,"date":"2007-01-26T17:29:27","date_gmt":"2007-01-26T22:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/2007\/01\/26\/inspirational-movies-the-pursuit-of-happyness-and-freedom-writers-2\/"},"modified":"2007-05-22T00:51:34","modified_gmt":"2007-05-22T05:51:34","slug":"inspirational-movies-the-pursuit-of-happyness-and-freedom-writers-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/?p=88","title":{"rendered":"Inspirational Movies “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “Freedom Writers”"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>I typically do not write commentary on movies.\u00a0 While I do enjoy movies and have a respectable DVD collection, I do not usually go to movie theatres and critique movies.<\/p>\n

Recently, I had the occasion to see two very extraordinary movies.\u00a0 Unlike many movie critics, I don’t actively look for things wrong with the movie or dissect it unreasonably.\u00a0 I look to have a stimulating and entertaining experience.\u00a0 And if I happen to be moved and inspired along the way, all the more better.<\/p>\n

I think we are a product of what we listen, watch, and believe.\u00a0 The inputs shapes us in strange, subtle ways.\u00a0 With inspirational movies, it doesn’t have to be subtle.\u00a0 It can be can be overt and impactful.\u00a0 I love those kinds of movies which motivates, inspires,\u00a0and empowers people.<\/p>\n

The two movies I am referring to are “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “Freedom Writers”.\u00a0 Both of these movies are exceptional movies especially to those who are part of the empowerment, motivational, and inspirational communities.<\/p>\n

Like great movies before them, these movies are about overcoming incredible odds to achieve meaningful success.\u00a0 And the nice thing about these movies is that they are based on true stories!<\/p>\n

\"pursuit_of_happyness.jpg\"<\/a>“The Pursuit of Happyness” is about Chris Carter who, over\u00a0twenty years ago, was a homeless single father struggling against incredible odds to support his son and become a stock broker which eventually lead him to starting his own firm and ultimately becoming rich and influential today.\u00a0 When I watched this movie, there were many funny parts.\u00a0 But in putting myself in the character’s shoes, I wondered if I could have done the things that were portrayed to overcome life’s obstacles.\u00a0 I came out of that movie inspired and moved that nearly all obstacles can be overcome with enough work and determination.<\/p>\n

\"freedomwritersposter.jpg\"<\/a>“Freedom Writers” was an unexpected movie for me.\u00a0 I was interested in the movie based on Hillary Swank (a favorite actress) and her character’s challenge of dealing with troubled and underprivileged teens.\u00a0 Little did I know, it was based on a true story!\u00a0 It was based on English teacher, Erin Gruwell, and\u00a0her passion and determination to make a difference in these troubled teens lives through the power of written journals.\u00a0 For many years, I never thought I would ever become a writer, author, or publisher.\u00a0 And yet, along the way, I learned the power of self-expression through writing.\u00a0 It truly is an experience like no other especially when you realize other people are reading your work.\u00a0 For the students, they knew their teacher were reading and listening privately.\u00a0 And this, I believe, served as a catalyst for the release of inner frustrations, fears, insecurities, anxieties, these teens felt.\u00a0 Through writing, they could release these emotions in a healthy and even therapeutic way.<\/p>\n

I never liked English very much as a subject in school but I did learn enough and appreciate it enough to know that I had to learn it to be respected in society.\u00a0 I saw the negative perception\u00a0and consequence of people who did not adequately learn written English.<\/p>\n

Erin Gruwell started the Freedom Writers Foundation.<\/a>\u00a0 While I do not yet know much about the foundation itself beyond what the website says, I was moved enough by the movie to read the website.\u00a0 I have never met Erin Gruwell but I can say she has proven you can make a difference in this world if you put your mind to it.<\/p>\n

Too many people say they do not have enough money and time to help.\u00a0 What a crock of shit when I hear that.\u00a0 Everyone can contribute in their own way to the world.\u00a0 Money is not the only currency in this world.\u00a0 Passion, love, and lots of action carries a lot of weight also.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I typically do not write commentary on movies.\u00a0 While I do enjoy movies and have a respectable DVD collection, I do not usually go to movie theatres and critique movies. Recently, I had the occasion to see two very extraordinary movies.\u00a0 Unlike many movie critics, I don’t actively look for things wrong with the movie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motivation-inspiration","category-television-movies","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p927L-1q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":318,"url":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/?p=318","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":0},"title":"Review of The Warner Brothers VIP Movie Studio Tour – Part II","author":"Matthew Chan","date":"June 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"During lunch, we went to the WB Commissary.\u00a0 When I hear the word commissary, I am thinking it is this cafeteria where lots of people are being pushed through a food line and you have to sit in this rowdy lunch room.\u00a0 Boy, was I tremendously happy I was completely\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewchan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/wb-studio-112x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":316,"url":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/?p=316","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":1},"title":"Review of Sony Pictures Movie Studio Tours","author":"Matthew Chan","date":"June 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Having planned a couple of extra days to enjoy Los Angeles, I booked a ticket to visit Sony Pictures Studios Tours.\u00a0 Like most of the movie studio tours, they are not well advertised or marketed.\u00a0 Most people find out about movie studio tours from word-of-mouth or by seeking it out.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewchan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/sony-studios-150x111.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":317,"url":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/?p=317","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":2},"title":"Review of Warner Brothers VIP Movie Studio Tour – Part I","author":"Matthew Chan","date":"June 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Prior to leaving on my final day in Los Angeles, I went to the Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour in Burbank, California.\u00a0 More specifically, I signed up for the 5-hour Deluxe version of the studio tour at a cost of $150.00.\u00a0 Only 10-people are allowed in a Deluxe Tour.\u00a0 This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewchan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/wb-studio-112x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":154,"url":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/?p=154","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":3},"title":"More Thoughts on Infomercials & Complaints","author":"Matthew Chan","date":"June 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Because of my conversations with \"Incredible Discoveries\", I found a lot of information within Google regarding the entire infomercial industry.\u00a0 Boy, what a nasty business it appears to be.\u00a0 So many complaints. There are numerous complaints on every infomercial I have seen.\u00a0 It is really staggering.\u00a0 It is a good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Business Affairs"","block_context":{"text":"Business Affairs","link":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/?cat=27"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129,"url":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/?p=129","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":4},"title":"WTVM Channel 9 Revisits Cobra Collections Story & CobraCollectionScam.com","author":"Matthew Chan","date":"June 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Zaneta Lowe has quickly followed up on the heels of her June 1, 2007 story on Janice Ledden and the Cobra Collections story by doing a revisit and expansion of the original story. In today's story, Zaneta Lowe interviewed\u00a0a previous landlord of Cobra Collections.\u00a0 Additionally, she recapped the previous story\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Business Affairs"","block_context":{"text":"Business Affairs","link":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/?cat=27"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewchan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/wtvm.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewchan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/wtvm.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewchan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/wtvm.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewchan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/wtvm.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthewchan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/wtvm.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":241,"url":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/?p=241","url_meta":{"origin":88,"position":5},"title":"Those Charming Mac vs. PC Commercials","author":"Matthew Chan","date":"December 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I am not sure when the commercials took hold in my brain but after nearly 2 years of seeing Apple put on different \"Mac vs. PC\" commercials, I decided to go to YouTube.com to find more of those \"Mac vs. PC\" commercials to view. Can you imagine that? I actually\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthewchan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}