Touring the world and capturing the moments of happiness in many

forms is the perfect way to describe Happy. Happiness is portrayed as an

emotion that can be felt by anyone; no matter a persons culture, gender,
status. It is stated that as long as a persons necessities are met the
happiness levels remain very similar. The film is aimed at the American
middle class as seen with the opening scene it states the first part of the
Declaration of Independence. The film focuses on the emotional appeal of
the audience to show that happiness is centered around community and
family. Through looking at tragedy, cultures, and poverty the film creates a
sense of community and family around these that in turn creates happiness.
The focus of the film is appealing to the audiences emotions through
empathy for a community that struggles, desire to be a generational
community, and respect for a community focused on their children. Through
these emotions the film builds the idea that community and family creates
happiness.
Empathy is a strong feeling that overwhelms the audience as through
the film it shows tragic events resulting in happiness. There are varying
degrees of tragedy, but the film is able to strongly convey happiness through
the tragedy in different scenes that creates an appeal to empathy of the
audience. Appeals are used to evoke audiences emotion towards a subject
rather than an argument towards a reason. (Herrick 13) The sound used
during the scene of the comedian/educator, Michael, creates the sense of
being right there, causing the audience to feel what it might be like. Michael
tells the story of the Special Olympian, Annie, who was running and waited
for her teammates before she would cross the finish line. All six kids holding
hands ran across the finish line together. [Annie says], Together we all want
to win together we all want to win (19:40-19:22) Mikes tone of voice
became soft and everything around was silent. Through this effect it
established a sense of happiness with a change from taking the dis out of
disabled. The way this was conveyed in the film was through, ____(some
sound technique). Tragic times create a support system from the community
and family, through the way it is conveyed it allows the audience to relate
and have similar feelings.
Im working myself to death to Americans is a phrase to describe
they are tired, but to Japanese its a real thing. Through the framing in this
scene it is portrayed that the demand to a job in Japan causes extreme pain.
In Happy the Karoshi victims wives are singing a song in tribute of their lost
loved one. During this scene, it flashes to tired business people, crowded
trains, and at the very end a sign in the train station, Be Happy. (39:40)
Through these camera shots we find the image and its meaning together
form the sign. (Sturken and Cartwright 29) This could mean that through
showing these crowds of business people, a person from the crowd could be
the next victim. It also establishes that even though they are experiencing
this tragedy the wives have come together as a community allowing them to
see happiness in the worst days.
 One may argue that not every tragedy brings a community together,
but destroys a family or community. Through the films editing and framing
audiences automatically feel anger and frustration against Melissa Moodys
family. In the scene there is a shot from inside the car that is coming down
the hill about to run over Melissa. Then it cuts to her describing the incident
as she was dragged and pulled under the car. The car travelled over her
spine crushing her face into the ground. This mobile framing encourages
viewer awareness of the linkage between seeing and knowing and the
epistemological assumptions involved in that linkage (Lancioni 105) The
mobile framing used in this scene can cause the audience to feel anger
towards the other family members. Through the narration of Melissa, there
are voice overs in which she says, I was angry I was alive. (54:51) This is a
powerful quote that links the audiences emotions and the images together.
Throughout this time of tragedy Melissa would value being with her kids so
much more, and then she met the man she is married to today at her step-
daughters wedding. This is a special moment as she is laughing and the
audience feels excitement for her to find the missing piece to her puzzle. The
arrangement of Melissas story establishes a variety of fear, anger, sadness,
and excitement all within her story. It is through the placement of each scene
that it effectively does this. The connection between happiness and
community struggles is bridged through the empathy of the audience
members.
While travelling the world through Happy the emotional appeal of
desiring to be a generational community is evident in many scenes.
Ideologies conveyed in the film emphasize everyones culture and how it
brings together community forming happiness. In Okinawa, Japan a
community of all generations gathers together believing, having a lot of
friends is happiness. (25:41) One of the elders in an interview said, you are
already brother and sister. Even if it is for the first time. (26:40-26:36) These
beliefs create ideology, shared set of values and beliefs through which
individuals live out their complex relations to a range of social structures.
(Sturken and Cartwright 21) In Okinawa there is great happiness among the
generational community as they all have a similar ideology. This creates an
internal desire among the audience to live a similar life surrounded by
community and family members.
Denmark emphasized living as a generational community and in return
the happiness it brought them. Through the rhetoric of interviews and
reframing the audience is able to make this connection. Documentary
produces the referential illusion and in fact derives its prestige from that
production.(Lancioni 107) The shot where the children are piled on the
couch together being interviewed shows the community built together. One
of the kids said, its like a big family (34:42-34:38) The kids facial
expressions of laughter and joy brings the audience to believe that
community creates happiness. Through the production of this scene it causes
the audience to desire for this tight knit community suggesting happiness.
Accompanied with the interviews are shots of the children playing together
and times where the families are gathered for dinner in laughter and
conversation. In reframing filmmakers show viewers part of a photograph
and then whole of it. (Lancioni 111) This is the same way the filmmakers are
making connections between the information from interviews and the actual
emotions in daily life. They show a little bit of the picture and then reveal the
whole photograph through filming multiple parts of their co-housing
community. In using the technique reframing it causes the audience to want
this community as the shots include smiling faces that suggest happiness.
The emotional appeal of desire for a generational community is a way of
presenting happiness within the world.
The one American scene, Roy Blanchards family, displays that
community is centered around ones beliefs and creates happiness. Through
framing and reframing it is shown that their happiness is an effect of many
generations of their family coming together. The film explored this with take
close ups of the family members laughing and smiling and then zoomed out
to the entire family. The close-ups achieved through mobile framing and
reframing enable viewers to experience the past on the intimate terms they
have been conditioned to regard as reality. (Lancioni 107) Through the
close-ups used it creates more of an emotional appeal for the audience
members towards the notion that family is a key component to happiness. A
technique of reframing is used as the flim flips through their family album
starting from generations ago and then to their family picture they have now.
Right after these photographs Ed Diener, Professor of Psychology, said, we
study some of the happiest people and we found that without exception that
they all had close family and friends. (47:46-47:39) Viewers construct
meaning from shot content and context, from the rhythm of the cutting, all
of which contribute to a films visual rhythms and constitute an important
aspect of its rhetoric. (Lanicioni 109) the films manner of presentation
calls attention to itself, encouraging viewers to pay attention to the
construction of the photographs and to the ways construction and
reconstruction affect meaning. (Lancioni 108) In reframing of this scene the
audience believes that happiness is a result of families especially with the
pictures shown of the Blanchard family with a voice over of research
regarding happiness and family. The desire to have a generational
community felt by the audience is a result of the happiness that the scenes
of the film explore.
A focus of the film dealt with the appeal of respect around raising
children in a community. Through framing and icons, the film was able to
create an emotional connection between the audience and the characters. In
the Indian slum there is this Rickshaw driver, Manoj, who spends most of his
days pulling his chariot filled with people to their destinations. Through some
of the worst conditions he is always doing his job, he mentions that at night
he is sometimes abused by drunk passengers. At the end of the day he
spends time with his community and family. There is a shot in this scene
including a close up of him holding his little son, his face is beaming. The film
slows down on this shot. The more time the viewers spend moving through
the illusionary depths of the image, the more significance that image takes
on. (Lancioni 110) Through the slow movement of the frame it causes the
audience to feel respect for the father as it is after a busy day of work and
chooses to be with his son. The audience could struggle with the fact that
this man is impoverished yet still has a similar level of happiness as those
who are wealthy in America. A professional said in the film, in a recent
survey this rickshaw driver, Monaj, was found to be as happy as the average
American (1:13:09-1:13:04) This is a powerful quote that causes to question
how they are living. During this voice over it is zoomed in on the uneven road
and his feet trudging through the streets. This scene uses the technique of
framing in which they piece together a voice over and photo that cause the
audience members to reflect on their own lives. (Laniconi 112) In the voice
over it compares the rickshaw driver to the targeted audience. Throughout
this story the middle class American feels great respect for this impoverished
community who chooses to focus their attention on their families. This also
could create a call to action for those Americans who are focused on
anything, but their family. The Indian slum scene creates this appeal of
respect as those in the Indian slum are as happy as Americans. This creates
the connection that happiness lives within the community and family
support.
In the midst of nothing another community that supports the idea of
community bringing about happiness is in Namibia, Africa. The film appeals
to the audience through respect for the raising of their children. Through the
framing and icons suggested it is powerful in showing that the care of their
children is the most important characteristic for happiness. One of the
Bushmans head leaders said, just being together thats what makes us
happy. (15:32-15:28) This is very evident in the laughter conveyed, the
games played, and the emotions on their faces. The sound displayed through
this scene is upbeat, tribal music. As a viewer creates this instant happiness
to hear this music. In the rhetoric of sound Through the framing of the scene
it approaches the audience on an emotional level. In the ways the Bushman
are displayed: hunting for food, wearing barely any clothes, and gathering
around the campfire for warmth, cause the audience to connect the many
different medias in the scene on a deeper level of meaning. Instead these
critics call for the films that construct a complex relationship of images,
words, sounds, and music that encourages viewers to fill in gaps, confront
discrepancies and draw their own conclusions (Lancioni 114) This scene
creates the connection between happiness and a community as it provides
viewers sound and visuals that point to happiness.
Tragedy, culture, and poverty bring a community together beyond the
material objects of the world. In a world centered around material objects it
is difficult to look beyond and realize that happiness is from the community
built around one person. Through the growth of social media, the youth have
become focused on what others have and the hedonic treadmill blocks their
vision of happiness as a community. Happy displays happiness through the
lens of community importance. All youth, our future, need to watch this as it
creates an emotional appeal among them and will influence them in ways
against the societal norms of the hedonic treadmill.