The Life Story of Will Smith - Coursework Example

Will Smith INTRODUCTION The ability to cope with the unfavorable situation and proceed efficiently even under such situation is termed as struggle. From the primitive era, struggle has been predominant in mostly every aspect of the society. Contextually, struggle is the significant part of every individual’s life as it paves ways for future development. People, who have been successful in leaving a mark in the world with their deeds, were not born famous. The struggle they have faced during their life has actually molded their abilities and developed them to be efficient in facing their life and stead forward (Gause 1-20). THESIS STATEMENT The essay elaborates on the life story of Will Smith depicting his different phase of life and elaborating on the struggles that he has faced. Correspondingly, the paper even details out the different absurd situations he has faced that has contributed to develop him as an eminent personality. DISCUSSION Will Smith is a famous rapper cum actor born in the year 1968. His family christened him as William Cristopher Smith Jr. He was born in an African-American family in Philadelphia. Belonging from a middle class family, he faced severe amount of struggle in his initial years. Additionally, Smith even faced severe stress of family conflict amid his parents, which made his adolescence stage of life even more stressful. However, the actor had never let his family struggle come in the way of his ambitions. Despite of facing severe amount of negative situations and challenges Smith successfully started his career as a rapper in the year 1980’s. The rapper received his first Grammy award in the year 1988. This was also the first ever Grammy awards in the field of rapping. His contributions in the field of rapping are enormous and have even initiated new horizons in this field. Furthermore, Smith started his acting career through a small role in a drama following which he got a head start for his career in the movies. The actor cum rapper got the taste of his first stardom after featuring in the film ‘Bad Boys’. This stardom was followed by his famous role in the movie the Independence Day that marked him as an important player in the Hollywood. The actor by his distinguishable acting skills and comic essence marked his presence as one of the most charming heroes of the Hollywood. Being a part of the black community the actor faced struggle in the initial years of his career in the film industry. However, with his willpower and strong mental set up the actor successfully battled against his shortcomings and developed a successful career. The actor believes that the American African has a narrow mental set ups that prevents them from accepting the responsibility towards their own betterment. Accordingly, Will Smith claims “The history of African Americans is such that you want to be a part of America, but we’ve been rejected so much it’s hard to take the ownership and take responsibility for ourselves and this country” (Reed and Louis 3). Moreover, while talking about rejections that the black Americans have faced in the initial years the actor claims that it has created a hindrance among the masses to proceed. Will Smith has been openly commenting on the psychological dilemma of different black people to take up their responsibilities for personal development. Additionally, the actor even argues about the different failures faced by the “black communities”. He claims that these failures were due to the incapability of the people to carry out their respective responsibilities and not for being from a backward class. This suggests that the actor wants his community to take the onus and develop their self-reliance to enhance their ability to face the difficulties instead of blaming their fates. Moreover, the author himself has faced struggle to develop his career in the initials days. His struggle was duly awarded by the fame he has achieved through his will power and continuous development with positive attitude (Reed and Louis 1-13). Will Smith stated in his biography that the impetus for development could only be achieved by appropriately utilizing a given situation and creating opportunity for their future. He even admits that though the racial hierarchies have created certain obstacles for him but these hierarchies has also provided him with ample opportunities to develop. The different approaches of the societies and the obstacles have only been hurdles, which he has surpassed depending on his will power and mental strength. Moreover, Smith even depicts about the negative behavior of the black parents towards their kids. This negating impact of the behavior has also been creating a backlog for their children to face the world in an effective way. Additionally, when elaborating about the different facets of his life the actor suggested that the tendency among the black Americans is that they consider themselves as backward class. This mindset of the black people has even created a blockage for their future development as referred by Smith (Sinckler 1-35). Subsequently, the actor has efficiently positioned himself among the white Americans and has found a distinct position in Hollywood by his own mental strength. Rather the societal dogmas have always been pulling him back. However, the actor suggests that once the person achieves his goal then the societal dogmas are never prevalent. This could be effectively observed from his life story where he states that after bagging a series of hit films and an array of Grammy Awards he never faced any societal dogmas related to his complexion. However, there have been several situations of traditional dogmas that are prevalent in the society even in the present years. This societal dogma has been creating hindrance that has been negatively affecting the life of many black Americans (Onwuachi-Willig 1-26). Moreover, Smith even blames the black Americans, claiming that they could only be slaved by the other section of the society because of their lack of strength to face struggles for their own betterment. Moreover, he even claims that the situation of the black Americans were such because of their incapability to take their own responsibilities and decisions. This declarations made by the actor depicts his will power, strength and attitude. It is evident that the words of Smith are likely to influence the masses in developing their strength to overcome their fears and fight for their rights with the Whites. Moreover, the actor has openly talked about the various situations of hindrances that has been affecting the lifestyles of people and have been preventing the masses to come ahead and compete in the mainstream society. These complexion-based hindrances has been affecting the lifestyle of the black Americans and preventing them to make effective decision regarding their lives for a bright future as stated by Will Smith (Quinn 196-210). CONCLUSION Complexion has been one of the major concerns of the American society. This complexion based societal set-up has affected the development of the Native Americans and their social lifestyle. Moreover, the negative approach of the society has also been affecting the development of the black communities. The life story of Will Smith also depicts the fact that the black Americans have been facing severe amount of discrepancies throughout out their life. Conversely, the actor unlike others has blamed the inability of the Native Americans to take their own responsibility for their plight. The age old hindrances and traditional dogmas that were created by the previous rejections that the black Americans faced are blocking the paths for their present developments. The actor further claims that if the age-old dogmas could be removed from the society it would pave ways for their development and would enhance their social status universally. Works Cited Gause, G. F. “The Struggle for Existence.” A Classic in Mathematical Biology and Ecology (n.d.): 1-20. Print. Onwuachi-Willig, Angela. “Theres Just One Hitch, Will Smith: Examining Title VII, Race, and Casting Discrimination on the Fortieth Anniversary of Loving v. Virginia.” Wisconsin Law Review (2009): 1-26. . Print. Reed, Wornie L. and Louis, Bertin M. ““No More Excuses”: Problematic Responses to Barack Obama’s Election.” Articles (2009): 1-13. Print. Sinckler, Latonja. “And the Oscar Goes to; Well, It Cant Be You, Can It: A Look at Race-Based Casting and How It Legalizes Racism, Despite Title VII Laws.” Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law 22. 4 (2014): 1-35. Print. Quinn, Eithne. “Black Talent and Conglomerate Hollywood: Will Smith, Tyler Perry, and the Continuing Significance of Race.” Popular Communication 11 (2013): 196–210. Print. Read More