Introduction.

The Karate Kid -2010, is a drama film based on martial arts which was directed by
Herald Zwart and its main characters are; Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan and Taraji P. The film
was set in China, and its action is run through Kung Fu. The plot of the film features Dre
(Smith) who is twelve years old and focuses on his movement with the mother from
Michigan to Beijing –China. In Beijing, Dre is brought up in a brutal neighbourhood where
he is subjected to bullying by Zhenwei Wang. During his exploration of the new
neighbourhood, Dre makes a couple of friends and the most significant ally is Mr. Han
(played by Chan). Mr. Han is a kung fu master and teachers, Dre the secrets and the
principles of self-defence. Dre learns these skills effectively and can alienate himself from
bullying. It is evident that his motivation arises from the challenges he faces from the
community and the zeal to achieve the same prowess in self-defence like his master. The
film-the Karate Kid will be used as the basis of my case study, and a focus will be laid on the
major characters in analyzing aspects of concern to motivation and trust, personality, and
happiness and this will be supported by credible research.

Motivation and Trust.

Motivation refers to an internal process leading to satisfy needs. While trust, on the
other hand, is the aspect of having a firm belief in ability and strength of something or
someone. Motivation and trust, therefore, are the expectancy component that entails self-
efficacy as well as control beliefs geared towards attaining a goal. Different motivation
theories can be applied in this case, but the most appropriate is the Maslow's hierarchy of
needs theory. This theory is presented in a pyramid form and was developed by Maslow who
argued that human beings are motivated by their needs and the desire to achieve self-
actualization. Human beings usually move from the low level to the top level in this theory.
The needs from the bottom to the top are as follows; physiological needs, safety need
belongingness and love, self-esteem and self-actualization. Maslow argued that when humans
achieve a lower need, they strive to achieve the next at a higher scale.

Application of the Maslow's motivation theory.

The main character of focus in this theory is Dre. Dre and his mother move from
Detroit to Beijing due to the mother's job transfer. This job is arguably the basis of Dre's
satisfaction as the mother can support him with necessities such as food, shelter and clothing
and hence, he is physiologically satisfied. After achieving the physiological satisfaction,
Dre's zeal to achieve safety needs is apparent. At first, he is attacked by Cheng whom has
also fallen for Meiying and Dre's desire to be protective and secure prompts him to venture
into martial art training.

Dre is also ready to win against the school bullies, and Mr. Han facilitates his
achievement. In the end, he manages to win the Kung fu tournament. It is also evident that
the achievement of safety Grants Dre the opportunity to interact with Meiying whom he
loves, and this depicts the need of belongingness and love needs. Also, Dre's sustainable
relationship with Han is an attempt to achieve belongingness. By winning the support of
other students, that of Han, Meiying and achieving safety needs through Kung fu, Dre
accomplishes his self-esteem facet and feels a sense of accomplishment. The film evidently
ends when Dre is still young, but it is indisputable that he would use all his accomplishments
to achieve the highest levels of Maslow's motivation theory which is self-actualization.

The trust matrix and its application.

The trust matrix presents the hierarchy of different levels of trust between people at
the start of interaction to the end. The matrix is founded on the assertion that the level of trust
among people should be elevated as they continue to interact. The two main characters of
focus in this movie and the levels of trust are Dre and Han. The start of the film features Dre
and Han who are in the process of building their relationship and trust. At the beginning, Dre
is bullied and attacked by Cheng and Han comes to his rescue despite the two characters
being new to each other. Han combats Dre’s attackers mends his injuries and promises to
teach him Kungfu. In this case; it can be argued that the two are in the intent stage of trust
which is based on care, transparency, and openness. At the end of the movie, Dre achieves
competency in Kung fu and wins the trophy in the tournament. Dre also bows in respect of
Han after his meticulous performance, and this is a definite assertion that the two reaches the
results stage of trust which is the basis of reputation and performance.

Personality and its application in the film.

Personality is the mixture of qualities or characteristics that make an individual's

distinctive feature. In, The Karate Kid, the personality of different characters has been
influenced by their id, ego, and superego. The id, ego and the superego are arguably the basic
parts of human personality which were developed by Sigmund Freud in the theory of
psychoanalytic personality. The id is arguably the part of the personality which requires
instant gratification of satisfaction of needs. When the needs of the id are not met, then one
becomes tense and anxious. The ego deals with reality and seeks to fulfil the desires of the id
in a socially accepted mechanism, and hence gratification may be delayed. The superego
seeks to balance between the id and the ego, and it is based on morals and the judgment
between what is right and wrong. The character that seems to be driven by id is master Li
who is Cheng's teacher. Even though he is a professional in martial arts, Li teaches his
students that they should never show mercy on enemies and should act swiftly and hence, this
is an immediate gratification which is irrational. Due to his id, Master Li challenges Dre to
have an abrupt fight with Cheng.

Dre, on the other hand, is driven by ego, and this is through the assistance of Han, his
master. Dre is ready to learn the principles of martial arts not for violence but due to self-
defense, and hence, his ideals are socially acceptable. In the car repair incident, Dre also
assists Han to work hard to forget his family loss. On the other side, Han is motivated by his
superego and hence, he is a role model to Dre. Han opposes Li's idea for Dre and Cheng to
fight abruptly but proposes that the two should take part in a contest (Desser, 2012). Han also
teaches Dre that martial arts is meant for self-defense and not for bullying others and this
proves his focus on the superego which is the basis of socially accepted principles.

Conclusion.

In the end, the film-Karate Kid confirms the effective application of various theories
of motivation trust, happiness, and personality. The storyline was well planned to enhance
motivation, credibility, competence, characters and intend. Moreover, accomplishment acts as
the source of happiness and satisfaction among the actors. The focus on most of the principles
described is evident through the two primary characters who operate in unison, and these are
Dre and Han. Through them, we are exposed to diverse theories of motivation, levels of trust,
the levels of personality and the concept of happiness.
 Introduction.

This movie gives insight of the journey of a common Manipuri girl to become the
only woman boxer of India who has won each of the six World Championships and the only
woman boxer from India to qualify the Summer Olympics of 2012- M.C. Mary Kom. The
girl has not only fought against her family but also to her fate of being a common girl of a
farmer. Having love for boxing in her heart, Mary starts training under the tutelage of the
trainer of an efficient coach Narjit Singh and soon dominates the boxing ring. Despite being
confronted by her father, Mary moves on with her passion and starts living her dreams. The
story concluded with a message that only getting success is not a winner’s thing but to sustain
that success is the big game. Director Omung Kumar was much appreciated for his fine
direction and selection for the lead role of Mary Kom which was given to Priyanka
Chopra who completely dwelled into the character and trained herself hard for it. The film-
the Mary Kom will be used as the basis of my case study, and a focus will be laid on the
major characters in analyzing aspects of concern to motivation and trust, personality, and
happiness and this will be supported by credible research.

Motivating performance.

Motivation refers to an internal process leading to satisfy needs. Different motivation

theories can be applied in this case, but the most appropriate is the Vroom’s Expectancy
motivation theory. This theory assumes that behaviour results from conscious choices among
alternatives whose purpose it is to maximize pleasure and to minimize pain. Vroom realized
that an individual's performance is based on individual factors such as personality, skills,
knowledge, experience and abilities. He stated that effort, performance and motivation are
 linked in a person's motivation. He uses the variables Expectancy, Instrumentality and
Valence to account for this.

Application of Vroom’s expectancy motivation theory

Vroom's expectancy theory assumes that behaviour results from conscious choices among alternatives
(Mary Kom can avoid the situation and mind her own work), whose purpose it is to maximize
pleasure, which she got by helping the girl and to minimize pain, the pain of she goes through by
seeing a girl being beaten up by a boy. The pain she feels ends up by beating the boy and saving the
girl and this valence ends her up in the training centre of boxing where she meets her future coach
Narjit Singh. Mesmerised Mary tells him about her passion of boxing and her desire to learn boxing.

Expectancy is the belief that increased effort will lead to increased performance i.e. if I work harder
on boxing then I can pursue my dream of boxing and this will be better. This is affected by such
things as:
1. Having the right resources available: The training centre and coach.
2. Having the right skills to do the job: She showed that by beating the boy.
3. Having the necessary support to get the learning boxing done (e.g. support of coach, or correct
information of the coaching centre)
Instrumentality is the belief that if you perform well that a valued outcome will be received. The
degree to which a first level outcome will lead to the second level outcome. i.e. if I do a good job,
there is something in it for me. This is affected by such things as:
1. Clear understanding of the relationship between performance and outcomes – e.g. the reward of Boxing,
which she achieved by becoming the first woman boxer to achieve six gold medals in world boxing
championship, tribes India brand ambassador and monetary incentives to do so.
2. Trust on the coach who will guide her to become a world class boxer.

Conclusion.

Life lessons learned from Movie, Mary Kom:

Focus on your strengths.

How often do we say to ourselves, “I don’t have a degree; hence I can’t do this,” or “I don’t know
what will happen if I try out something different?”
Never think about your weaknesses. Kom always focussed on her strengths. Often her opponents were
better equipped and stronger than her, but she focussed on what she was good at and took the best
advantage of it.
A mother and wife can also pursue her dreams.
We often find women sacrificing their career for their families. However, Kom managed all her
struggles and emerged as a rockstar mom and wife, and bagged the world championship not once, but
six times.
Always believe in yourself.
After she became a mother, people thought her career has finished. But she believed in her abilities
and moved forward. Even early in her career, she had to face so many road blocks, including hunger
and gender bias. But all that never deterred her will power.
Be brave.
She was brave in the face of all difficulties. Born in a village where no one would have dream of
producing a boxer, but she became a woman boxing champion, and make sure she get the right
training to help her becoming a sporting champ. She must hide her interest in boxing since her family
will not approve of it. But she remained brave and valiant through and through. Formidable,
impressive, and tough, the Magnificent Mary Kom has indeed set standards that are exceptional for
the women of India.

Happiness/ the PERMA model and its application in both the movies.

The PERMA model is comprised of five critical components of psychological fitness

and happiness; these elements are believed to assist people to realize a life of fulfilment,
meaning, and happiness. The PERMA model is based on the assertion that happiness can be
achieved through diverse aspects and there is a focus on positive emotions, engagement,
relationships, meaning, and accomplishments. There are two critical components of the
model which can be applied to both the films-Karate Kid and Mary Kom, and these are
engagement and accomplishment. Dre, for instance, finds happiness from his engagement in
martial arts training and Mary Kom in boxing training. It is these training which accords both
to focus and take the zeal to achieve safety, reward and respect from his friends, family and
society. The relevance of the second component; relationships is depicted through Dre and
Han and Mary Kom and Narjit Singh who focus on the creation of a sustainable relationship
for the achievement of success in martial arts and boxing as well.