How Hollywood’s renowned movie star characters overcame obstacles on their route to success

Although it may be widely accepted that few people reach their goals without having faced challenges, or rejection it doesn’t take away from how lonely and disheartening confronting those challenges can be. In reality, everyone is subject to many obstacles daily; from delays on their commute to work, to larger financial obstructions, we all bear witness to some kind of hindrance.

MyTutor, the nation’s leading online tutoring platform, has detailed these everyday heroes represented on the big-screen to help others feel less lonely in their drawbacks by exhibiting just how common they are. By illustrating how well-known film characters are subject to a variety of challenges, they offer insight into some of the key traits that are necessary into overcoming them.

1. Elle Woods in Legally Blonde
Few may know that the infamous Elle Woods is based on a real-life story from Amanda Brown, making the classic movie all the more inspiring. In the beginning, Elle is devastated from being rejected by her boyfriend for not being ‘serious enough’ and subsequently, attempts to prove herself by applying to Harvard Law School. Despite a lack of support from her loved ones, Miss Woods tirelessly studies to achieve her goal. Not only does she succeed in getting into Harvard, she is awarded for being a top student!

2. Chris Gardner in Pursuit of Happyness
In this incredibly moving film featuring Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith, we empathise with protagonist Chris as he strives to make a good life for him and his son. Chris faces an abundance of adversities from divorce, homelessness, discrimination and unpaid work. However, through his unwavering resilience and perseverance he manages to reach a breakthrough at the end of the film.

3. Rudy Ruettiger in Rudy
With a desire to play football at his dream university, Rudy has his heart set on making his dream a reality. Alas, young Rudy is told he doesn’t have the typical physical build, and has an insufficient grade-average. Regardless what he is told, Rudy hires a tutor and puts in the extra hours to his studies. He gives 120% every time he steps foot on the pitch and despite his physicality proves himself worthy to take part in games.

4. Katherine Johnson in Hidden Figures
Set in the 60s when racism and sexism were rife, the film focusses on NASA’s earlier missions in sending astronaut John Glenn into orbit. Katherine has an eye for mathematics and physics, however, due to her position as a woman and being African-American, her efforts as compared to her white counterparts, go unnoticed and sadly, disregarded. Through her emotional resilience, her abilities as a human computer make a breakthrough in resolving one of NASA’s most complex challenges where she is finally recognised and commended.

5. Erin in Erin Brokovich
Standing out from the crowd can be uncomfortable when judgement is in accompaniment. Erin appears far from the desirable employee as she didn’t fit the archetypal specification at a corporate firm. Nonetheless, Erin does not allow false misconceptions about her to deter her from succeeding at a job to earn money for her family. As a result of her dedication and inquisitive mind, Erin plays a key role in dismantling a corrupt gas company which ultimately saves lives.

6. Jim Lovell in Apollo 13
Following an oxygen tank explosion, Jim is left stranded in outer space along with three other astronauts. The sense of urgency builds rapidly as the astronauts contaminate the limited air supply with carbon dioxide. Without Jim’s calm and collective mindset, they may not have found the solution and failed their mission.

7. Alan Turin in The Imitation Game
Set in the midst of World War 2 Alan Turing and his team are faced with the seemingly impossible task of cracking the German’s Enigma code, which was designed for the opposition to communicate about their next attack. After much trial-and-error, Alan refuses to give up and instead adjusts his approach to breaking the code. He received much judgement from his teammates as he introduced his innovative idea as a solution. In the end, Alan’s adaptive approach had life-changing results.

8. Frank Abignale in Catch Me if You Can
Utilising clever, albeit illegal, initiative young Leonardo DiCaprio in one of his earlier films manages to convince a wealth of professional groups of people that he is a qualified doctor, lawyer, teacher and many more. With the hopes of becoming wealthy to solve his familial issues, Frank whole-heartedly adopts the roles he portrays to be believable. Testament to his willingness and risk-taking behaviour he lands a place at Harvard, despite forging a law degree, and eventually uses his skills to help the FBI convict fraudulent people.

Bertie Hubbard, co-founder and CEO of MyTutor, shares his thoughts on how the presence of obstacles builds our character’s to reach our goals:

“The journey to success is seldom linear. As a collective, we have all faced one of the most unpredictable curve-balls history has ever seen. Having lived through a global pandemic, we should all pride ourselves on having overcome adversity, adapted our methods of working, communicating and living, to get through an undeniably challenging period.

Needless to say, we still have and always will be confronted with obstacles in our daily life that are often outside of our control. However, what is salient to the examples demonstrated in this blog, and is essential for anyone to overcome challenges is to use our inherent skills and abilities that we already possess. Whether trying to complete a tricky piece of homework, nail your final exam or write your personal statement, we can always, and sometimes only, rely on what we have accessible to us – from changing the angle to which we approach a task, to perseverance – it is essential that we utilise all our valuable options.”