Forest Gump Essay

Gump, motion picture chronicling the adventures of Forrest Gump, a physical body, except s paltry-witted sol dampenry who has a knack for cosmos in the right patch at the right time. Released in 1994, the engage won honorary golf-club demonstrates for verbotengo double, beat out Screenplay, Best Director, Best Film editing, and Best ocular Effects. tomcat Hanks earned an academy dirty m unmatchedy for portraying Gump as a sweet, simple, straightforward valet de chambre with incredulous good deal. Gump happens upon m both an(prenominal) pivotal moments of Ameri roll in the hay history during the 1950s, 1960s, and mid-s counterbalancetiesfor example, he t to each adeptes back breaker Presley how to dance and he witnesses the Watergate burglary.Gump as intumesce as makes a million dollars, unscrambles across the joined States, and f on the wholes in go to slumber with the girl fol menialing(a) door. Director Robert Zemeckis serjeant-at-law Forrest Gump Sr. ( born(p) June 6, 1944 as wellspring as k this instantn as Forrest Gump in Greenbow, atomic number 13) is a fictional dispatchice who scratch appears in the 1986 eponymous pilot light by Winston Groom. Forrest Gump in any case appe atomic number 18d on classify in the 1994 take on of the same design directed by Robert Zemeckis. Gump was pictured as a child by Michael Conner Humphreys and portrayed as an adult by Tom Hanks, who won an academy Award for the role. The word-painting of Forrest in the fresh is nonably una manage from the portrayal in the hold.He subsequently on reappears in the 1995 novel Gump and Co. In 2008, Forrest Gump was bear ond the twentieth greatest movie character of all time by Empire Magazine. entrance steering The world will n perpetually be the same once youve watch outn it through the eyeball of Forrest Gump a fritter a charge chronicling the action of a mentally challenged man present during 3 of the any(prenominal) distinct ive and dynamic decades in Ameri spate history. turn on the come lies a heartwarming and inspirational story, the underlie narrative tends to explore progression of American society mend depoliticizing history.Throughout the subscribe Forrest is directly involved in major events of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, yet he never gifts any initiative of his own. What is the filmmaker trying to signify? Contents ? 1. Life 1. Early years 2. Col branchinge 3. In The legions 4. Washington, D. C. 5. Ping-niff 6. Shrimping sauce gravy holder Captain 7. Home in aluminum 8. Running 9. Back To stick in ? 2. distinct from the Novel ? 3. Sociological Analysis ? 4. Awards ? 5. technicality ? 6. Quotes ? 7. Question and Answer Event ? 8. certainty ? 9. References picLife 1. 1 Early YearsGump was born near the fictional small townsfolk of Greenbow, Alabama, on June 6, 1944 (the same day that the assort forces began Operation Overlord). His beget was absent during his tone, his grow saying he was on pass. His induce named him after(prenominal) Nathan Bedford Forrest, a celebrated Confederate general in the American Civil War and the first base d enunciateful Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who is supposedly related to Gump. She think his name to be a admonisher that roughlytimes we all do things that, sur side, still dont make no sense. Forrest was born with strong legs, notwithstanding if a crooked spine.He was forced to bankrupt leg yoke which made walk of life difficult and racetrack near impossible. He also had a relatively low I. Q. of 75 which n early prevented him from universe judge into public school (his mother managed to let down the capitulum to reconsider by allowing him to sleep with her). Despite his physical and mental challenges, Forrests mother told him not to let any superstar posit him he was different, telling him stupid is as stupid does. Forrest and his mother lived in a large nursing inha second gearancy just foreign the tow n of Greenbow.They made money by renting out rooms to livelers. unitary of their guests was a three-year-old Elvis Presley. Forrest like dancing to his music and his leg twain gave him a peculiar dancing entitle that would supposedly inspire the young Elvis famous hip dancing after he became famous. On the agglomerate rag to school, Forrest met jennet Curran and was instantly interpreted with her. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life, he would later say of her, She was like an angel. The dickens became stodgy friends, often acting around a large nigh tree.jennet was one of the some community besides his mother to accept Forrest as he was, helping him learn to read and rest up to bullies who harassed him. However, jennets scale life was not nearly as happy as Forrests her mother had died when she was five and her father was an abusive alcoholic who molested his children (until jennet was taken outdoor(a) to live with her grandmother), and Forrests expe rience offered her an escape. One day, a group of bullies were throwing fall fruit at Forrest and chasing him on their bikes. jenny told Forrest to just run away. As Forrest struggled to run, his leg braces broke apart.Once he was free of them, Forrest was able to run fabulously fast. Forrest would never wear leg braces again and was able to run anywhere he sine qua noned to after that. 1. 2 College Forrest and jenny ass remained close friends all the way through high school, though he remained a target for bullies. One day, closed chainage zip from some bullies, he disrupt the local high schools football coiffure by running across the field faster than all the players. This feat caught the attention of Alabama discolor Tide head football bus Paul Bear Bryant, who was at the practice scouting football players.After his incredible running ability impressed the coach, Forrest real a football scholarship to the University of Alabama, where his invigorate helped them win some(prenominal) games. He was later named to the All-American team and got to meet chairperson crapper F. Kennedy at the W equatee House. When asked by the chairwoman how he felt, Forrest (having drunk virtually xv Dr Peppers) gave an honest answer of I gotta wee-wee. Forrest was also present at the University when it was desegregated and find G everywherenor George Wallace denouncing the desegregation. piece of music several citizens jeered the color students entering the campus, Forrest, not completely sense the situation, simply walked up to a discolour woman and handed her a intelligence she dropped, saying simply Maam? You dropped your book maam? in advance following her and the others into school. 1. 3 In the legions At his college graduation in 1967, Forrest was approached by an armament recruiter who asked if hed minded(p) any archetype to his future. Soon after, Forrest would conjugation the United States Army. On the bus Forrest met benjamin Buford Blu e, a young black man from Bayou La Batre, Alabama, who went by the nickname Bubba.Bubba told Forrest slightly his family history of cooking shrimp and how he had schemened to buy his own shrimping gravy holder after getting out of the force. Forrest did well in the army as he followed orders well without distraction for example, he set a new company remember for assembling his M14 rifle with his drill sergeant, who regularly singled him out as an example for the recruits, replying he would be a general. Mean eon, jennet had been kicked out of school for posing in man- nigh-town and had gotten work singing in the au naturel(predicate) at a strip confederation in Memphis, Tennessee.Forrest went up to visit her one night and beat up some patrons who were harassing her. Forrest tells jenny ass that he loves her, un slight jenny replies that he doesnt know what love is. jenny ass is angry but later becomes touch when he tells her he was being deployed to Vietnam. jennet te lls him not to try being hardy if he was ever in spat and to just run away instead. While in Vietnam, and assigned to company A, 2/47th Infantry, 3rd Brigade, 9th Infantry grade Forrest and Bubba meet their platoon leader surrogate Dan Taylor, whom Forrest would colligate to as deputy sheriff Dan.While on patrol, Bubba proposed that he and Forrest go into the shrimping business in concert after their time in the army was finished. Forrest agreed. After several uneventful months, their platoon was ambushed by the Viet Cong and several soldiers were hurt and killed. In the confusion, Forrest initially was ordered to retreat, and was separated from the rest of his platoon, but after becoming concerned for Bubba, he ran back to look for him. Instead, Forrest lay out surrogate Dan and several other wounded soldiers and carried them to prophylactic onwards looking for Bubba.Forrest finally found Bubba badly wounded and managed to carry him away from the combat plain before it wa s create with napalm from an air strike. His last words were I wanna go base. Sadly, Bubba died of his wounds soon after. Forrest himself was shot in the buttocks during the firefight and recovered in an army hospital. Lieutenant Dan was in the bed next to his, having lost his legs because of his injuries. Lieutenant Dan was angry at Forrest for cheating him out of his destiny to die in battle with honor (as several of his ancestors had) and rendering him crippled. . 4 Washington, D. C. Forrest later receives the decoration of reward for his bravery in Vietnam. When being awarded, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked where he was hit and when Forrest told him he whispers in his ear hed like to see it, so Forrest, in spite of knowing there were people watching, drops his drawers right there to intend him. suddenly thereafter, Forrest went out sight perceive in Washington, D. C. and unexpectedly found himself among a group of veterans attending an anti-war lambast led by Abbi e Hoffman.While at the rally, he was reunited with jennet, who had since become a hippie. Forrest was less ena more thand with her new mate Wesley, the president of the SDS at Berkeley, and beat up Wesley after he saw him hit jennet during an argument at a morose Panther Party gathering. Forrest and jenny ass catched up all night epoch jenny told Forrest of her travels. Before they went their separate shipway again in the morning, Forrest gave jenny ass the bay wreath of Honor he earned in Vietnam. 1. 5 Ping-Pong While in the hospital, Forrest had taken up ping-pong.Rather than locomote to Vietnam, Forrest was assigned to the Special Services, entertaining wounded veterans with his ping-pong skills. He would later travel to the Peoples Republic of china during the Ping Pong Diplomacy period. When he returned in 1971, he was a case hero, famouser than even Captain Kangaroo and was invited by jibe Cavett on The Dick Cavett Show. John Lennon was also a guest on the show at the time and hearing Forrest lecturing just about the Chinese having no possessions and no religion too, inspired him to write the variant Imagine. Soon after, Forrest was briefly reunited with Lieutenant Dan, now a bitter alcoholic, confined to a wheelchair, having lost his faith in God. Lieutenant Dan was also dismayed that Forrest, whom he tell as an imbecile who embarrassed himself on television, was given the Medal of Honor. When Forrest told him of his and Bubbas plan to go into the shrimping business, Lieutenant Dan only laughed and joked that if Forrest was ever a shrimping boat captain, he would be Forrests first mate. Upon visiting President Richard Nixon he was invited by the President to stay at the Watergate Hotel complex.He was awakened by flashlights in the offices verso his room. Believing the tenants to be having difficulty with a fusebox, Forrest calls Frank Wills at the security office to notify the sustainment crew, inadvertently initiating the Watergate s candal, which leads to President Nixons resignation. dead after this, Forrest was honorably discharged from the army with the rank of Sergeant and returned home to Alabama. 1. 6 Shrimping Boat Captain Upon his return Forrest finds the house filled with memorabilia capitalizing on his fame as a ping-pong player in China.At his mothers insistence, Forrest made $25,000 endorsing a brand of ping-pong paddles and used around of the money to travel to Bubbas home town of Bayou La Batre and purchase a boat. When someone pointed out it was bad luck to devour a boat without a name, Forrest names his boat after jenny ass (whom, unbeknownst to him, had descended into a life of drugs and indicate promiscuity at this point and even contemplated suicide over her choices). Sometime later, Forrest was visited by Lieutenant Dan, who as a man of his word, had come to be Forrests first mate, just as he say he would do on rising Years Eve.For several weeks, the two had no luck catching shrimp. T hings changed, however, when the area was hit by Hurricane Carmen. Forrests boat was the only one left standing and they found themselves with a monopoly of shrimp. Under the name Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, they soon became very wealthy. Lieutenant Dan, having aspectd his demons during the storm, thanked Forrest for saving his life in Vietnam, and Forrest assumes that Dan (without actually saying so) made tranquility with God. 1. 7 Home in AlabamaForrest returned home to Greenbow when he learned his mother was dying of cancer. After her death, Forrest stays and leaves his shrimping assiduity in the hands of Lieutenant Dan and retired to mowing and abscission grass and lawns, as he faceingly enjoys doing it. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Dan participated in a certain investment into what Forrest says to be some kind of fruit company. In reality, the company was the dispatcher orchard apple tree Computer, and it is implied that their investment largely kick-started Apples rise and su ccess.With the money he got from the Apple Computer investment, Forrest spent them on renovating the church he frequents, establishing a aesculapian center at Bubbas hometown and gave Bubbas family his share of the investment money that is teeming for them to never work again. jennet returns to Greenbow and moves in with Forrest. The two spend time unneurotic and Forrest later describes it as the happiest time of my life. One night, Forrest asks Jenny to marry him, but she turns him down, saying You dont indigence to marry me. Forrest replies with, Im not a smart man, but I know what love is. After this exchange, Jenny comes to Forrests bedroom, tells him she loves him, and the two make love. Jenny hails a cab very early the next morning and leaves, unbeknownst to him before he wakes up. 1. 8 Running Forrests newfound loneliness leads him to take a run for no particular reason. At first, he decides to run to the end of the road, indeed across town, hence across the county, t hen all the way to the Mississippi border. Eventually, he criss-crosses the country several times over a span of three years. Forrest attracts media coverage, and eventually, slews of followers.During the run, he inspires the phrase Shit Happens to a bumper-sticker salesman after stepping in a freshet of dog droppings. He also uses a yellow t-shirt provided to him by a designer to wipe off his face after being splattered by mud. In the process, he forms the iconic Smiley face logo and tells the man to Have a nice day. One day, while running in the Western United States, Forrest decides hes tired and stops. He flat turns around and walks back to Alabama. His followers are dumbfounded at his sudden decision.Meanwhile, Jenny has taken a job as a waitress in Savannah, tabun and sees news coverage of Forrests run on television. 1. 9 Back to the Present Back to the present (the present in the film being around 1981, as seen from a car and on a bus, and televised footage of Ronald Rea gans assassination attempt), Forrest tells his latest bloke on the bench, an elderly woman, hed recently received a letter from Jenny asking him to come see her. When he tells her the address and directions hed been given, she tells him its only a few blocks away, and he hurries over on foot.Forrest and Jenny are happy to see each other. Before they can do lots catching up however, Forrest is introduced to Jennys young son, a bright young boy whom she named Forrest after his father. Forrest at first thinks she met another man named Forrest, until she explains Youre his daddy, Forrest. Forrests fearful inquiry as to infinitesimal Forrests intelligence leads Jenny to pronto assert that he is completely normal. Forrest learns that Jenny is sick from a virus (implied to be HIV). He invites her and exact Forrest to come home and stay with him.She asks him to marry her and he accepts. Forrest and Jennys wedding is a quiet, intimate ceremony attended only by a handful of family and f riends. Among the attendees is Lieutenant Dan, who has atomic number 22 prosthetic legs, with his Vietnamese fiancee Susan. It is the only time Jenny and Dan meet. Forrest, Jenny, and Little Forrest sacrifice a few happy months in concert as a family before Jenny dies on Saturday March 22, 1982 (which was actually a Monday). Forrest has her buried under the tree where they contend as children, and then buys her childhood home (where her ather had mistreated her) and has it bulldozed. Though he misses Jenny terribly, Forrest becomes a good father to Little Forrest. Visiting Jennys wakeless one day, he reflects on the base of fate and destiny, wondering if Lt. Dan was right about people having their own destiny, or if his start out was right about description of life as floating around minutely like on a breeze. He eventually decides maybe its both, maybe both are happening at the same time. Forrest is last seen outside his home, seeing Little Forrest off on his bus ride to s chool, telling his son he loves him. . Differences from the novel The portrayal of Forrest in the original novel is notably different to how he was portrayed in the film. Largely, in the novel Forrest is shown to be somewhat cynical and abrasive, while in the film he is a more placid and naive person. He is also described as being an autistic savant and has extraordinary talent in numerical calculation. Changes from the novel to the film include the deaths of Forrests mother and Jenny, uncomplete of whom died in the original book. The novel also provides additional back-story on his father.It is revealed that his father was a dockworker, who worked for United Fruit Company. He was killed when a crate of bananas being loaded off a boat fell on top of him, crushing him to death. Forrest goes on a number of different adventures including being an astronaut, playing the harmonica in a band called the Cracked Eggs, becoming a maestro wrestler (The Dunce) and running for the United Sta tes Senate (with the campaign slogan I Got to score). 3. Sociological analysis An understanding of Forrests background in an alpha and characterizing instalment in the film.Disadvantaged by a terrible spine condition and a low IQ, Forrest struggles through childhood in small-minded Greenbow, Alabama. Due to his mental disabilities, Forrest becomes the dupe of academic discrimination, which his mother fights desperately to resolve. He might be a bit on the slow side, but my boy Forrest is going to get the same opportunities as everyone else, she stated to the principal of Greenbow County Central School. Hes not going to some special school to learn to how to re-tread tires. (Gump 1995) Forrests mother was determined.Taking advantage of this, the principal coerced Forrests mother into trading a sexual favor for enrollment in school. In addition to these unsettling events, Forrest finds himself tormented and apart(p) by neighborhood children and townspeople who seem incapable of t reating him with anything but reproach and disdain. Forrest was also an active part of many important events, including protests lead by George Wallace against desegregation, the Vietnam War, the Ping Pong Diplomacy period, anti-war activism lead by Abbie Hoffman, bleak Panther Party meetings, and the Watergate scandal.It would be honest to say that being part of such important events and would make him vulnerable to the genial forces of the times, yet his lack of critical thought as a result of low intelligence seemed to indicate the complete opposite he remained wholly oblivious and vile of their significance. During George Wallaces Stand in the school day Door protest, Forrest stands curiously in the background, more interested in his surroundings sooner than the actual protest. During the Vietnam War, Forrest never questions the morality or the agenda of the U.S. government, and receives the Congressional Medal of Honor for his efforts. His entire experience during the Vie tnam War can be summed up into one intercourse between him and the practise Sergeant Gump Whats your sole purpose in this Army? To do whatever you tell me, Drill Sergeant (Gump 1995) Still, the most dismaying depute of impassive responses glorified in this film can be contributed to Forrests reckless involvement in the anti-Vietnam War rally lead by Abbie Hoffman.He was entirely clueless as to the purpose of the anti-war movements. His take up of Abbie Hoffmans role? There was this man, bighearted a little talk And every time he said the F word, people, for some reason, well, theyd cheer. Though the center on of the film is directed towards Forrest Gump, the effects of affectionate forces are most often expressed and implied through Jenny Curran. Forrests principally unobservant nature contrasts harshly with Jennys forthright and independent character.Without Jenny, we would have a collectively unrealistic and shy portrayal of many occurrences that contributed to the s tructure of instantlys society. Unlike Forrest, Jenny was consciously and intentionally involved in the counterculture movements of the 60s, as she is seen trailing the countryside with fellow hippies, alive(p) in anti-war movements, and secretly involving herself in Black Panther Party meetings. Before Jenny sets off on what turns out to be downward spiral towards debasement, she speaks to Forrest of her motives. I want to reach people on a personal level. I want to be able to say things, just one-to-one. (Gump 1995) However, Jennys plans for a better society are brought to a staggering admit when Jenny develops a fatal unhealthiness stemming from precarious drug use. 4. Awards honorary society Award for Best Picture (1994) Academy Award for Best Actor (1994) Tom Hanks Academy Award for Best Director (1994) Robert Zemeckis Academy Award for Best Screenplay base on Material Previously Published (1994) Eric Roth Academy Award for Best Film Editing (1994) Arthur SchmidtAcademy Aw ard for Best Visual Effects (1994) Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum, Allen Hall luxurious solid ground Award for Best motility PictureDrama (1995) halcyon Globe Award for Best deed Picture ActorDrama (1995) Tom Hanks Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Director (1995) Robert Zemeckis 5. Trivia In this movie, every still photograph of Forrest Gump shows him with his eye closed. 6. Quotes Forrest Gump (explaining his run across the United States)I just felt like running. Forrest Gump My mammary gland always said, life was like a box of chocolates.You never know what youre gonna get. 7. Question and answer event (The delightfully sarcastic humor of film critics David Edelstein helps enjoin this question ad answer about this movie. ) Here is another big one that didnt (surprisingly) make your list Forrest Gump. This one did make it close to the top ten, didnt it? A Well, I certainly agree with you about Titanic, and after my less than confirming review in S late, I had viosterol pieces of hate e-mail ( more often than not from teenage girls and lots of it unprintable here) to prove it.But while I found Titanic mostly square and dumb (not badly acted, thoughDiCaprio and Winslet are marvelous romantic leads), its almost never pernicious. The movies I wrote about are ones I found not just overrated, but objectionably, infuriatingly overrated. Which brings us to Forrest Gump. Yes, it came close to making my top ten most hateful. I have little diligence for the conceit of the radiant simpleton, and even less when the radiant simpleton is positioned as chastely superior in every way to, say, anti-Vietnam War activists.But Gump was just well made (and weird) enough to keep me in my seat. Lets put it at number eleven. 8. Conclusion Although Tom Hanks (Star in Forrest Gump) affirms that the film was non-political and thus non-judgmental, the previous examples show implications otherwise. Though the film does take a stand against disability d iscrimination by shedding some light on the difficulties that accompany being handicap during a callous time in American history, its motives were generally ambiguous and unclear.Based on the filmmakers unattractive outlook on counterculturalism, his lack of discretion when touching on issues like desegregation and independence, as well as his insensitive approach to the deaths of activists, we can arrive at the following deduction the harrowing experiences exposed in this film can be easily throw out as something warranted only by prone individuals who attempt to foster humanity. 9. References