Forrest Gump #4

Title: Forrest Gump

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Text Type: Film

March 2020

Romantic comedy/drama Film Forrest Gump is a heart warming Movie about a man with an IQ of 75. Forrest is known for his amazing ability to run and never stop “He must be the stupidest son of a bitch alive, but he sure is fast”. Running got Forrest places from joining the American football team that got him to college to becoming an all famous shrimp company owner “Bubba Gump Shrimp company” leaving a mark where he went all Forrest wanted was his one and only Jenny.

Throughout the film, I had two characters that really stood out to me and that was Forrest Gump himself and Jenny. Both having a rough start at life it really made me curious to how they both took different ways/paths to deal with that “You got to put the past behind you before you can move on”. How they let that stumble at the start control the outlook they had on life after that. Forrest had a very positive outlook on life he strived to prove people wrong, which got me thinking how your outlook on life can affect the people around you and really help you do good things and get places in life. watching the film itself really helped change my attitude and make me think about how the way I act can really affect the people around me. I believe that in society that’s a big issue people don’t really understand that their actions can make big impacts as Forrest did, Everything he did made an impact on someone in his life. whereas Jenny had a very different look towards life letting the rough start get the best of her, letting it control the rest of her life believing that she doesn’t deserve to be happy, that she doesn’t deserve the best. Jenny just wanted to run away from her problems “Dear God make me a bird so I can fly far far away from here” rather than facing up to them. This made me think to myself how facing up to your problems can really help you put your troubles and fears behind you and how you can become a bigger, better, stronger person.

Throughout this film, I felt as though that Zemeckis had a few messages he was trying to get across to us viewers, the message of reconnecting with loved ones and keeping in touch with them because you never quite know what might happen “Bubba was gonna be a captain, but instead, he died right by the river”. But mainly the message of destiny whether it’s real if it’s not, can we find it, do we create it ect. “You have to do the best with what God gave you”. I felt this was a very powerful message that Zemeckis put across is a very subtle way. I feel as though all viewers were able to pick out and take away the message of destiny, and take away and think deeper more in-depth the meaning actually behind it. I know for a fact that after viewing the film and finding the message of destiny I took it away and went and really thought about it and what it means to me and what affect it has on me whether I am creating my own destiny or if it’s already been created for me, I feel as though it’s affecting my actions and emotions towards others as-well now. As a society, I feel we could all do better with how we treat people because you never quite know they could be trying to find the destiny of their own.

Forrest and Jenny both had challenges of their own and responded to these in different ways, for Forrest his biggest challenge was to find his own destiny “What’s my destiny momma?” Forrest didn’t know if he was born with it or has to search for it “I don’t know if we each have a destiny or if we’re all just floating around accidentally on a breeze”. Forrest doesn’t let this stop him though, he proceeds to push past all his challenges and moves forward “it happens”. whereas Jenny, on the other hand, struggles to do the same, her challenge is to put the past behind her she holds onto it and belives shes defined by it. She lets her past shape out the woman she is now. They both did activities and things to keep their minds off what was holding them back, they both took very different approaches to the activities they did, Forrest took the path of trying to set himself up for the future and do good in his community, his country “Now, mama said there’s only so much fortune a man really needs… and the rest is just for showing off“. But Jenny took a different approach she went down the track of partying, doing drugs just things that would keep her mind off her struggles and issues, keep herself distracted. I Belive in society this is how people end up getting themselves into trouble and bad situations they let what’s holding them back define them when they could find better out of that situation, they could let that help them become a better person, learn and move forward. I can understand both approaches that they take I feel like I can feel for Jenny and related to her more with not believing she deserves better, I feel like we’ve all been there at some point believing we don’t deserve the best that we are worthless when we are, we are worth something, we are worth everything “You are no different to anybody else”. whereas Jenny couldn’t see that even though she was reminded daily by Forrest himself.

I think that the title of the film worked superbly, the film “Forrest Gump” was the protagonist Forrest himself, taking us through his life and life events which ironically takes us through the events of the 20th century, the 1980s. The film was from Forrest’s perspective of what was happening at the Time in the 20th century “they’re sending me to Vietnam”. Giving us viewers insight of what it was like back then in America and how different society was and how we’ve changed since then “Sometimes when people go to Vietnam, they go home to their mommas without any legs. Sometimes they don’t go home at all. That’s a bad thing. That’s all I have to say about that.”, how we’ve changed as a world as a whole but how some things still remain the same and we need to work as a society, as a world to fix that. The title Forrest Gump is simple yet so effective for this film and I believe couldn’t be any more superb.

I believe this film is suitable for all age groups. I feel as though it has a strong message behind it that everyone could take away and think about and reflect on what the movie is trying to get across to us which is the message of destiny, how we create it and how or if we can find it. I believe this movie has a really important message to keep your loved ones close to you also “I’m not a smart man but I know what love is”, although it may not be shone through as much as the message of destiny it still really makes the impact on viewers to think about where their loved ones are right now and to mend and make bridges with people you might have issues with because you never quite know how long you have left “Mama always said, dying was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn’t“. This film has comedy and humour intertwined in the heartfelt romantic drama it is so I believe its a real mix for viewers and would be an ideal film for anyone to watch.

I Thoroughly enjoyed this film as Forrest Gump said in the film “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get” and that was certainly shown through the film, you never can quite predict what’s going to happen next in this movie. I was intrigued by the way that Zemeckis used two characters both going through times of hardship but both choosing two very different paths to take to deal with that. I know for a fact that I will definitely be watching this film again as I must say it is now one of my favourite movies.