Reading Log 5: Forrest Gump

Directed By Robert Zemeckis

Forrest Gump is a classic. It’s one of those films that everyone has managed to watch at least once in their life. And, to this day, with the amount of people who have seen it, I’ve never heard a bad word about it.

The whole film is the audience accompanying Forrest with his storytelling. Essentially, we the audience, are waiting with him at the bus stop, listening to his astounding life story. He takes us through a 2 hour and 22 minute long journey of his (presumably) 30 to 40 year long life.

Gump’s life is filled with one disaster after another, but in-between each of these disasters, is always something that is so fantastic, the audience is left to question if it actually happened. For example, his close friend Bubba died fighting in Vietnam, but due to Gump’s adamant need to run the shrimp fishing business they always talked about together, he found great amounts of success. Or when he was discharged from Vietnam, he developed a newfound love for table tennis, which led to him becoming one of the best players in the world.

One of the things I personally love about this film is how it gives Forrest’s innocent insight on the cruel world he lived in. It gives an innocent insight, almost comedic because he is so clueless, yet not making these serious topics into jokes. For example, Forrest was a young adult during the mid-1900s America, which everyone knows was not the nicest place to live in. He lived in a world of segregation, stigma towards disabilities (such as himself, as in the beginning he had a crooked spine and it also became apparent that he is mentally slow), the Vietnam war and the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. All of these are serious, heart-wrenching topics. But, throughout Forrest Gump, these topics are explored in a much more light-hearted way but still exploring the seriousness. Because the audience is listening to Forrest’s life in his own words, we see things almost exactly how he did. For example, when Forrest is in university, an ‘issue’ arises where an African American enters the university. At this point, due to segregation, almost everyone opposes this. The scene of a black woman entering the university is televised. Awkwardly, she drops her notebook. No one goes to pick it up, except for Forrest. He handed it to her. This scene goes to show that, although he is mentally slow, Forrest has a kind heart. In a way, it shows that because of him not knowing and understanding the world, he is much kinder than those who do. Perhaps, due to his lack of understanding, he doesn’t understand why people at the time would view her skin colour would be an issue. Another example of this light-hearted and comedic look on serious topics is when Jenny becomes a ‘musician’ and Forrest goes to see one of her shows. He is saddened by how she is treated, little does he know it is a strip club, and attacks the men shouting. This can be seen as comedic because it is an over-reaction to something that is expected, yet due to him being so clueless, he doesn’t realise.

Another thing that I love about this film is how difficult it is to set it into one genre. It’s easy to say it is a drama, but what about the comedy aspects? What about the big portion of it in Vietnam? Due to the film literally being a life story, it’s hard to put it into one genre. It’s an exploration of one man’s entire life. The film manages to show so many different situations in his life in only two and a half hours. The film feels like it is so much longer than two and a half hours, however in this instance, it isn’t a bad thing. Due to how fantastic and interesting it is, Forrest Gump is enjoyed regardless of how long it is. If anything, the length of this film is far more appreciated because the audience just gets to see more of Forrest’s amazing story.

To conclude, Forrest Gump is great because of how unique it is. It’s a mix of comedy and tragedy, but still a wonderfully light-hearted film that everyone can enjoy.