Argument Paper on the Movie Forrest Gump

The movie Forrest Gump tells the story of one man’s extraordinary life as he also participates in many of the key historical points of the latter half of the 20th century. The theme of rationalization is seen throughout this movie, because it has become such a big part of the American culture. Forrest stands out from the world around him, so he doesn’t usually conform to the pattern of rationalization himself, but he experiences it none the less.

Forrest Gump brings hilarious moments of a disabled boy, and the horrific events that took place during the Vietnam war. It expresses the beginning, the middle, and the end of the war in enough detail to show an audience a true experience. With Forrest Gump being such an amazing film, you must wonder what is the message. Why is the Vietnam war being shown with the mind and person of Forrest? The exact reason why is unknown, but you can be assured, there is a time in which our history of this era must begin, and it begins with Forrest Gump. From dancing to fighting, and to entrepreneurship, Forrest creates an unimaginable legacy.

• Describe the film in general terms. What subjects does it cover? Describe the plot and setting. What issues does it raise? What do you see as the main purpose of the film?

As a human, no one really likes to be the victim of stereotyped. No one wants to be looked at get judged because the different of their skin color, culture, religion or by the choice of their outfit. Finding Forrester is a great drama movie based on significantly of different racial situation. In the movie there are two main characters, William Forrester-an author who isolated himself from the world, and Jamal Wallace-a black teenage boy from the Bronx. They become great friends despite generation gap through their passion for reading and writing.

As political climates change, so do the themes found within cinema. The 1960s and 1970s were a time of change for America. Feminism, civil rights movements, and gay rights movements were all progressing, and liberal values were becoming more and more prevalent among the younger generation. For conservatives, the 60s and 70s were seen as a time of decline; as a low point in American history, and a time of regression in American society. The progressive and liberal values were not positive changes for all Americans, but the changes were coming about nonetheless. However, in the late 1970 's and the 1980 's there was a dramatic shift in the themes found in American cinema that reflected the neo-conservative political changes. With the

How does the film shown reflect the time in which it was made, and satirise American stereotypes, views, and society?

The Vietnam conflict was one of the most controversial “wars” in American history. The decision about taking actions and sending troops brought outrage to many Americans, especially the teenage population. Both Barry McGuire, a singer, and Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights activist, were opposed to the war in Vietnam. These themes were portrayed in McGuire’s song, “Eve of Destruction” and King’s speech, “Why I am opposed to the war in Vietnam.” These two texts strove to connect Americans through religion and highlighting the hypocrisy of the civil rights movement and role of black Americans. However, King and McGuire went about portraying these themes in a different light, yet while their methods differed, the goal was the same.

The 1960’s and the Vietnam War are not often regarded as one of America’s finer moments in history. The increasing popularity of the television set in the 1960’s allowed for a window into the war, and the brutality that the American people saw did not increase national pride, but rather implanted doubts into the minds of Americans as to whether or not our soldiers were really the good guys in this case. Where WWII had involved the Nazi’s, the epitome of the bad guys, the Vietnam War had no such case. The dark sadism of the Nazi’s had once been a stark contrast to America’s virtuous soldiers, but the Vietnam War was a confounding fusion of the good and the bad. As Ph. D. Leslie Gelb explains, “the morality of that [Vietnam] War was very confused” (Brokaw 137). This idea was reflected in the following decade, the 1970’s, when movies began to portray their protagonist as a complex character with flaws rather than the traditional faultless hero. In essence, the Vietnam War of the 1960’s led to the rise of the antihero in 1970’s American Cinema.

However, the movie has a much deeper underlying theme that most people would not know about. Hidden behind the characters and the events in the movie is a political driven theme of the turmoil and debate that was occurring in the United States during the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. Each of the characters that are present in the movie represent a specific person or persons that would have been found

Although the intended audience of this film was for young adults, Gary approaches to the idea of demonstrating today’s society with the government-issue within the movie in such age-appropriate way. With such scrupulous structure of the rhetoric that Ross composed, Ross was able to magnetize these young audiences by bolstering boundless imaginations and explicit situations to purse today’s society with the seriousness of social

The Vietnam War was one the most controversial wars in America. This paper is meant to examine the Vietnam War using the movie, Platoon, as a portal. Analyzing scenes in the movie and how they pertain to the films ideology. The paper will look at the struggles presented in war from the outlook of the “grunt.” It will look at the pro-war and anti-war view of propaganda. It will look at the good and evil, right and wrong, conflicts in the film. How do these messages reflect the reality of the war? Is the agenda to create a vision of reality or is the film simply a form of entertainment?

The 1988 film Mississippi Burning drew extensive criticism for its portrayal of the FBI's investigation of three murdered civil rights activists in 1964. As critics noted, the movie ignored the role of black activists who struggled for racial justice even as it graphically depicted the violence that activists and other blacks faced during the civil rights era. An analysis of the motion picture's narrative and its ensuing controversy illustrates how Hollywood films can simultaneously communicate misleading messages about the history of civil rights activism, and prompt additional discourses about historic racial atrocities within popular culture.

Forrest Gump has maintained its position as a classic American tale for decades, full of enlightening realizations of one’s self worth. Forrest Gump was certainly not a renaissance man at first glance; with a deficient IQ of just 70, he was qualified as an idiot by both society and, as he addresses, even himself. Despite this, he constantly sets goals for himself throughout his life, from working to start his “srimpin bidness” to reuniting with his longtime crush Jenny Curran. On the journey he embarks upon to accomplish these goals, both the reader and Forrest himself learn an important lesson regarding one’s aspirations guiding life. Despite challenging situations and unfamiliar territory, as long as one stays aligned with their original goal, the obstacles faced can be overcome.

Forrest Gump is a film based on a 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom and produced by Robert Zemeckis. The film portrays several decades in the life of Forrest Gump, a slow-witted, naïve but goodhearted man from Greenbow, Alabama. Gump witnesses these events and in some cases influences these events to happen (Wikipedia 1). In the midst of the film Jenny Curan, her childhood friend and lover, appears throughout the film also taking part in some of these events. Forrest Gump revises popular memories of the 1960’s and 1970’s through its representations of history (Wang 92).

The very popular, award-winning, Forrest Gump is known for many of its compelling themes: A man with intellectual disability who improbably succeeds at everything he attempts, the mother who shows eternal faith in him, and the ways in which we all become a part of history (though few as famously as Gump).