Response on the Film Forrest Gump

Essay Instructions:

Reading Response #3: Forrest Gump

While Forrest Gump (1994) narrates the life story extraordinary of a young man from Alabama with a very low IQ, it simultaneously offers a history of the United States from the 1950s through the 1990s. Through the characters of Forrest and Jenny, the film offers the intertwined history of traditional Americans and American values and of social movements looking to transform American institutions and mores. These fictional characters’ lives intersect with, and at times are responsible for, the important moments and transformations in U.S. history in the decades after World War 2.

For this paper, students should watch the film Forrest Gump (available via Google Docs) and consider how the history that it tells lines up with the history we have learned in lectures and the way that it was experienced by people who lived through these periods, as expressed in course readings. In their analysis, students should examine not just which events are included in the film, but how the film presents their meaning and significance. For example, students should think about how the film presents the anti-war movement and how it asks audiences to understand its purpose, its participants, and its opponents.

In the paper, students should focus on one historical event narrated by Forrest Gump and assess (1) how the film depicts this event and (2) how the depiction does or does not correlate to the discussion of it in course texts. In this paper, students must put the film in dialogue with at least one of the texts we have read in this course.

This paper should answer ONE of the following questions:

How does Forrest Gump’s depiction of the Vietnam War compare to that of Michael Herr in Dispatches?
How does the film’s depiction of women’s liberation, via Jenny, compare to the Lydon or Shelley texts?
How does its view of African American civil rights compare to King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”?
How is the film’s vision of the American people, or of American exceptionalism, similar or different to how EITHER Roosevelt, Kennedy OR Reagan addressed these topics in their inaugural addresses?
How does the film’s treatment of racial diversity and multiculturalism compare to how Addams, T. Roosevelt, Randolph, Okada, Kiyota, OR Chavez understood these dynamics in American life?

This paper should draw on *specific* examples from the film and from the readings.

The Response Paper:

Responses papers should be no more than four pages. Please use the following format for your papers: 12 point Times New Roman font; one-inch margins; double-spaced.

Papers should be thesis-driven. They should advance an argument that is proven with evidence and analysis.

Papers will be graded according to the following criteria:

Strength and persuasiveness of analysis
Clarity in the presentation of ideas
Organization of the essay
Proper use of grammar, punctuation, syntax

Essay Sample Content Preview:

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Response on the Film Forrest Gump
The film called Forrest Gump contains interesting insight about how America had been diversified within the period of nineteen fifties to nineteen nineties. Forrest extraordinarily narrates his life history to strangers that accompany him at the bus stop bench (Ricard & Serge, 12). The observatory review of the entire story, points out similarities of the history learned other specific stories, demonstrating the experiences of people that had lived during these periods. In various ways, the filmâ€™s vision of the people of America is quite similar with the way Roosevelt addressed such topics in his inaugural addresses.
Even though the film is dated back in the nineteen fifties, it is able to bring the viewers into the contemporary history of the United States and includes various subjects like relations of race between the white and black people including the southern culture. The inclusion of the relations of race in the film as well as portrayal of the southern culture was relevant but it mainly brings more insight of the contemporary history of the United States. The emphasis of the contemporary culture leaves the scenes of relation of race as well as southern culture to block the gaps involved in the story even though fairly accurate. The filmâ€™s vision of the American people is that all should live in harmony while the primitive issue of superiority in some races should end. This is well demonstrated in the instance where Forrest narrates his lifeâ€™s history to several people and among them was a black woman (Groom & Winston, 24). Forrest doesnâ€™t ignore the woman but instead gladly tells the woman about his experiences, regardless of the fact that she might have been irritated as she was reading a magazine. Actually, the black woman who is a nurse is portrayed just like any other person regardless of her race. In addition, the issue of race relations is clearly portrayed where Forrest was attending the University of Alabama within Tuscaloosa in the year nineteen sixty-three. Around that time the University embraced desegregation and permitted two Negroes to enroll during the summer classes. Even though the film takes place around the south, it mainly targets on subjects like desegregation. In addition, the film occasionally takes the viewers back into the history of America in order to enlighten about the transformation that gradually took place. For instance, Forrestâ€™s first attendance in school sheds awareness of racism as no black children were on the bus. The period could have been in the nineteen fifties when segregation was highly in practice. As the film is partly based on the real eve...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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Response on the Film Forrest Gump

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