Cultural Significance of Forrest Gump

Introduction

One of the most popular movies in America and a representation of the nation’s soul is the drama-comedy Forrest Gump. Its successful $673 million box office sales and Academy Award win attest to its appeal. (Moller 68). The movie is still pertinent and frequently seen today for both entertainment and educational purposes, despite its early 1994 release. In addition, since 1996, the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant, which takes its name from the movie, has been expanding worldwide. (Byers 421). The protagonist of the narrative is a fictitious Gump Forrest. (Hanks Tom). He not only witnesses but also, influence significant moments in the modern-day popular culture and American history. Also, the film elevates Forrest, who is the main character, to symbolizes a traditional hero. As a result, he is seen to strengthen the cultural understandings and beliefs that are already existing. The implied message, in this case, is that the movie deliberately advocates for conformity as well as anti-intellectualism.

Conservative Values and Unconditional Love

Firstly, Forrest Gump promotes the conservative values of the American culture. Gump is seen as a symbol of unconditional love for America, Jenny, and his fellow soldiers. While at war in Vietnam, he took a bullet in the buttocks while attempting to save his platoon colleagues such as Lieutenant Taylor Dan. (Moller 69). At the point where Forrest carries Bubba from a threatening gasoline attack, exciting visual cues are employed to generate the fictitious scene. Consequently, the movie shows that having a sense of humanity and respect for all must be rewarded after he received a Medal of Honor due to his heroic acts (Byers 431). Also, he represents tolerance by the fact that despite Jenny’s rebellious behavior, running away, and her terminal infection, Gump never gave up on her.

The Criticism of the Counterculture Movement

On the other hand, the film intensely criticizes the counterculture movement which was established in the late 1960s but faded away during the culmination of the 1970s. The association was spearheaded by a group of American youths who were opposed to the Middle-American culture and wanted to form a lifestyle that favored them (Byers 437). In the movie, Jenny represents an archetype youth who had fully embraced the counterculture ideology. She engaged in irresponsible sexual conduct, abuse of drugs, and antiwar rallies. Despite having married Gump eventually, the union was more of reconciliation than one based on love considering she was dying. Jenny is complete contrast of Gump who leads a very conservative lifestyle. He fell in love with Jenny since their schooling days, and when the duo finally reunites, Forrest proposes to marry Jenny. She declines and instead lures him into promiscuity, and she conceives. Additionally, he relentlessly conforms to his beliefs when he marries her despite her worsening condition. Symbolically, the succumbing of Jenny to a strange virus represents the ultimate death of the American liberals as well as the counterculture protests that dominated the decade. Moreover, the important visual cue here is that the screenwriter had shifted a great deal of the flaws committed by Americans and Forrest’s shortfalls to Jenny. (Moller 70).

Rejecting Discrimination and Embracing the Physically Challenged

Thirdly, the movie rejects cultural values that discriminate upon the physically challenged individuals. This is extensively covered during Gump’s childhood. His presumed minimal intelligence and physical disability hints that people should not be judgmental about the shortfalls of others in the society. Initially, when Forrest first attends school, he only made one friend (Jenny) whereas the rest of the children bully him due to his inability to walk properly and low mental ability. However, this movie contradicts the perceptions of many since Presley Elvis gained his fame while trying to imitate Forrest’s dancing style which was primarily influenced by his close-fitting leg braces. As well, he later became one of the fastest runners, a football star which earned him a scholarship at Alabama University, and a talented ping pong player. This realization came when his braces fell off while attempting to escape a group of bullies. As a result, he was able to meet the likes of president J. F. Kennedy unlike his peers (Byers 431).

The Symbolism of the White Feather

The most notable aspect of symbolism is the white feather which appears both at the beginning and culmination of the movie. According to Hanks Tom, the imagery here is that the floating feather represents one’s fate. As it drops, it undergoes unpredictable movements and can land at any location suggesting that life is arbitrary and full of uncontrollable circumstances. Ralston Ken, the film’s visual cues supervisor, likens the floating feather to abstract paintings in the sense that such pieces of art could turn out differently (Fan 452). Before she passed on, Gump’s mother told him that “I happen to believe you make your own destiny” (Feneja 12). Further, when he enquired what she meant by destiny, Mrs. Gump responded that he would have to find out all by himself. Following the second response where he had the freedom to choose whatever he desired most, Forrest decided to follow the path of fate. The film depicts him as a character who believes that life is planned and thus one should flow according to opportunities. As well, he approves that the manner in which people use the chances that life presents is what defines their destiny (Feneja 12).

Reactions and Criticism

The movie was received with varied reactions. For instance, analysts argue that the film was perhaps a prediction of the Republican Revolution of 1994 (Wang 93). It is further seen and used by Republicans such as Gingrich Newt who use Gump’s image to promote their traditionally conservative cultural values. However, more people have criticized the film as a pulp fiction. They argue that Gump possess all the aspects of the unconventional American since his character is entirely out of place in the modern-day world. Others dismiss the movie claiming that it presents morality in its extremes, therefore making it difficult to draw a meaningful conclusion from it. The film is, therefore, widely embraced by conservatives but opposed by the liberal-minded individuals. Further, most people appreciate the use of humor and drama to create satire and thus criticize awful moral and cultural values (Wang 99).

Conclusion

In summary, Forrest is portrayed as a character of low intelligence. Little did he know that his inability to view things as they are, is what impacts the cultural significance to the audience. This is in the sense that Gump’s ignorance hinders him from understanding what goes on around him thus making him an archetype loyal American citizen. Therefore, the connotative message that the movie conveys to its audience is that Americans should just turn off their minds and flow with whatever is happening. The plot of the film is unique in that it differs from the ordinary whites and blacks’ historical lessons. Forrest views America from a different perspective by re-visualizing the country’s history. To achieve this, Gump repaints or alters the favorite memories and events of the 1960s (Wang 112) thus creating an enormous impact on America, especially in the nineties and even remains relevant to date.

References

Byers, Thomas B. “History Re-membered: Forrest Gump, Postfeminist Masculinity and the Burial of the Counterculture.” MFS Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 42, no. 2, 1996, p. 419-444.

Fan, V. “The unanswered question of Forrest Gump.” Screen, vol. 49, no. 4, 2008, pp. 450-461.

Feneja, F.L. Identity and Otherness in Forest Gump. A close-up into Twentieth-century America. Anglo Saxonica (2014), 1-17.

Moller, S. Blockbusting history: Forest Gump as a power medium of American cultural memory International science journal (2011), 68-71.

Wang, Jennifer H. “A Struggle of Contending Stories”: Race, Gender, and Political Memory in Forrest Gump.“ Cinema Journal, vol. 39, no. 3, 2000, pp. 92-115.