So what exactly is the movie trying to say by choosing this unassuming, largely passive simpleton to carry the mantle of our country’s history?Īt first glance, Forrest lacks stereotypical American traits, like ambition, ego, self-interest, or career goals. But while he’ll never be over his grief for Jenny, his touching life as a father and the vast potential of his son, Forrest Jr, leave us with optimism that the kids and the future of America will be alright. Jenny’s death in the early 80s is part of the dawning AIDS crisis and it symbolizes a mourning for something beautiful and pure of our national character that was lost in these times. In 1976, Forrest sets off on a three-year cross-country run after Jenny leaves him and his personal heartbreak is linked to a national need to heal and process the tumult of the 60s. “He got me invested in some kind of fruit company.” - Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump Then he’s an early investor in the tech boom. So he lives that American ideal of getting obscenely rich through simple perseverance. Post-military life, he becomes an exemplary entrepreneur, transforming a dinky boat into a successful shrimping business literally overnight. Forrest helps open up US relations with communist China. The cultural divide between establishment types and counterculture hippies again affects Forrest very personally, as he and his love Jenny are separated by their very different paths. Personally feeling the defining American tragedy of this era. “I don’t know much about anything, but I think some of America’s best young men served in this war.” - Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump In Vietnam, he watches his friends get killed and wounded in a war that doesn’t make sense. Forrest’s confusion as he runs straight off the college football field reflects the 60’s tumultuous conflicts over civil rights. His childhood in the 50s is pretty peaceful and happy, just like the decade was a prosperous one for many Americans. It begins with a shameful past, Forrest is named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first “Grand Wizard” of the Ku Klux Klan, so the story starts in the shadow of America’s original sin. The result of this historical rewrite is that Forrest’s story is America’s story. The film also uses the most iconic music associated with the periods it covers, making this feel at times close to an audiovisual textbook. Big personal events in his life map onto pivotal historical moments or have recognizable history as a backdrop. Thus the film rewrites history so that the character is there, the secret catalyst of all the events that define our collective memory. Zemeckis even inserts Forrest into real archival footage, in a technique considered pretty cutting-edge when the movie was made in 1994. So as Forrest Gump turns 25 this year, here’s our Take on what this modern American myth has to say about our national identity.įorrest’s life story is interwoven with major historical events from the 1950s to the 1980s. In this myth, Forrest himself embodies our country’s central spirit. And a few years after that, somebody shot his little brother, too.” - Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump “Somebody shot that nice young President when he was in his car. And like any good myth, it filters historical facts through allegorical characters and a particular language to create a symbolic journey that makes emotional sense out of what was a deeply complicated and confusing era for many Americans. Robert Zemeckis’ film comprehensively tracks the story of America from the post-WWII period into the post-Watergate era. So, what does Forrest Gump has to say about us-and our national identity?įorrest Gump is a myth of 20th-century America. Like any good myth, it filters historical facts through allegory, creating a symbolic journey that helps us make sense of a complicated era. The story of Forrest Gump is a myth of 20th-century America.
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