Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump

1994

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Writer: Winston Groom and Eric Roth

142 Minutes

In the opening scene, there is a feather floating through the air, being pushed from this direction to that, and finally landing at the edge of Forrest Gump’s (Tom Hanks) shoe. Forrest grabs it and puts it in his book. In the scene above, the feather represents everything about Forrest Gump’s life.

He is not merely making decisions, but floating through life, being pushed from this experience to that, and finally landing on park bench a couple blocks from his one true love, Jenny (Robin Wright).

That is the meaning of his film. Do we have fate or self-will that takes us through life (Thank you Blake Snyder).

See, Forrest didn’t mean to play college football, he just ran on the field when they Alabama coach was present. He didn’t mean to go into the Army, he simply got handed a flier. He didn’t mean to catch all those shrimp, but God brought the hurricane that wiped out all the other boats. And he didn’t mean to invest in a “fruit company,” but Lt. Dan (Gary Sinise) bought stock in Apple, Inc.

All he decided was to love Jenny, live up to his promise to Bubba (Mykelti Williamson), and go for a run.

Forrest is the innocent, child-like wonder we all have inside us. He goes with the flow, happens to be in the right place at the right time, and is continually victorious. And he only listens to two women: his mama (Sally Field) and Jenny. While the characters around him can be violent, obsessive, crazy, and questionable, Forrest doesn’t know the wiser and follows whatever path life takes him on.

“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.”

He explains life perfectly: a random mixture of experiences and complications all revolving around your own fate and destiny. We might plan and plans might alter. We might expect and we may be disappointed. But in the end, life’s major consistency is change merged with unexpected occurrences. That’s all Forrest’s life has been.

But, there is a theme and presents in this movie that grabs our attention more than fate vs. self-will. It’s called America.

America is so present in this film it could have been draped in the American Flag. An innocent hero wonders through his life escaping high school bullies, getting a college scholarship, being a war hero, enjoying New Years in New York, becoming a captain of a ship, wising investing, traveling the country (running) and being a volunteer, while in the end, his life is complete when Jenny finally returns his love and they marry.

This is the American Dream. It makes us proud to be Americas.

Forrestt Gump will forever be in our hearts solidified by our everyday-man Tom Hanks in a random adventure of a “feather” floating through life. In the final scene, the feather drops out of the book and floats away to the next experience and adventure in this random life we lead.