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No, this isn't another essay about Forrest Gump and - oh, the great American dream. Instead, it is an essay about the marketability of a movie in which all else is secondary. You have to understand the producers of Forrest Gump in order to understand why it succeeds. The producers, in the end, like every other being on earth want their movie to succeed. Forrest Gump, however great all the themes one may find it, is just another well-conceived product. Forrest Gump isn't just about the American Dream, nor is it about the way the dumb can succeed in the world especially not in the one where all things are interconnected and therefore competition is surely eminent.
Forrest Gump is a complex set of universal wants and desires. In a way, Forrest Gump bends reality and creates a more livid world full of warm and compassion. The existence of a character named Jenny already bends reality, or rather, it reinforces a universal desire. Jenny exists so the audience can find someone to fall back on, knowing that all goods things happen in such movies as Forrest Gump.
She creates stability and a back to fall back on in a world of unrighteousness (people who made fun of Forrest as a kid) and bad luck (Forrest's low IQ). This is another movie about dumbass es that win; In short, Forrest Gump is a feel good movie. When you first began to realize the man sitting on the bench as the feather flies around in the opening scene is the main character of the movie, at that point the movie has already given you your first clue as to what the movie is about. But! Remember, the point you realize he is the main character isnt exactly the same point the image of him is introduced. In fact, if you can recall, you can see him sitting there by the camera angle, as the feather flew, once before the feather actually manages to fall beside him.
The very fact that you can see him before you realize what importance he does within the movie shows you a theme. In fact, there is a reasonable chance that you might have been tempted to think that the woman who crosses the road, who is almost hit by the car, was the main character of the movie. Using this entire technique, the movie reinforces what you think of the man who sits on the bench. All the more you think prior to your realization that hes stupid that he is a person like everyone else.
He is completely normal from the outside. He is a normal guy sitting on a bus bench waiting for something as all normal guys are. What this does is it creates a contrast between what he appears (at first), and what he actually is. Later, you realize hes dumb. But you dont realize that at the beginning.
This contrast creates another feeling of stability. It states: it is easy to look normal, even if youre stupid. Bubba's existence is all about stability. For some lucky reason, Bubba is there when Forrest needs a person like him the most. Think of what Forrest's stay in the military would have been like without Bubba. Without him, Forrest would have no one to talk to.
He would be scrubbing the floors all alone. He would have no back support in Vietnam when he needed sleep. In the shot prior to Lt. Dans shouting, STOP! EVERYBODY GET DOWN! you could see Forrest and Bubba grouped together closely.
Even Lt. Dans character shows stability and ameliorating friendship. Never once did Lt. Dan, prior to getting legs blown off, did he ever directly realize Forrest's intelligence. Although one may infer that Lt. Dan knew about it, he never showed it.
Instead, we have a character who is ignorant to the personal status of his troops as in the case where Lt. Dan instead of saying Alabama, which he should have known if he were really listening to Forrest and Bubba, but says Arkansas. What we come to see is Lt. Dan caring only for his troops being able to fight. And that is all that we might have wished he cared about.
If Lt. Dans minimized, if not voided, reaction to Forrest's stupidity could be generalized, then we could also say that the entire Military is another existence of stability. You have probably thought this: if Forrest is this dumb, sooner or later hes going to live like a bum, or ask to beg food. But Forrest never does that.
Why? Because in every instance he finds something (or something finds him) that makes his life so much more comfortable. Think of it this way: just after he graduates from college, he is handed a brochure of the armed forces. What would have happened if he were not given that brochure? He would not have met Bubba. He would not have known the shrimp business.
He would not have played Ping Pong. He would not have had enough money to buy a fishing boat. He would not have etc. The military accepted him; it gave him warmth and sense of security and stability. The same happens when hes on national TV as a ping-pong player. You see him speak stupidly, but no one shows any reaction to his stupidity.
Many questions arise when we see this movie: If dumb can win, why can't I? If dumb can get security and fortune and love, well then can I? Even though we know that Forrest is probably the luckiest guy in the world, at some point in our conscious, or our subconscious, we ask these questions. And the answer is always the same: If he can, so can I.
You see, the audience expects a certain amount of good things in a movie. We dont just want tension and conflict forever (with only a good ending at the end). Instead, we want to see good things happen to our main guy all the time to keep us feeling the sense of stability even when we know that is against all our knowledge of realism. This movie does just that.
It is a great feel good movie. As of result, it is also a great moneymaker.
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Research essay sample on Forrest Gump Ping Pong
