Preview

Analysis of Sociologically Relevant Film: Forrest Gump

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
805 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis of Sociologically Relevant Film: Forrest Gump
Introduction

"The world will never be the same once you 've seen it through the eyes of..." Forrest Gump: a film chronicling the life of a mentally challenged man present during three of the most distinctive and dynamic decades in American history. While on the surface lies a heartwarming and inspirational story, the underlying narrative tends to explore progression of American society while depoliticizing history. Throughout the film Forrest is directly involved in major events of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, yet he never shows any initiative of his own. What is the filmmaker trying to insinuate?

Sociological analysis

An understanding of Forrest 's background in an important and characterizing element in the film. Disadvantaged by a terrible spine condition and a low IQ, Forrest struggles through childhood in small-minded Greenbow, Alabama. Due to his mental disabilities, Forrest becomes the victim of academic discrimination, which his mother fights desperately to resolve. "He might be a bit on the slow side, but my boy Forrest is going to get the same opportunities as everyone else," she stated to the principal of Greenbow County Central School. "He 's not going to some special school to learn to how to re-tread tires." (Gump 1995) Forrest 's mother was determined. Taking advantage of this, the principal coerced Forrest 's mother into trading a sexual favor for enrollment in school. In addition to these unsettling events, Forrest finds himself tormented and isolated by neighborhood children and townspeople who seem incapable of treating him with anything but reproach and disdain.

Forrest was also an active part of many important events, including protests lead by George Wallace against desegregation, the Vietnam War, the Ping Pong Diplomacy period, anti-war activism lead by Abbie Hoffman, Black Panther Party meetings, and the Watergate scandal. It would be reasonable to say that being part of such important events and would make him vulnerable to the



References: Forrest Gump. Dir. Robert Zemeckis. Perf. Tom Hanks. Paramount Pictures, 1994.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    In the film Erin Brockovich, several different social theories can be related to the storyline of the film. Although different, theories from Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber can all adequately describe what happens in the film. The film is about a small law firm that takes on an extremely powerful organization, PG & E (Pacific Gas & Electric), on the account that they were knowingly polluting Hinkley, California’s water supply and harming the citizens. From Karl Marx, the film can be explained through his base-superstructure model of society, with PG & E serving as the powerful base, and the rest of society in Hinkley, CA serving as the superstructure. From Emile Durkheim, this movie can be portrayed through his evolutionary theory, through the way that Erin and the rest of Hinkley, CA progresses from a mechanical to organic society, and as a result their idea on law progresses from repressive to restitutive law. Thirdly, the film can be represented through Max Weber’s theory on rationality, in the way that PG & E expresses its domination over the rest of society.…

    • 2212 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The movie “Good Will Hunting”, chronicling the story of an unknown genius with a photographic memory, redefines the word “genius”. Whereas MIT professors and their colleagues struggle to understand higher level mathematics and algorithms, this humble janitor solves the queries as if they came directly from an episode of Sesame Street. Will Hunting does not attend college; he is self educated via books which he reads at an astonishing pace, flipping the pages as if there were just a word on each page. Will Hunting (while fictional) is the epitome of intelligence and clearly would possess one of the most comprehensive knowledge resources on the planet. In a tutorial with a vast source of knowledge such as him, learning would be virtually limitless.…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The movie we watched in class was called "White Man 's Burden." According to some sociologists the white man 's burden is an unwanted burden that white men, who are in the upper part of society, must bring the minority classes up to their status. For example, if it were applied today white folks would have to help bring black folks up into a higher class. While this theory was used many years ago, it is still in consideration today.…

    • 1511 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Will Hunting was mandated to attend therapy by the juvenile court system. He saw five therapists with whom he failed to connect, prior to seeing Sean Maguire. He terminated himself from some of his previous therapy sessions. Two of his therapists walked out on him. Will accused his first therapist of being gay and sabotaged his second therapy by pretending to be hypnotized.…

    • 2117 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many films have come and gone without audiences remembering even the title of the film. However, Ang Lee's film Brokeback Mountain (2005) (BKM, exp. 1) is a controversial film that stuck different emotions among viewers such as, “'Gay cowboy movie' shatters stereotypes” (Clinton, sec. 2) with two handsome young cowboys Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) who fall in love, which is not viewer’s typical western genre expectation. While Ang Lee's, Brokeback Mountain, will remain an important piece of cinema now and one hundred years in the future because, the genre of the film makes it memorable to audiences, stimulating cinematography and sound, the incredible use of mise-en-scene, and the film not conforming to America's ideology.…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First of all, a tragedy causes great suffering, destruction, and distress. In the movie, Forrest Gump, the protagonist Forrest faces many obstacles and hardships that symbolize the adversity of life. Forrest unknowingly goes against the societal principles and ideals which lead to his alienation from society. His physical…

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The classic film centers on the predicament of Andy Dufresne who is ultimately found guilty of murdering his wife and receives a life-sentence; all of this occurs with little circumstantial detail given to the viewer of his innocence or guilt initially. Dufresne arrives at the infamous Shawshank correctional facility where he seems to take on a positive and optimistic attitude despite his perceived innocence to the viewer and assumed guilt to the inmates; this is peculiar and admirable to those around him given his dire surroundings, especially so to “Red,” (Morgan Freeman) a fellow inmate, who ultimately becomes Dufresnes closest friend. The latter represents symbolic interactionism: people act toward things based on the meaning those things have for them. And Dufresne, conceivably innocent, approaching things positively. Next, functionalism is conveyed through Dufresnes newfound home in the prison: his new societal surrounding consists of various parts that allow it to function—i.e. the prisoners roles, the guards’ roles, the warden’s, the parole officers’, Dufresne’s role both as a prisoner and avid component of the prison library. Finally, the conflict theory presents itselfs through the prison’s power structure: Dufresne and his peers (the subject class) are at the mercy of the courts, the warden, his guards, and the parole officers (all which make up the ruling class)… Dufresnes story at Shawshank Prison, and his ultimate redemption as a innocent man who gains the eventual freedom he so patiently earned and rightfully deserved, is sure to please any avid…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    "The Color Purple" is a very powerful film that tells the story of Celie, a poor black woman living in the old south. The film begins at her childhood and follows her up to old age. She was raped and abused by her father as a young woman and was sent to marry and equally abusive man, Albert. The various people in Celie's household may seem strange in their actions to an outsider. However, if one examines the actions of the characters, their behabiors can be explained, and sometimes justified, by the systems theory, symbolic interactionism and finally, developmental theory.…

    • 694 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    For this assignment, I chose the movie, Thirteen. From the very first time that I watched this movie I was completely intrigued by the compelling and complex issues that this young, thirteen year old girl faces. My theory regarding this movie, in a whole, is that people who frequently associate with individuals, whom favor deviance, have a tendency to replicate that behavior. For this movie, I felt that the Symbolic Interactionist perspective would best be applied to dissect and discuss the problems and resolutions, and also help to support my theory throughout.…

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Forrest Gump Pop Culture

    • 1693 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The top movie of 1994 was Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump was about Forrest who isn’t the brightest but always keeps his head up. He makes a best friend while in the Vietnam War, named Bubba. Forrest is awarded the Medal of Honor for his hard work throughout the War. Bubba and Forrest start a shrimping business. Forrest is madly in love with his childhood best friend, Jenny. He proposed to her and she turns him down. But, she sleeps with him to prove her love to him although she doesn’t want to marry him. Forrest goes running and over the next few years and becomes famous for running across the country. Jenny sees him on the news and finds him and finally tells him the news that he is a father to Forrest Jr. Jenny and Forrest then marry and move back to Georgia. Jenny dies short after that from a…

    • 1693 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Not only that be he also said that Robert Kennedy was assassin at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1968. But in the movie they didn’t mention why or where were they wore assassin, they just cut to the chase and move on. We know that the Kennedys story is a cover up but no one knows the true reason just that the system or law was trying to cover up the true story. After Forrest graduate from college he got recurred to the army where he will end up in the Vietnam War. Where he also meets Babba for the first time (slave background) and developed a…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Breakfast Club Sociology

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages

    John Hughes, the director of “The Breakfast Club,” carefully depicted sociology dynamics throughout the classic film. Many people would agree that the film caught the extreme attention from various audiences due to its relatability using common sociological references. The director and writers of the film comically referenced and targeted specific sociological topics, such as cultures, educational values, family background, social statuses, and, of course, cliques.…

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, picks up after the calamitous food storm that happed in the first film. (Flint Lockwood creates the Flint Lockwood’s Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicatior or the FLDSMDFR; a machine that turns water into food. Which later goes rogue and is destroyed or so Flint believed) Chester V, Flints childhood idol, then arrives to inform them, everyone in the island, that the will be relocated, so the thinkquananuts can ‘clean up the mess’. During which he is actually trying to find the FLDSMDFR to no avail.…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some people do not realize why sometimes it takes time to achieve certain goal, because of being victimized by a society where human being is described as an enemy for each other, The privilege of having determination in life is the most important factor which can lead individual to the path of success. By being successful, life becomes an open door where power and influence become the potential tools in individual life. In the Film Finding Forrester, we can easily understand why the young black African American man has become successful.…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many issues affecting politics take place behind closed doors. Some of the events that take place which influence political decisions can stem from sociological, cultural, and political issues. American Gangster does a great job of conveying how each of these issues effect different aspects of today’s government.…

    • 1162 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays