Forrest Gump Research Paper

Forrest Gump Review In the historically fictional film, Forrest Gump, underlying themes arise through the life story of an innocent soul. Critics describe the film to be a magical story of a hero, while other critics describe the film to be idiotic and insulting. Although critics downplay on the way the Gump’s story is told, I believe that the underlying messages of the story itself should be the main focus. Critics overlook the overall messages of the film, yet these messages are of great importance to the viewer. Themes brought out by Forrest Gump include (and are not limited to) love, history, and life itself and it is essential for the viewer to capture these messages because every viewer can relate to Gump in one way or another.
Being the mother of a handicap and mentally retarded child, Forrest Gump’s mother proves her motherly love by going out of her way to give Gump everything she could as a mother. Right then and there, the theme of love is exemplified. As the story progresses, love is again demonstrated through Gump’s relationship with Jenny, yet in a different way. Gump’s first encounter with Jenny was an innocent love – a love she had towards Gump as a person, and not necessarily a lover just yet. After growing up and going their separate ways, they both eventually find their ways back to each other, and this time a lover’s type of love took place. Later on in the film, Gump finds another type of love – a love for his own child. Through many instances in the story, love is illustrated through Forrest Gump himself and as well as through Gump’s family, relationships, and even through the love of doing what he wanted/felt. According to the critic Hal Hinson from the Washington Post, he believes that Gump’s “existence is almost completely dictated by happenstance and dumb luck.” I completely disagree. Through the entire film, love is an underlying theme and I believe that Forrest Gump’s existence is dictated not by happenstance and dumb luck, but indeed