Forrest Gump Research Paper

Forrest Gump is a classic movie, based on a book, directed by Robert Zemeckis that integrates comedy, romance and history all into one movie. The movie takes place in America, in the last half of the 20th century. It fallows a boy named Forrest Gump, acted out by Tom Hanks, from when he is a child all the way into adulthood. Forrest was born on June 6, 1944 in Alabama. He was born incredibly slow with a crooked spin that need to be corrected through leg braces. He didn’t have much friends due to this until one fateful day when he met a girl named Jenny Curran, acted out by Robin Wright, on the bus. They became very close and lifelong friends. One day he was being pursued by bullies down the street and as they were catching up his leg braces

This landed him a scholarship playing football in the University of Alabama. During his lifetime he happens to be somehow involved in numerous important historical events such as the Vietnam War, the hippie movements of the 1960’s, the Watergate scandal and more. Other important actors of the movie would include Sally Field as Mrs. Gump who influenced Forrest as a child to not let his mental capabilities hold him back, Mykelti Williamson as Bubba, a friend he met in Vietnam who he bought a shrimping boat in honor of, and Gary Sinise as Lt. Dan Taylor who was saved by Forrest and became in time a friend of his. One of the reasons that some teachers show this movie to their students are that it raises important questions in their minds like the importance of these series of historical events that were portrayed in the movie Forrest Gump. Like where would America be without the influence of Elvis Presley the man who changed pop culture forever with his dances, attitude and style or the incident where Governor George Wallace stood in front of

Forrest says that he ran for “three years, two months, fourteen days, and sixteen hours.” He started running the day that President Carter collapsed in Maryland and ends a couple of days before he gets a letter from Jenny the day that President Ronald Regan was attacked. Though this is impossible because the time in between these two events was only one and a half years. Another mistake that is when Bubba says that he was drafted into the army which could not of happen because he was born on March 2, 1943 a year too early to be a part of the first draft for the Vietnam War (“Forrest Gump Movie Mistakes”). There are a number of other mistakes, many of them are so minor that they do not alter the movie in a negative since they do not even occur to the typical viewer. Through the perspective of an average movie goer seeking an entertaining movie this movie definitely delivers. It takes historical events that would seem boring in a history class and inserts a bit of clever humor that makes it enjoyable too watch like the scene where the all American football team goes to meet President Kennedy and when Forrest shakes hands with him he says “I gotta go pee,” or when Governor Wallace stood outside of the door in the University of Alabama to prevent the