Forrest Gump: Film Analysis

“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” Six Academy Awards winning drama Forrest Gump leaves a first time viewer not knowing what he is going to get from beginning to end in this historically eventful and surprising life adventure film. The plot focuses on the unveiling of the character qualities and life events of a man with an intellectual disability performed by Tom Hanks. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, this film uses narrative form and stylistic techniques to achieve an emotional connection between the audience and protagonist Forrest Gump. 

Forrest Gump narrates his life predominately from a bus stop bench through stories to highly variable strangers over the course of an afternoon while waiting for bus number nine: a black housekeeper, a white mom and her young son, on old business man, and an old lady. The spatial relations between Forrest and his company maintained the 180° system which not only preserves continuity in the shots, but it also supports the emotional connections between Forrest as the storyteller to his listener. Through a subjective point of view, temporal relations are also supported in these scenes because his dialogue fades into a flashback of the story that is viewed by the viewer in the following scene. Throughout the majority of the film, the transitions between the present time at the bus stop and the flashbacks to different stories from Forrest’s past establish the emotional connections of the viewer to Forrest Gump through his mannerisms and personality traits in connecting to complete strangers.

Throughout the flashbacks Forrest Gump presents to his “new friends,” there are multiple conventional patterns that are displayed. For example, there are similar experiences for Forrest on buses which display the social norm of people who are looked down on for having a disability. When Forrest boards the school bus for the first time ever, every child is rude towards him and will not let him sit down. Then, you hear a voice proclaim, “You can sit here if you want,” by his future lifetime love, Jenny. Later in the film, Forrest experiences a similar incident in meeting his best friend, Bubba.  There are also patterns in the meetings with Jenny throughout the film. The majority of them are predetermined by Jenny, they are normally brief, and end with Jenny leaving Forrest behind alone. Nonetheless, Forrest is always very grateful for these moments with Jenny which make his joy complete even if only for a moment.  

Another conventional pattern is also displayed in the historical connections of Forrest’s life. His ironic connections to historical moments relate much to cause and effect. For example, Forrest walks in his braces for Elvis Presley at their boarding house, and it inspires Elvis’s dancing. Forrest later runs out of his leg braces. His discovered speed later gets him a college football scholarship. Leading him to joining the All American Football Team, Forrest gets the opportunity to meet President Kennedy.  After college, Forrest joins the army, and he is deported to Vietnam. In effect, he saves many lives winning a medal of honor. He was able to meet President Johnson, speak randomly at a peace rally, and see Jenny in Washington D.C. 

Forrest begins to play ping pong for the army gets him on the Olympic team. While meeting President Nixon, he presumably calls in the Watergate scandal in Washington D.C. He promised Bubba he would start a “shrimping” business which leads him to become a millionaire after battling a storm with Lieutenant Dan. Under the instruction of Lieutenant Dan, he makes an investment into Apple which increases his millions. He begins to run across the country for 3 years, 2 months, 4 days, and 16 hours after Jenny leaves him, and he inspires many great inventions like the bumper sticker, “Shit Happens” and the smiley face. Many of these connections are unintended and they are used in the film to appeal to Forrest’s innocence and ignorance to the irony displayed in his life. 

There are many elements of mise-en-scene which help the audience connect to Forrest’s character. The settings play an important role in displaying the consistency of Forrest’s character. No matter if Forrest is at his home, in Vietnam, on a boat, in a strip club, or on a bus, his character is fairly constant. Forrest’s costume is always very professional and very neatly pressed. He always has his hair cut nicely and he is cleanly shaven. The three times we see this broken are extenuating circumstances: in Vietnam at war, on the shrimp boat struggling for success, and while running at his lowest point. 

There are also two motifs established in the film: the feather and his shoes. The feather represents the beginning and the end of the film which symbolizes Forrest’s life, flowing wherever the wind takes him. His shoes symbolize a part of his identity. First, his braces represented a crutch in his life and his later running shoes represent his freedom. Each of these elements symbolizes the character traits of Forrest himself. 

The cinematography also illustrates an emotional connection to Forrest Gump. The tonalities show Forrest in a predominantly low contrast and high key manner which elevates a mood of happiness or contentment. We see the perspective change often to personalize the viewer with Forrest Gump. For example, when Forrest is speaking to Jenny’s grave at the end of the film we are given a medium shot of Forrest from a low angle. As Forrest looks down towards Jenny’s grave, the viewer is looking up at Forrest. This allows the viewer to be placed in Jenny’s shoes and feel the true emotion from Forrest himself for Jenny.  Each of these techniques is vital for the emotional appeal of Forrest to the viewer.

Editing allows for the flow of action to run smoothly in this film to encourage the connection of the viewer to Forrest. Many of the narrations precede slightly what the image portrays. In the scene where Forrest names his fishing boat, the viewer hears him say he named it the most beautiful name he could think of. Then, we see him painting Jenny on the side of the boat. These edits allow for the expectation of the viewer to be made, and then the expectations are met leaving the viewer pleased and satisfied. These details encourage the emotions of the viewer to be connected to Forrest.

Sound is vital to Forrest Gump because it engages the emotion of the viewer into the scenes. Whenever Forrest runs out of his leg braces at the beginning of the film, the music escalates in a strong crescendo to express the emotion of Forrest’s triumphant run. There is activist rock music played whenever Forrest arrives in Vietnam. The soft music with the wind in the trees at the beginning and end of the film set the mood. The addition of relevant music and sound elevate the emotion of the movie. 

Through the use of narrative form and stylistic technique, Forrest Gump has become a cinematic masterpiece. The subjectivity, spatial relations, temporal relations, conventional patterns, and cause and effect of narrative form develop the emotional response for the audience to connect with Forrest Gump on an emotional level. The use of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound of stylistic technique adds the final touches which make this film tragic, heartbreaking, and beautiful. Through the use of narrative form and stylistic technique, the viewer is persuaded to become emotionally attached to the loveable Forrest Gump.

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