“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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