Ideology And Breakdown Of Forr Essay, Research Paper

Ideology

The themes in the movie Forrest Gump are believed by some to be the search for

destiny while understanding that simple is good . The movie features many ideas for

someone s destiny. For example, are we all just floating around on a breeze or we all

have a destiny in life that we need to figure out . The style of the movie is told by a man

telling his life story from his point of view.

The culture in this movie is based on life in the United States, a southern boy who

was put into school because his mom wanted him to go to a real boys school not a special

school for the handicapped. In the movie Forrest is of Southern Baptist religion which

tells his life style. Forrest Gump seems to be a stupid man by his appearance but as the

story unfolds you can tell that he is very bright and full of knowledge told in a simple

manner.

The importance of minor stars throughout the movie is when small characters play

big roles in the plot of the story. Jenny, his girl, is not seen in the movie for many scenes,

but she plays a major role in the plot of the story. It is the same with Bubba, Benjamin

Beauferd Blue, he was in the movie no longer than twenty minutes but ends up being a

major character. This movie has a lot of confusion built in but most understand it by the

end.

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Writing

The movie Forrest Gump is told, from the point of view of Forrest sitting on a

bench recalling all these events that happened to him. While he tells his story, other

people on the bench listen, some care, some do not. Gump tells the events of his life to

everyone who will listen. Each person has their own opinion about his story. One man

did not believe or care for his story about him owning BubbaGump s Shrimp Co. The

man got up, laughed at him, and called him a liar.

This film is based on the novel by Winston Groom, Forrest Gump. Winston

Groom has written many other books such as; Better Times Than These, The BubbaGump

Shrimp Company Cookbook, Forrest Gump: My Favorite Chocolate Recipes, Gone the

Sun, Gump & Co., Only, Such a Pretty, Pretty Girl, As Summers Die, Gumpisms, and

Shrouds of Glory: The Last Campaign of the Civil War, he has also written two other

books which are Out of Print, Conversations with the Enemy, and Hadley on My Mind.

Producer, Robert Zemeckis is the man behind the making of the movie Forrest

Gump he is in the process of making another movie called What Lies Beneath ; a

thriller. Zemeckis has produced multiple other major films including the Back to the

Future series of movies featuring Michael J. Fox and is working with Steven Spielberg s

DreamWorks SKG movie company in Hollywood, California on other major projects.

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Story

They story in the movie Forrest Gump is told in first-person, with Forrest telling

his own life s events while waiting on a bench at a bus stop. Buses come and go while

Gump tells his story. The story is simple with a very easy to follow plot line. The narrator

in the movie is Forrest himself sitting on the bench telling his story to whomever is there

to listen to him. One thing that effects the story telling is the way that Forrest introduce

himself by asking if they want a piece of chocolates. This could have been better arranged

so that someone would come not in the middle of the story but during his pauses between

parts in his life story. The strategy used in the narration is a conversation with another

person rather than a narrator talking to an audience. The audience listens in to what the

narrator, Forrest Gump, is talking about to the other person. It is a very easy manner to

follow the film. There really is no relationship between the spectator and the movie besides

the fact that people are listening to his story as if the spectators were waiting for the bus

with him. The way the narration effects that relationship, in that the narrator addresses

ideas and topics making it seem that Gump is not only talking to the person on the bench,

but he is talking to the audience as well. Forrest Gump addresses his topics mixing

narratives up using both formalistic and realistic styles very smoothly. One example is

when talking about Bubba. After he died he used a formal voice and narration but in

simple, easy to understand language.

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Photography

In the movie Forrest Gump the cinematographer uses all sorts of shots; long

shots when following the feather to the bench at the beginning of the movie. Very long

shots during some of the war scenes and when Forrest is running. The wide angle shots

show the farm for the first time, while close ups show the items that Gump caught when

he was shrimping. There are many others from birds eye views to very close up, showing

the simple things in life.

The color in Forrest Gump is very light pastel colors, light blue, light green,

pink, colors that you would have seen in the sixties and seventies. He uses black and

white very effectively. He uses wide angle lenses because of the way the pictures cover

wide areas. The lighting of Forrest Gump is bright natural lighting consisting of high

angle, low angle and all other types of lighting. The way that the light is filtered and

gauged makes it seem like it is the same time all day long. The film makers should have

tried to make it seem like the day is changing. Opticals are not really used in this movie as

special effects. For example when Forrest runs his speed is seen as a result of the optics

used by the director. The scenes with Lt. Dan without his legs he actually had legs that

were just removed by covering them up and deleting them with a computer. Kind of like

using a green screen when filming an animated movie.

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Mise-En-Scene

The Mise-En-Scene is a French term literally meaning place on set . It stands for

the way objects are placed on a set to bring more of a fullness to the movie or play. In the

Movie Forrest Gump the Mise-En-Scene is to bring out the theme of the simple side of

life. One example is the bench. The way that the bench is placed makes it appear as an

actual bus stop. Buses run in front of the bench, people walk in front and behind it, and

life goes on, but the bench is the center of that scene.

Every scene in every movie ever made has a Mise-En-Scene to it, in making the

object in front of everything with action in the back of it, like the bench as center of

attention. One other example is the news cast of the hurricane when Forrest is working

his shrimping boat. The reporter is in front telling the information about the hurricane,

then in the center is the wreckage of all the damaged boats, and finally in the rear is

Forrest on his shrimping boat, entering right as the news caster says only one boat

survived the hurricane. This is another example to show how Mise-En-Scene is used to

prove a point or bring up a topic or start a new scene. Each time Mise-En-Scene is shown

in great detail something happens that will thicken the plot of the movie. Who knows

Mise-En-Scene may even be the reason for the sequel to a movie