My Favorite Movie of All Time: Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump came out in 1994 when I was just one year old. I didn’t watch it until about 2007. When I saw it I was pleasantly surprised. It was not what I had expected at all. It was full of love, loss, wisdom, and everything someone is mostly to encounter in life. For those who have not seen Forrest Gump stop reading this post and go to Netflix to watch it now! You have to watch Forrest Gump at least once in your lifetime.

The movie follows the life of a simple man named Forrest Gump. We watch him drift through life like a feather from one historical event to another as he struggles to come to terms with destiny and life. It’s not just the storyline that makes this movie great, it’s everything from the dialogue to the shot composition to the spectacular performances by Tom Hanks, Sally Field, and many more.

I think these are some of the greatest shots in the film…

This is my all-time favorite shot. It’s well-composed and a beautiful portrayal of the bond between Forrest and his son.

I think the message of the movie is remarkable. To me the message is that in life happiness is achieved by accepting the challenges and experiences of life as they come along. The message is portrayed in a few of my favorite quotes:

“Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.”

“You have to do the best with what God gave you.” 

“I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze.  But I think maybe it's both.  Maybe both are happening at the same time.”

Forrest Gump has won an Academy Award for best film and is an absolute must see!

Got Gump?

I don't think I've written about Forrest Gump, directed by Robert Zemeckis, yet so here it goes.

I'm going to focus on an aspect to it that I noticed it last time I watched it. This movie is highly adaptive to its audience. By this I mean that the same person, depending on their mood can get different meanings out of it every time they watch it.

Last night I watched it in a slightly darker mood than I normally watch it. And scenes meanings changed for me. For example in the scene where he says his last words to Bubba. Forrest Gump narrates "If I'd have known this was going to be the last time me and Bubba was gonna talk, I'd of thought of something better to say." Bubba asks Forrest why did that happen. And Forrest replies "you got shot." And then Bubba dies in Forrest's arms. In the past I had laughed because it was a funny line since he states the obvious, like always. But last night it had weight behind it, it wasn't funny. It was actually a very sad scene. He tried to save his best friends life, willing to lose his own, and he failed. 

There are many other aspects that were different too. Story changing too. Normally when watching this, pardon the french, but Jenny is a bitch and Forrest is the helpless victim to her acidic lifestyle. Last night though I was sympathetic towards Jenny and Forrest was more of her savior. It was more of Jenny's story and Forrest was just a tool used to explain it. I was drawn a lot more to her and her problems. Almost all of the references to birds, being free, and running came through.

It wasn't so much the story of Gump anymore, not the American Dream, but probably the human dream. The contrast between Forrest and jenny really showed this. Jenny, trapped by her past, drug addiction, not satisfied with her life and always trying to escape it. Forrest while "constrained" by his intelligence, "broke out" of it as a kid in the scene where he breaks his leg braces. He never lets anything hold him back and just lives life freely. He went with the flow, without too much thought as to what the consequences could be. He is completely free. Which is where Jenny wants to be, she even says she wishes she was like a bird. And birds typically and in this case as well are symbols of freedom. By the end she gets there right before her death.

There were many other examples of these new meanings depending on the mood. But I'll let you figure out the meanings for yourself. 

Importance of music in film

After reading a few blogs and after what we were speaking of in class today I thought I'd share my opinion on the importance of music in film. The music of a film can sometimes make or break the scene of it. For example, the scene in Robert Zemeckis' Cast Away, where Tom Hanks' character wakes up to find his best friend the volleyball "Wilson" missing and floating away in the ocean, is very heavily weighted on it's music bed. The reason for this being is because if you were to watch the scene with out the actual music  bed, it would actually be slightly comical. The scene itself begins with out a music bed but ends with one and rightfully so since the scene was NOT meant to be comical at all.
Here is the scene:

As the scene ends Tom Hanks' character begins to cry historically, if the music bed were not there to direct the emotion of the scene, the concept of a grown man crying that hard over a lost toy, is quite silly. Knowing the circumstances  it's not meant to be funny. Thus, the epic, emotional music piece. Family Guy actually mocked the scene and made it funny by making the famous reference of "Wilson!" and then adding a bit of comic reality coming from a cartoon volleyball. Notice there is no music bed.
Here's that video:

Oh, easy stupid comedy... On the oposite spectrum; a serious situation that shouldn't be funny is Something like the "WOW freak out kid". If this person were really this way or not is entirely debatable. I understand the boy was on Tosh.0 and made sure to stress that he was just acting. On the realistic side of things Human's can act animalistic and freak out the way he did, if I had a mental break down and freaked out about anything (especially being at his age) and it were filmed and posted on the internet by my Justine-Beiber-look-alike little brother I'd probably tell the world it was fake too so that Some day I could look forward to a normal social life in the near future. Aside from that rant, The concept of Asperger's syndrome, is a very serious issue that obviously can hurt himself and others. The reality is sad but the video is terribly funny.
here is that video:

The point is that music can change the entire mood of a film just like the setting of a terrible concept can make it funny.