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Introduction to Film

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Submitted By cchilds25
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Research Methods
Christina Childs
ENG 225 Introduction to Film
Jenessa Gerling
August 5, 2013

In the opening credits, there is a close up shot of a feather flying in the wind. Like one of Forrest Gump’s sayings, “Life is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna get” the feather is also used as a symbol for Forrest’s life and the way he has come to look at the world. Although he had an IQ of 75, Forrest takes us on a journey through his accomplished life from the 1950’s to the 1980’s from being disabled as a child wearing braces on his legs to a wealthy businessman who ironically became involved in almost every major event in American history. The movie “Forrest Gump” is said to be a movie that makes you laugh, cry and think. In 1995, Robert Zemeckis, director of Forrest Gump won the Oscar for best achievement in directing and in his acceptance speech he thanks the “motion picture fans” by saying “In historic numbers you have embraced a film that at its heart offers a human life affirming hopeful story” as I agree that this movie has made a social impact on us all that have seen the movie. “Telling the story out of chronological order, jumping back and forth between the present and the past is in Non-linear order” (Goodykoontz, 2011). The movie begins with Forrest Gump played by Tom Hanks is sitting on a bench waiting for a bus. We don’t know why he’s sitting there but as he’s sitting, he is telling his life story to people who are waiting for the bus as well going from the time he was a young boy to an adult and he eventually gets to why he is waiting for the bus. Young Forrest played by Michael Conner Humphreys is stricken as a different child because he has an IQ of 75 and braces on his legs. Forrest’s mother Mrs. Gump played by Sally Field, is initially his backbone encouraging him to not think about how people feel about him as she

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