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Forrest, Forrest Gump
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The Symbolical Meaning of Forrest Running
He witnessed some of the most significant events of America's recent history including the Vietnam War, JFK, Lyndon B. Johnson, Elvis Presley, and more. He reached fame and glory, met with three different presidents, earned a fortune with his shrimp company and is an awarded war hero. But because of his low IQ of 75, he does not realize his fortunate and the significance of his actions throughout his life.
The movie Forrest Gump shows historical events that took place from the 50's thru the 70's out of the perspective of a mentally underdeveloped person. There are no explanations given why things happen, but occasionally Forrest offers his own explanations, which seem stupid to the spectator, but are understandable, because the viewer is constantly reminded of Forrest's low IQ. Within the storyline, many metaphors are used. They animate the watcher to think more deeply about events and question why things happen the way they happen. One of them is that throughout the movie Forrest is constantly \"on the run.\" So why is he running? And what are the makers of the film trying to say by using this metaphor?
The first time he ran, was in Forrest's childhood years when he walked down a street together with Jenny and was attacked by a group of kids. They threw stones at him and called him names. Forrest obviously didn't know how to react and just stood still as if he was paralyzed, waiting for what would happen next. Jenny gives him a solution by telling him to run away. Forrest starts running and escapes the kids. Through this incident, he notices for the first time (if also only subconsciously) that running away is a good solution to escape dangerous situations.
In one scene - he is already in college - he is again running away from men chasing him and by accident he gets on a football field. He is seen by the coach of the team and gets immediately drafted as a player. He doesn't know the rules of the game. And he doesn't need to, because his whole job consists of catching the ball, running toward the enemy line and hitting a home run. One can see that Forrest doesn't know what he is doing by the huge posters shown which are supposed to guide him. They read, \"Go Forrest,\" and \"Stop Forrest.\" On the stands, people form letters saying, \"go Forrest.\" He becomes a successful football player. And he notices again that he can be successful by simply running (running away for him).
Before Forrest has to leave for the Vietnam War, Jenny tells him to run and not to be brave whenever he is in danger. One day his platoon gets caught in a shooting and he runs away and thus gets away from getting shot. He is the only not-badly injured person from his platoon and rescues many of his mates.
There is a very long scene where Forrest just runs. His mother had just died and he was overwhelmed by a number of stressors. He runs four times across the United States, gets national media coverage, and by the way \"invents\" the bumper sticker Shit Happens and the Smiley face.
These are only the main examples of Forrest running in the movie. Every time Forrest runs, he gets away from a dangerous or unfortunate situation and ends up turning it into earning success and glory for himself. He doesn't realize himself what he is doing or why he is doing it, but it works out every time. For me this metaphor symbolizes the insecurity of the common people living at that time, the \"baby boom generation.\" People were living their lives without knowing what is happening around them and why it is happening. They had no active influence on the events that surrounded them.
But running away is not always a solution. Sometimes people have to step up and take action themselves. Even though Forrest always ran away from unfortunate situations, he also took action (of course, not intentionally). For instance, after he ran away from the firings of \"Charlie,\" he returns and rescues many of his fellow soldiers. This is the reason why he turned out being successful. Duck if necessary, but if you want something to change and if you want to pull an accomplishment out of something for yourself, you have to step up and take action.
In my opinion, Forrest is only successful because he has limited intelligence. He always seems to do the right thing, but only because he doesn't think of what he is doing and what impact it is going to have on things. He simply does what he feels is right and does what people tell him to do.
This is what people should do in order to be successful. They should take active action themselves by doing what they feel is right and finish through with it. They should not simply accept things that happen around them, but question and do their best to understand them, and if they don't like them, to change them.
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