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Eric Roth, listed in the movie credits as screenplay writer (who was awarded the Oscar for \"best adapted
screenplay\" for Forrest Gump), rewrote quite a few of the novel's qualities for dramatic and cinematic
purposes.
He offers a very different view on the life of the main character compared to the original novel plot of Winston
Groom. Certain character traits have been added or taken away, intelligence and smartness are not the same
any more, Gump's attitude and morals have changed, certain key events (e.g. the Vietnam War) occur
differently and the course of Forrest's life tends to be more spectacular than originally planned by Groom.
And although the movie is 142 minutes long Roth naturally was not able to put all of Forrest's experiences
into the plot - he had to find certain priorities. This is one reason why many of the minor characters of the
novel have been left out, but it does not completely explain why the remaining ones were converted the way it
can be seen in the film.
The following list contains a few the most obvious and interesting changes of characters and events
compared to the Winston Groom's novel:
Forrest is handicapped as a child
He is more virtuous and more innocent
He is a college graduate
He goes to the army voluntarily instead of being drafted
He cares more for his mother than in the novel
He saves Lieutenant Dan's life
Jenny's father is abusive
He marries Jenny
Jenny raises his child
Jenny dies
This is only a small extract of all final changes, but it shows that screenplay writer Eric Roth seems to have
used quite a few unnecessary means of adapting the novel's action. They appear to have no purpose other
than making the story itself differ from the novel - which implies that the transformation cannot be seen only
under the aspect of adapting the action of the novel itself.
It will be one of my objectives to find out to what end those apparently superfluous transformations were
made and what motives might be the real reasons for those changes.
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