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During the discussion of the adaptation of Forrest Gump's life I have only mentioned the events that have
actually been taken over into the movie. However, the novel contains many other elements that the film does
not show. A certain part of those things had to be left out because the screenplay would have been far too
long for the cinema audience. Some of the elements do not contribute much to the action of the novel (nor
would they have to the film) but others seem to be quite necessary to clarify the characterisation of Forrest
Gump.
The most important missing details can be summarised in the following list:
Private Gump brings a boiler with hot stew to explode during his basic training for the army.
Forrest saves Mao Tse Tung from drowning.
Forrest plays several times together with Jenny Curran's band, the \"Cracked Eggs\".
During a time when he lives together with Jenny, Forrest is addicted to drugs and so destroys the
relationship.
After \"accidentally\" throwing his Congressional Medal of Honor at the Clerk of the U.S. Senate, Gump
is taken to psychiatric observation.
Because of his great logical capabilities (which he showed before in his physics class), Forrest is
drafted by NASA to participate in an outer space mission - he is the \"backup computer\".
Forrest lives for a couple of years with cannibals after his crew had crashed into the rain forest.
Gump learns to play chess very well during his time with the chief cannibal and therefore is able to
play chess at a big tournament.
He acts in a movie remake of a classical movie in Hollywood.
Forrest becomes a wrestler; named \"The Turd\" he becomes quite popular.
Having achieved a high status as the head of a big enterprise, Forrest is more or less pushed to be a
candidate for the Unites States Senate.
The two most important things that contribute an important detail to Forrest's character are the NASA
mission and the his greatness in playing chess, which he achieved during his time in the rain forest. Those
parts give information about Gump's enormous logical capabilities, for he even serves as a backup for the
space vehicle's board computer. Unfortunately this part of his character is completely left out in the
adaptation of the novel.
While leaving such important chapters of the novel out it is unintelligible why a completely meaningless
chapter was added to the plot: Forrest Gump runs through all America \"for no particular reason at all\", as he
says himself. It may look funny to the audience to see the title character run and run and run for more than
three years, but instead of wasting time for such an unimportant and unnecessary addition the screenplay
should rather include any one of the missing chapters listed above.
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