Blog #85 – Forrest Gump as Nostalgia
The movie, Forrest Gump, takes viewers on a ride through the 1950s, and tumultuous 60s and 70s right into the mid 1980s. Along the way, Forrest and Jenny represent two different paths that Americans traveled during the time period (albeit, for white people).
The movie also represents a way of interpreting that time period of history, and it brings to mind this quote from Joel Achenbach:
“History isn’t the thing itself, but rather a story we tell, and the story changes, new elements are added, others forgotten, myths invented, causes imagined, facts debunked. History is a process of imposing order on a chaotic process, inventing causality and finding meaning.”
Your job is to apply this quote to FG and explain how the movie is trying to tell a story about history, doing the things that Achenbach said.
Minimum of 300 words. Due Monday, May 16 by the beginning of class.
In history, everyone experiences the same major events and historical figures, but each person has their own unique perspective on these things. Joel Achenbach’s quote exemplifies this, as does Forrest Gump in the movie. Throughout the film, Forrest and Jenny go through the decades experiencing key characteristics of each, but through differing perspectives. While Forrest is in the Army and fighting in Vietnam during the 60s and 70s, Jenny is going out to protests, doing drugs, and being a hippie. If asked about this time period, they would each have very different answers based on what they went through and their biased beliefs. Forrest had some sort of thing where he didn’t understand things very well, and took things quite literally and such. His perspective was solely based on what people told him, and although some things he may have learned and experienced were wrong or perverted, they were true to him. However, Jenny was raised poorly and suffered from abuse. She had a darker perspective and a lot more experience with the world than Forrest, and was able to see a larger picture. Obviously, Forrest Gump tells history’s story through the experiences of a white, conservative, Southern male who follows the rules and does what he’s told. He also doesn’t understand things and comprehend them very well, especially is they’re complex, which this time period was. Because of this, Forrest’s rendition of the war and significant events were focused more on what he had to do and the “right thing” while Jenny was more carefree and experimenting, having fun. Forrest does what he does, and it’s so simple and straightforward that that’s all he has to say about something. He doesn’t go into much detail about some things, except for more personal matters such as Lieutenant Dan, Jenny, Bubba, his mom, and so forth. Everything he does and says is so simple because that’s how he interpreted it and lived it- many parts only show the good side of things, and bad things were usually passive. The movie had many myths, including Forrest helping with Watergate and the blacks at the school when he’s in the camera and picking up the girl’s book and handing it to her. Throughout the movie, Forrest is very innocent about everything, sort of ignorant about what was going on around him, and handled things pretty lightly before moving on. In addition to this, Forrest glazed over some parts of history that had huge impacts on America, such as the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK. Hardly mentioned went the entire Cold War and whole presidencies. Overall, the history covered in Forrest Gump was handled very lightly and in a way that would appeal to a larger audience.
I believe that Joel Achenbach is correct in saying that “History isn’t the thing itself, but rather a story we tell, and the story changes, new elements are added, others forgotten, myths invented, causes imagined, facts debunked. History is a process of imposing order on a chaotic process, inventing causality and finding meaning” and this can be applied to the movie Forrest Gump. Told from the perspective of a mentally challenged man in the late 1900s, Forrest Gump was an instant hit as it told the story of the era through simplistic eyes. Achenbach’s quote is correct and applies not only to history, but to all stories. Interpretations and ways stories are told change throughout time and through different perspectives. Forrest tells it through an innocent Southerner who isn’t quite sure what’s going on sometimes. For example, he doesn’t quite grasp the severity of the Vietnam War or Kennedy or Reagan’s assassination. He doesn’t quite see the terrible nature of humans behind it all. The way Achenbach says “the story changes” ties into the fact that Jenny, Forrest’s wife, experiences the era in a completely different way. From being abused as a child, she has a more pessimistic view on life as a whole which leads her to see things such as the Vietnam War as detrimental. She protests the war and associates herself with groups such as the Black Panthers while Forrest is a foil to this, participating in the war and receiving medals for his participation. History and the way it’s told has elements added and taken out of it based on who is telling it and their purpose for telling us. Almost as if it were propaganda, it’s told to sway our opinions. The Confederates wouldn’t tell the story of the Civil War the same way the Union would. Forrest and his view of the late 20th century wouldn’t be the same as Jenny’s or Lt. Dan’s or anybody’s. It was all seen through different eyes and different experiences that showing different views.
I think this quote fits rather well with the film Forrest Gump. It shows both sides—or stories—of history: one from Nixon’s silent majority, and the other from the loud, opinionated counterculture. Nixon’s silent majority is portrayed through quiet Forrest Gump, who goes about things in life one goal at a time. Through Forrest’s point of view, the audience sees history as black and white: things to do and things not to do. That’s it. There is no morality, no opinion. There is simply American duty, which Forrest fulfills through his time enrolled in the army. However, when the scenes cut to Jenny, the audience is brought back into a world with shades of grey, where opinions are heard and the counterculture is prominent and strong. With these two characters, the audience can see history from two different sides—two stories. The movie Forrest Gump is trying to show history as Achenbach describes it: with different perspectives. First the audience experiences Forrest’s view on history, other details from history hidden during his perspective, until the scenes cut to Jenny’s point of view and suddenly ‘new elements are added’. For example, during Forrest’s time in the Vietnam War, the audience is given no scene that indicates that there is opposition to the war. However, after the scenes cut to Jenny and the counterculture, the audience is brought to the other side of America and can now see the opposition that was hidden before. As well, as Achenbach said, Forrest Gump invents myths into the plot, such as Forrest seeing CREEP in the Watergate scandal on accident. The movie Forrest Gump, I think, does a good job of doing this because I found myself flip flopping from shades of black and white while in Forrest’s perspectives to shades of grey while in Jenny’s.
The quote, “History isn’t the thing itself, but rather a story we tell, and the story changes, new elements are added, others forgotten, myths invented, causes imagined, facts debunked. History is a process of imposing order on a chaotic process, inventing causality and finding meaning” by Joel Achenbach made me realize that the desire for a reason, or meaning by which something happened is common for all people. When something big happens, a war, a game winning touchdown or a natural disaster, people begin to ask why, who, what and how. One of the reasons that this movie, in my opinion, was so successful, is because it took the biggest events in the time period from the 1960s-1980s, and showed exactly how and why Forest was in that situation. It was very easy for the viewer to see this very confusing time period through Forest’s perspective, because in his mind everything he did was just something to do. I actually admire focus for his composure throughout the movie. Yes this is fictional, but the fact that he kept his sanity throughout all of these events, shows how he truly was a strong man, and that he was comfortable being himself. The narration of the story, is also unlike any other of its time period. The whole movie is told by Forest, to other people in past tense, just as History is taught. So although the movie is a Story about Forest, the way that it was set up, its also almost like a History lesson. The movie shows the economical, social and political strains that society had on them in the time period just as a History class would. Just as Joel Achenbach said, that history is a story, shows how this quote and the movie go hand in hand, because the story of Forest Gump showcased history and all the chaos during this time period.
I agree with Joel Achenbach when se says that “History isn’t the thing itself, but rather a story we tell, and the story changes, new elements are added, others forgotten, myths invented, causes imagined, facts debunked. History is a process of imposing order on a chaotic process, inventing causality and finding meaning.” History is not necessarily about the actual events that occurred. It is about the process of how the events occurred and attempts to put everything together in a way that seams logical. In Forrest Gump, we see history fly by through Forrest’s eyes such as the war in Vietnam and the counterculture. It is his story and the events that occur go through his point of view. So, like the quote, history is not a thing itself but a story we tell. Now, I believe that, as you stated, along the way, Forrest and Jenny represent two different paths that Americans traveled during the time period for white people. The two different paths they took represent the mainstream majority and the counterculture. Forrest was a conservative idol. He followed the American Dream by working his way up beginning from when he finally ran for the first time. Forrest participated in the war and was a hero. He also began to create his own business and was an all-star pingpong player. Jenny, on the other hand, went down the path of the counterculture. She got involved with the anti-war movement as well as the Yippies/Black Panthers and also abused drugs and alcohol. She later died of AIDS which shows how the movement negatively affected her. Thus, Forrest’s positive life and Jenny’s depressing and troubled life prove that the movie as aimed towards conservatives and it is usually seen today as favorite movie for conservatives who disliked or were in disagreement with the counterculture movement.
The quote mentioned is about history. It asks if history is a thing or a story. The quote ponders the ideas of myths v.s. facts, or if history is made from chaos or if it has a meaning. The movie Forrest Gump does tell a story of history, The movie travels the the 1950s-1980s and covers the important highlights of the eras through the eyes of Forrest Gump who goes to college, joins the army. In the movie Forrest Gump he is expertly place into famous clips of history. The movie tells the story of Forrest Gump’s life while also pinpointing important parts of each era. In the quote as it wonders if history is a story, Forrest Gump makes it look like one. Forrest Gump travels through history as a semi ordinary man, and as he lives his life oblivious to his surrounding his we are exposed to the famous points in history. The film Forrest Gump can make us all realize that we are floating through history as well, and like Forrest didn’t we should take the time to stop our individual buzz and look around what history we are floating through. Each time I watch Forrest GUmp i realize something new about history and if all history was thought through comedic films we would all be geniuses, but alas this one movie has changed the way many people see history. Instead of watching from afar and looking at history as a thing. This movie has shown us history as a story and it is much more fun interesting that way. Although the author of this quote probably wasn’t planning for a major motion picture to parallel so well with it, Forrest Gump is a great way to look at history as a story not a thing or myth.
Joel Achenbach said, “History isn’t the thing itself, but rather a story we tell, and the story changes, new elements are added, others forgotten, myths invented, causes imagined, facts debunked. History is a process of imposing order on a chaotic process, inventing causality and finding meaning.”In APUSH, we learn almost a bunch of stories about events that happened. History will always be changing though based off of the different perspectives viewing, there will most-likely always be a strong bias. In the movie Forest Gump, we see a story with two different characters that take two completely different paths throughout life.Forest was the “model American”. He went to school and then went into the army for many years. Winning many awards while in the army. Forest didn’t care what other people thought of him, he just acted how he was raised and treated people very kindly. Jenny on the other hand was trying to find herself the entire movie. It started off when she got in trouble in college for inappropriate pictures, then it all went downhill from there. She started using many guys to try and find her way, crazy drugs, and became a hippy.Forest Gump adds a story to the crucial details that happened in our nation years ago. It all does tell the story of the events that happened. This quote adds a whole new side of history to it and adds background so we can see n example of the people living through this time and put through these situations.Forest never stops fighting for Jenny. Jenny claims she does not want to hurt him and that he deserves better but in Forest’s eyes, Jenny is the best. He finally wins her when she came back to his house with a child and asks to get married. The child is his. She then gets sick weeks after the marriage and dies, Forest is only left with his son now. I feel Jenny planned this out, she knew that she was going to die soon and wanted Forest to know she had a son, which was his and get married to please him before she passed.
Forest Gump is an awesome movie. I had never seen it before, and having just learned about the historical setting in class, I really enjoyed watching it. I love how the movie takes course over a plethora of significant time periods including the 1950s, and tumultuous 60s and 70s right into the mid 1980s. The story of Forest is really well done because in the movie, we are not being told how history happened, we see how the same event in history can effect everyone differently. When Forest decides to run across the country, that was it for him, he was just running. But the guy who asked what bumper sticker slogan he should use all, a lll Forest did wa talk to him and because of that the guy got filthy rich. Two guys both experienced the event, but were impacted in different events. The events that make up history may all be the same for everyone, but they effect all people differently. Take for example the Vietnam war. For some of the guys serving there they were able to leave relatively unharmed, like Forrest. But other soldiers lost their lives and for them that was the ultimate fate, not only are they gone forever but their families had to live without them in grievance everyday. Forrest Gump also does a good job of showing propaganda that is always associated with famous events. Again when forrest was running all across the country newspapers published pieces about him and one said, ‘I’m his secret lover’. This is the perfect example of how people could spot historic events in the making and trying to turn it into their 5 seconds of fame. According to the quote, history is always having new elements added to it and I loved seeing this through Gump’s life. When Jenny told him they had a son, it was like the quote said, new things are always being added. Jenny had just added this child into Gump’s life. I fell like there are a lot of parallels between Forrest and the way history is described in the quote.
The movie Forrest Gump is a story about a mentally challenged man who tells strangers on a bus bench his amazing life story. The movie relates to this quite because Forrest tells his story without a filter, and doesn’t leave out all the important details. He also doesn’t let go of these things, as they all tie together in the end. Similarly to world history or any history in general, he overcomes his personal tragedies and turns it into his own personal triumphs. He tells the story as his own and adds in his emotions to make the story even more personal. Achenbach is right in saying that history is a story we tell, because everyone has different viewpoints of a story, and no two stories are quite the same. In Forrest’s case, he tells the story from a perspective of innocence, and since he is mentally challenged, he has a hard time understanding what is going on sometimes. In the movie, we also see the same story told by Jenny, Forrest’s closest friend and future wife. They go through a lot together, but Jenny has a very different outlook on life than Forrest. While Forrest is in Vietnam fighting for his country, Jenny is protesting the war in California and doing a lot of hard drugs. She associates herself with groups such as the Black Panthers, which gets Forrest into trouble when he visits Jenny and shows off his medal of honor to them all. All in all, every character in the movie has a different story, and no two people tell it the same. Achenbach’s quote perfectly describes this movie, because they add emotion, imagine their own reasoning, and experience the same events differently. Forrest Gump is a story about tragedy and triumph, and every character has their own input to bring into the story.
The quote by Achenbach perfectly sums up Forrest Gump. In the film, history is told through Forrest and Jenny’s points of view, and it helps us further understand what went on in America in the later half of the 20th century. Throughout the movie, several important historical events are shown, such as Vietnam, Watergate, the AIDS epidemic, and the desegregation of the University of Alabama. The quote mentions how “causes are imagined”, and that is clearly shown in the movie. For example, Forrest makes a phone call at the Watergate Hotel telling the front desk that there are weird lights in a hotel room across from him. This presents a new cause for the exposing of President Nixon’s scheme. Forrest, in comparison with Jenny, has a more “positive” experience in the film. He tends to see more of the good in history, such as when he didn’t necessarily think that the Vietnam War was a bad thing. Forrest is certainly optimistic. Jenny, on the other hand, is very much so with the counterculture. During the time of the Vietnam War, Jenny does drugs, spends time with her hippie friends, and it all for ending the war. The two paths that Forrest and Jenny take represent the stances people took in the late 20th century on major issues. Their interpretations and experiences through history can support Achenbach’s claim that “the story changes”. Both viewpoints of the American people are shown through Forrest and Jenny. While Jenny represents the counterculture, Forrest represents what President Nixon called “The Silent Majority”. Forrest went along with what went on, and he fulfilled his duties without challenging the social norms. The movie parallels the quote in many ways, and it perfectly demonstrates how Forrest experienced the 20th century. Forrest never stopped to think; he was traveling through history without even realizing it. Forrest’s representation of the Silent Majority tells why this movie appeals to conservatives.
“History isn’t the thing itself, but rather a story we tell, and the story changes, new elements are added, others forgotten, myths invented, causes imagined, facts debunked. History is a process of imposing order on a chaotic process, inventing causality and finding meaning”( Joel Achenbach). I think this quote is very true. When telling an event over to someone you will exaggerate parts and leave out others that make yourself look like an imbecile or unintelligent. Throughout the story of Forest meets different people, and each person, in a way, represents a large topic of that time period. In the beginning of the movie, at the school he was going to, there was a large protest to the Board v. Brown decision, this was the decision desegregate schools in the deep south. A few African Americans were being integrated into his school, and one of them dropped their notebook, and without a second thought Forest picked it up and gave it back. For Forest himself he represented the average white, law abiding american, and the American Dream. He respected others around him and followed laws. He also helped those around him and joined the army during the Vietnam war, a very honorable act of that time. He received many awards and became very wealthy through hard work, the American Dream. Jenny, on the other hand, represents the more liberal and free side. A very small amount of americans were very open and liberal during the 50’s/60’s. They were known as Hippies. They protested the Vietnam war and wished for equality. She pops in and out of Forest life throughout the movie and after coming back from the war we see a glimpse at the black panthers and their fight for equal rights. Throughout the movie you see these examples of large parts of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, but these are all dependent upon those who write the script and produce the movie. Each person has a different view upon everything and stories change each time they are told.
Forrest Gump is a story about a man living through and making history everywhere his life takes him. The portrayal of certain events in the movie are not as important or more important than their actual place in the development of America. “History isn’t the thing itself, but rather a story we tell, and the story changes, new elements are added, others forgotten, myths invented, causes imagined, facts debunked. History is a process of imposing order on a chaotic process, inventing causality and finding meaning.” This quote is by Joel Achenbach and it is very true. Every story we hear can have a turn on it. There is another quote supporting Achenbach that says, “Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.” If we did not live through the events as they were taking place there is no way to have an exact opinion on it because how could we know what we would have been thinking during that time. Reading from a history book or being told about it by another person has a bias effect on us. Whether the person supports or disagrees with the topic can then change how we would have viewed it if told me another person. Forrest Gump displays this perfectly. At the beginning we see Forrest dancing in his room with Elvis Presley doing a funny move with his legs that is later Elvis’ signature dance move. Another example is the watergate scandal when Forrest saw some lights through his room and called security to check it out. He had no idea what was happening but it was effecting his sleep. Each story in this movie was altered add comedy for our enjoyment; however, some of these events were much more serious than how they were displayed in the movie. “Forrest Gump” can also be quite a controversial topic. The man was shown as being stupid which leading the life of a conservative. He follows everything by the rules and really lives the American Dream. In a way people could be offended because taken to a further level it shows conservatives as being stupid. But in the end Forrest is extremely successful and actually does better than his liberal peers. History was greatly altered in this movie but still goes through the he major events during the period.
The story of Forest Gump applies to the quote “History isn’t the thing itself, but rather a story we tell, and the story changes, new elements are added, others forgotten, myths invented, causes imagined, facts debunked. History is a process of imposing order on a chaotic process, inventing causality and finding meaning” because the movie shows how major historical events of that time period were connected to eachother. By having Forest be involved or the cause of the events, it brought meaning and order to history.
Usually when we learn about history, we learn about individual events but don’t learn about the people involved. When we only learn the events, it’s hard to remember that history is something we can learn from, because it becomes less relatable when people are removed from the story.
In addition to learning from history, people try to make sense of the many things that have occurred and find a meaning. Although they are not usually so clearly related to each other as being caused by the same person (Forest), people’s actions and decisions do cause the events that shape our society now.
Historians try to create order by focusing on the big picture- often generalizing people in certain periods of time in order to keep history simple. Like Jenny in the movie, the people change along with the change in culture as time goes on. From a kid to a druggie to a hippie to a mother, Jenny represented the way society changed during that time. Meanwhile, Forest served as a way to weave the story together. From American football to the Vietnam war to ping pong in a hostile China and then the anti-war protests back in America; Forest personified the major events of the era while also putting an order to the chaotic story that is history.
This quote can easily be applied to Forest Gump. First off, Forest Gump itself is a giant story, the movie is the story of Forrest’s life, as narrated by himself telling pretty much anyone who will listen about his incredible story. Forest Gump’s story is truly incredible, and he summarizes his story up until the present, then continues to build upon his story after narrating the past. Forrest’s story is told by himself, and as far as the new elements added, there is a continuation of the story as Forrest’s story catches up to modern day. There are many new elements added to the Forest’s story including the changes in Forest’s life that he endures such as the death of his best friend bubba, his mother, and his eventual wife Jenny. The myths invented aspect of the quote can have an easy relation to the movie, In the movie, Forrest has a lot of experiences, and as far as the myths added, Forrest had exposed the Watergate scandal. Not only this, but there is the myth regarding the ownership and increasing popularity of the Bubba Gump’s shrimp company. The causes imagined apply in many ways especially to the surprise ending of forest junior, and the future marriage of forest and jenny. In regards to facts debunked, the movie itself debunked the facts about the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal. The latter part of the quote states “History is a process of imposing order on a chaotic process, inventing causality and finding meaning”, and this part of the quote applies to the movie as well. The entire movie shows Forrest imposing order upon Jenny’s chaotic process. Forrest depicts a stable man, who attempts many times to tie down Jenny from a chaotic life style which eventually leads to a unfortunate lifestyle for her, and resulting in an unfortunate death.
Joel Achenbach’s quote, “History isn’t the thing itself, but rather a story we tell, and the story changes, new elements are added, others forgotten, myths invented, causes imagined, facts debunked. History is a process of imposing order on a chaotic process, inventing causality and finding meaning” is very relevant in the movie Forrest Gump. Every human distorts their memories and past perceptions with time. People tend to “filter” their past experiences based own their own emotions and knowledge. This is exemplified throughout Forrest Gump in many instances. For example, when Forrest claimed he called the cops because he thought the power must have cut off because there were people with flashlights in the Watergate Hotel. We know this was the Watergate Scandal with Richard Nixon. Also there was the time when Lieutenant Dan invests in Apple, which Forrest says is “some fruit company.” We know this ends up being the wildly successful company today. We have shown time and time again that history as we know it today has been modified from its original facts. As Forrest is recounting his tales to the old lady on the bench he is surely exaggerating and omitting details. Forrest has experiences in basically every major event of the last half of the 20th century. He was in the Vietnam war, invested in Apple, took part in Watergate, a wealthy businessman, was an All-American football player, and a national running hero who inspired hope. Throughout the movie Jenny seems to take the opposite path as Forrest. While Forrest becomes a war hero, Jenny becomes a stripper. As Forrest is becoming successful and happy, Jenny becomes depressed and suicidal. Her lifestyle eventually leads to her getting AIDS and dying. Because of this, the movie appealed to conservatives because it shows all the consequences of the liberal movement and celebrates conservative ideals, although the creators of the movie claim that they did not intend to be biased in any way.
The story of Forrest Gump applies to the quote, “History isn’t the thing itself, but rather a story we tell, and the story changes, new elements are added, others forgotten, myths invented, causes imagined, facts debunked. History is a process of imposing order on a chaotic process, inventing causality and finding meaning” because it shows a connection between a ton of different major historical events that occurred sometime during their same time period. When the film showed how Forrest went through or caused all these big events it gave history meaning and showed that people were actually effected and involved in these things. When history teachers teach us about these events they talk about what happened and how it effected the government, economy, etc. They never really talk about the people involved or on the outside. Teachers only teach the event and because of that history loses all meaning. It loses its purpose to teach us so that we can learn from mistakes because of maybe the pain it caused people. History can then become more relatable to us as students and teenagers. When people are removed from the story you can’t really relate to it and it doesn’t really mean as much to you. Also when you learn about history in that way more people try to make sense of everything and what happened and why and it gives meaning to history again because people become more invested and interested in it. In order to keep history very simplistic and factual our historians focus more on the general idea and not everything involved in it and not the small little details that mean a lot. In the movie Jenny represented the change in our society and the way culture developed and progressed. From a small, innocent, abused child to a drug user then on to a hippy and lastly to a mother and a wife. Forrest on the other hand brought the story all together and showed the historical aspects of it all. First he was an American football star, then he moved on to go into the Vietnam War and then he moved on to become a star at ping pong and went to China for it and in the movie it represented China as bad and not necessarily our ally and lastly onto the anti-war protests in America. He actually spoke in one of them in the movie, which is an example of how he was involved in everything. Forrest showed the main historical topics in the movie and also brought it in to make a story out of it, his story.
McKenna