Blog #75 Forrest Gump as Nostalgia Trip
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 18 by the beginning of class.
https://www.yahoo.com/movies/when-forrest-gump-stumbled-into-the-90s-culture-wars-90475343717.html
I think the quote is saying that history isn’t what actually happened in the past, it is peoples interpretations of what happened in the past. One event in history could be totally different to another person’s experience with that same event. So with that, history is like putting together a bunch of different interpretations and experiences to get a general idea of what happened, so who knows how accurate any historical events truly are. The movie Forrest Gump relates and connects to this quote very well through the two main characters Forrest and Jenny as they take two totally different paths to living their life and experience different things. Forrest unknowingly took a nice path where he found himself in what would be, huge historical events like Vietnam. Through all of this he stays happy because of his simple point of view on life which allows him to find happiness in everything. Jenny grew up in a bad situation so her interpretations of events experienced were much worse than Forrest’s. The pathway Jenny chose led to getting involved in drugs, being a hippy, and being in peace movements. Jenny followed the flow of the new society that was forming as opposed to Forrest. She wasn’t very happy with her life or the person she became to be so she changed herself without paying attention to what was changing around her. Forrest never changed, he just went where life took him, like becoming a return man for Alabama, and going to Vietnam, being a shrimp boat captain, and running across the USA. Jenny experienced the time period in a bad way so her interpretations would differ from Forrest’s because his experiences were exciting. The two main characters and their life altering experiences show what Joel Achenbach is trying to say in his quote.
The quote by Joel Achenbach can relate to Forest Gump because in Forest Gump it shows how different people tell different stories about the same event. The quote also talks about how it isn’t the event but the story. We see two different stories in Forest Gump with Forest’s life and Jenny’s life. Forest lives through the war and throughout the times going through them without much thought. We can see this at his University when the first African Americans are admitted to college and while everyone is yelling and in a fit of anger. While Forest helps the students by picking up her book and this shows that Forest is seeing these events as normal and doesn’t know why people dislike the idea. Another example of different stories but the same events are during the Vietnam War. Forest sees it as a normal war, you go in and fight and when you come back everything is back to normal. Jenny saw a different side; she fought for peace and did series peace movements in Washington D.C. This shows two different stories living out the same event and how history are stories, one side of history being the war (Forest’s story) and another side being the peace riots (Jenny’s story). The quote also talks about how history changes depending on the story. One example of this is Budda, to Forest he was a big part of Forest’s story while Jenny’s story doesn’t have Budda listed once. Another example of this is when Forest becomes rich while Jenny is out hitch hiking and doing drugs. This shows how people can live through the same time and same major events without having the same knowledge. The quote tells us how history isn’t the event but rather the story and everybody’s story has different parts.
Forrest Gump is a very unique movie, which takes viewers through the Crazy and changing times of the 1950s, 60s, 70s and part of the 1980s. The movie also follows two main characters, Forrest, a man who follows the path of doing what is right and Jenny, Forrest’s best friend, who doesn’t always make the right decisions. When 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,” he means that history cannot be defined into one thing that history changes for different people. That individuals will have different experiences, some bad, some good and that people will find meaning to life. This quote is exampled in Forrest Gump because, Forrest, the one who goes with the flow of life doesn’t really add new elements or invent myths but still ended up as a good guy. In contrast to Forrest, Jenny is a very dynamic character who fitting to Achenbach’s quote changes throughout the story. She goes through new experiences, sometimes peace movements but sometimes with drugs. She is not just going with the flow, she is writing her own path. Jenny finds meaning after going through a lot which ended up in her almost committing suicide. She finds meaning when she is with Forrest and eventually ends up marrying him. She finds out that being in a crazy lifestyle isn’t for her and that the best is to stay with Forrest. Overall, Achenbach’s quote relates to Forrest Gump in a huge way because you can see how one character follows his quote because they change and follow their own path and how one character is going with the flow and isn’t making big decisions in their life
Blog 74
History is often told through teachers and books. With the movie Forrest Gump we get to see a real life example and see the emotions of the people through each time period. You here about people opposing civil rights and Vietnam but you don’t get the idea of how big it was and what they would say. Forrest Gump showed you the emotions of the good and the bad people and how people really felt. You don’t get that with regular textbooks and teachers. The quote also said that history is organizing chaotic events. This would have to be the same thing with the textbooks and teachers. You never quite understand how each period of history moves on. You don’t see the events stretched through time. One can only see the really major events back to back how books convey them. This is shown in the movie throughout Forrest’s life. You see him go to Alabama as a football player and it shows the civil rights movement at his school. He gets to meet JFK the president at the time. After college you see him join the army where he goes and fights in Vietnam. When he gets injured he plays ping-pong and ends up going to China to play it. Then when he gets back you see how the war has affected everyone back home. Throughout his life you see some of the major and minor events told through his story. Of course they are speed up a bit. You can’t show 30+ years in a movie that two and a half hours. Forrest never finds meaning through history he just leaves it up to fate and does as he pleases. He is as the movie suggests the feather that ends up being taken anywhere by the wind.
What I believe that this quote is saying is that history is not the main idea of life. But rather what we do with our life and what we make of it through the good and the bad. Forrest and Jenny represent two different paths in Forrest Gump. Jenny represents the people against the changing time. When she joins the anti-war movement, and is portrayed as the hippie. She is trying to go against foresay her “destiny”. Jenny represents the bad girl of this time era. From her father abusing her, to her becoming basically a prostitute singing with her guitar. Through Jenny we see AIDS, drugs, the idea of suicide, and the hippie portrayal. While on the other hand, Forrest is the sane man in this movie. He is the one who kind of is like the feather floating around in the movie. He floats around his life with the time period and era. He goes into the war, plays the ping pong game for America against China in the world or national championships. He is the guy who overcomes everything, and is the character that represents the white male during the time period. How Forrest Gump relates to this quote is throughout the movie people and elements as the quote says are forgotten and left behind. Forrest’s mom dies and bubba dies, and eventually so does Jenny. Throughout the movie jenny is also forgotten sometimes per say because she is off doingher own thing and just leaves. But even with all of the chaos and confusion, the story is resolved. In the end Forrest and Jenny finally end up together like they were supposed to, and even though jenny does, Forrest does fine. He cares for little Forrest and reads to him, and makes sure he does everything right. Everything is resolved because little forrest is smart and goes to school. That is how the movie Forrest Gump relates to the quote.
The quote about History and how it applies to Forrest Gump. Throughout the movie Forrest goes through various generations of rich history. Throughout those times, Forrest, like a feather aimlessly goes through history, a witness to countless historic events. In the quote it says how history is written by different people and passed on through opinion. An example is shortly after the Civil War, most Southern people believed that the war was called the war of Southern Aggression. History is unlike most subjects, in math and science their is a certain right and wrong, however in history what is right and wrong. Is justified by your opinion. Your opinion made by where your live and who is around you, I am sure most Southerners in the Antebellum South believed slavery was fine, just as generations before them. I believed nazi Germans thought what they were doing in the 40s were completely justified. I don’t think I have a higher opinion of what is right then what they have. However, I strongly believe that what they did was wrong. But it’s not my place to say they were wrong.
This quote is explaining the true identity of history and how the alignment of events correlate with each other so that the events that make up history are not putting up with Destined and some say that they are floating in air and not destined. That is with the feather represented in the movie, Forest Gump. The feather was floating in air like forest was. He was floating into different events that made up our history as we call it today. But when compared to Jenny in the movie she was a more Dustin typed ever since the beginning of her life since her bad childhood being sexually abused. She had a bad life up until the very end where she found happiness with Forest. Correlates with the idea of history being a floating idea of events that don’t have a destin with each other. Forest Gump showed his thoughts through destiny in the very end when he is up against the stone of Jenny’s death. She doesn’t really know what is true but forest is trying to decide how his life was. She doesn’t really know what is true but forest is trying to decide how his life was. The quote you gave us help me decide if forced was right wrong, but really he wasn’t right nor wrong he was undecided about his life and whether he is floating in air or destined, Destined to make the fishing company, being the war, play ping-pong, and all the other fantastic things he did. But his major concern , Destined to make the fishing company, being the war, play ping-pong, and all the other fantastic things he did. But his major concern that the very end when he found out about his children. So that was the major destiny he had.
I think the movie Forrest Gump definitely showed two very different paths that could be taken from the 1950s through the 1970s. The quote though is saying history isn’t an exact retelling of the past, it can very much be left up to interpretation. The story changes based on who’s telling it. If Jenny were telling the story she most likely would’ve told of rough times. She had an awful childhood and was abused. She then starting performing strip shows, got addicted to drugs, and almost killed herself. Jenny would have told of rough times. Forrest also had some rough times, but he would have told a very different history, even though they were living their lives during the same time period. Jenny protested the war, while Forrest fought in it. At the end of the war both didn’t have a great view of the war, but for different reasons. Forrest witnessed firsthand his very best friend die and his leader got his legs blown off. Forrest is representing more of the clean cut American dream of this time period even though he shows the awfulness of it. If you look at Forrest on paper he seems like he did everything right he went to college, and played college football, he fought in the Vietnam War and came back a hero, he met the President three times, and he became a millionaire and is a self-made man. In reality though he experienced rough times in all aspects of his life. He lost his best friend in the war, and that is why he became a millionaire. He was just living out Bubba’s dreams. I think that is what Achenbach is trying to say. Depending on who is telling the history, the story is going to be so different. If someone was just reading Forrest’s accomplishments on paper they would think he had a perfect life, whereas when he is telling the story himself you realize his life wasn’t so perfect.
From the quote by Joel Achenbach, I have gathered that he himself believes that history varies between different people. More specifically, multiple people can be present during an event, but the way the said event effects each of them personally is never one hundred percent the same. The film Forrest Gump encompasses this idea perfectly. Just by looking at the two main characters, Forrest Gump and Jenny Curran, you can see how this quote is relevant to the film. Starting in what is assumed to be the late 50’s or early 60’s and ending sometime in the late 80’s or very early 90’s, the entirety of the film takes place during some major historical events. However, with each event you can see exactly how each character reacts. For Forrest, there really is no reaction. He just simply sails through life. It’s almost like he is just going with the wind. He plays football, witnesses the integration of a college, joins the war, and more without even realizing it. However with Jenny, we see more drastic changes with every passing time period. For example, when the peace movement was occurring in the 70’s, Jenny was seen sporting the fashions of the time and joining different groups and doing typical activities of the time period. So as we can see she is very deeply effected by the different trends within each period. So clearly, Achenbach’s words do ring true. And when it comes to history, two people can witness the same event, but what they take away from that event… Well, that is completely up to the individual. If you want to observe this, I suggest you watch Forrest Gump if you haven’t because it show very well how history is not something that can be viewed through one singular lens, there are many different viewpoints that contribute to it overall.
The story of Forrest Gump’s life during the time period that is essentially the cold war, is summed up pretty accurately by a quote said by 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.” Forrest’s chaotic life during these tumultuous times dives through all the important events that happened. The movie is basically a story of everything that was going on during the 50’s-80’s, using Forrest as the way of projecting this story. This movie is almost a history lesson, just presented in a very unique and emotionally engaging way. Forrest inadvertently is closely involved with every significant event that goes on, and personifies the successful American who doesn’t necessary have to be smart, as Forrest is quite dumb, but that makes him all the more lovable. Forrest’s best friend, also the girl he’s loved since childhood, Jenny, is the American who starts making a lot of choices and going against what is meta at the time. They each tell a story of the momentous events and the social revolutions going on in a very captivating narrative. Like the Achenbach’s quote, history is a story that we tell, with added elements and myths over time, which is exactly what the fictional biography of Forrest Gump does. Forrest Gump really is the ultimate movie, a tale that touches all emotions and can reach out to any person, and also educates them of the history of America. The movie really conforms with the quote perfectly.
Forrest Gump told a story about love, loss, history, and stupidity. In all seriousness, though, the story of Forrest Gump was not only a hilarious and intriguing one, but an educational one. While most watchers fell in love with Gump’s innocence and heartfelt nature, most of us, as APUSH students, fell in love with the humorous ways American history was told. Gump drifted his way through some of the most important events in our history: the Vietnam War, the Watergate Scandal, the integration of the University of Alabama, etc. This truly embodies Achenbach’s quote because those watching the movie could see history through a story, not through line after line of bring textbook reading (no offense, “Portrait of America”). Not only did we witness these extremely important events, but we got to see the two sides of America during this era. Forrest: the innocent, loving, prayerful, portrait-of-conservatism man, and Jenny (or “Ginny”, as I thought it was for the first half of the film) : the daring, adventurous, rowdy girl who tried every new craze there was—and ended up with AIDS because of it. This portrayal was designed to teach a lesson to boys and girls like Jenny everywhere: do the right thing. Or be punished for doing wrong. Forrest Gump was a heartwarming story, and one of my personal newest favorites. It didn’t just show the events that happened during these decades. It told a story of a man who lived through this history. But it wasn’t a documentary. Or even a ‘docu-drama”. It was a tale of a boy who grew up to be a man, with a lot of ups and downs throughout. And that’s what history is. To be able to understand history, you first need to understand the context of everything happening around each event. Memorizing dates will not help you. But understanding culture, and events, and turning points, and the overall story of it all will.
I believe that the movie Forrest Gump represents the quote given by Joel Achenbach. The movie takes major historical events and adds fiction to make them more relatable. This lighthearted film brought us a good representation of the people and how they felt, I would say more than the event itself. People are the ones who make and write history, how they experience it is everything. No one person’s actions, views or felling can portray events that forever changed America. As some would say there are always two sides to every story. Forrest and jenny lived in the same time and experienced the same events but in very different ways. Jenny submerged herself in the culture of the time she was living in. While I feel that Forrest unknowingly faced his life with set ideals rather than following trends. Jenny ended up living a life that came with many bad situation and choices that showed real parts of America. Jenny experienced abuse, drugs, the peace movement and suicide among other things. Forrest brought an upbeat tone, he came home from fighting in the war a hero and with an injury that he dismissed. Forrest ended up being a millionaire while still living his life simply. Forrest is someone who I feel lived the more ideal American life. He always faced hard times with an open heart, which is something jenny should have learned to do much sooner. Jenny and Forrest lived the time in different ways but still ended crossing paths. With jenny being an antiwar activist and Forrest fighting in the war they still respected each other’s choices. I think that the movie and the quote taught me that there are somethings about history that we can never be taught, not even from movies. I believe that a big portion a history come of experience.
Hi Mr. Wickersham,
I know it’s late, yesterday was my birthday and it slipped my mind. Don’t be offended I didn’t do your homework though, I rarely do homework on my birthday. (If it makes you feel better if I were to do any teachers homework on my birthday it would be yours or Mr. West’s.)
I think that the quote from Mr. Achenbach ties into Forrest Gump, one of my personal favorites, by stating that history itself isn’t a thing. The quote is saying history is not a thing. It is a story. The past is undefinable simply because my past is not the same as your past. Tying that to FG, Jenny’s past is certainly not the same as Forrest’s. Bad history sources and good history sources are defined that way because of how many stories are put together. In the end, it doesn’t matter if you have amazing credibility, it matters who was involved and whom you learned from; at least in a historical perspective. Back to the quote, Jenny and Forrest grow completely different. And for the people who hadn’t seen the movie it was probably unexpected because the producers kept repeating that one scene of Forrest running as him and Jenny grew up. The fact that they do grow apart and come together helps from a historical standpoint because there are two different stories. Jenny started off bad and really followed that path and pushed herself from the good and solid foundation Forrest would’ve easily supplied. She chose drugs and anti-war and a very nomadic lifestyle that only continued to mess her up. Forrest ever changed. He was still stupid, always came back to Alabama and more importantly always came back for Jenny. He was for war, against drugs and abuse of any kind and wherever he went he became stationary enough that he would always find a way home. Jenny’s experience of the time period were the more negative experiences, while Forrest’s experiences were intriguing and exciting, and it was the American dream of the time period.
The movie Forrest Gump applies to the quote by Joel Achenbach in several different ways. In Forest Gump we follow the lives of the characters Forrest and Jenny and their life decisions they make along the way. Jenny and Forrest live very different lives, this means that there experiences and what they learned from are different. Jenny during her life you might not have thought of as making the right decisions. She was an anti-war hippie, and then a hard-partying drug addict. Forrest on the other hand joins the military, plays college football and even starts a business.
This doesn’t mean her life was any less important in history than Forrest’s.
These lives are completely different but they are happening during the same time. The story like Achenbach says changes and new things are added. Just like the different lives lead by Jenny and Forrest. This quote is showing us that history is not always the facts that you find in a textbook. History is also about the people and the lives they had. The movie tells the history or lives of Jenny and Forrest. We get an in-depth view of what they did and what their decisions lead to. We see that history is not exactly what occurred in but the lives people have lived. In later generations what will know facts teach people. Nothing. However, lessons that we can pass down and teach each other will let us learn and grow. The quote is saying that history is the different interpretations and life lessons or even mistake that we can learn from. From the movie you can see the different lives that can happen during the same time period. There lives show two different sides but they intercross with each other. Showing that history is not what is on a page in a textbook but the interpretations of peoples experiences during a certain time.
In my opinion, this quote relates greatly to Forrest Gump. I can think of many examples of thsi quote throughout the story. Achenbach says that history is about a story we tell and how it changes. This relates to Forrest Gump because not only was it a story about how he thrived in America with only a 75 IQ, but the movie also imbedded Forrest in some of the unknown myths we know today, like where Elvis Presley got his dance from. This movie is also trying to tell a story about history by making Forrest Gump go through some of the hardest times in the United States’ history. The movie makes Forrest even go to Vietnam and not only thrive but get a medal for going back and saving troops after he could’ve just saved himself. The way the story changes like Achenbach says would be by implying the concept of fate and free will within the two main characters, Forest and Jenny. While You could kind of tell the life Jenny was going to live by the upbringing she had by her father, Forrest kind of just went with the flow and did whatever as an adult, making him the free will. Another example would be how Lieutenant Dan said it was his fate to die out in battle like all of his ancestors, but Forrest and his free will saved him, win Dan then not knowing what to do with himself. An example of how the movie inverted casualty to find meaning would be how Bubba’s death caused Forrest Gump to go into the shrimping business in his honor, and became the main and most fortunate shrimping boat after all the other were wiped out by a big storm. This then lef to Forrest being very profitable, and giving Bubba’s family some of those profits so that Bubba’s mom no longer had to be the servant like her ancestors, but became the one being served. away this movie found meaning through a chaotic process would be after all the things Jenny went through and people she dated, Forrest’s never ending love for her still caused him to end up the father of her son before she passed away.
The quote demonstrates how people interpret what happens around them. Jenny grew up in a bad situation, and all she wanted to do was run away from her past. She wanted to live a life different from the people she grew up with, and then was carried by the growing fads and ideas of each decade. She represented and portrayed each decade as it passed, and the decade shaped her. She was a hippie and on drugs for most of the 70’s, and fell in with the more extreme groups of that time, such as the Black Panthers. Her desire to be famous only pushed her into the majority of people, and kept her from being famous because it was what everyone was doing. Forrest, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. Jenny tried to be independent and do what only she wanted, but ended up being like everyone. Forrest did what others told him because he had a simple outlook life. Forrest represented the opposite group to Jenny’s. Forrest represented the group that made history, and that carried American it’s back, so to speak. Forrest did not have a complex view of life, and was the constant through the three decades. He represented the goals of each president from his high school career onwards. During the early sixties, he was similar to Kennedy as a young man who took the country by storm. Later in the sixties, he was similar to LBJ in the fight to win in Vietnam. Nixon was represented through Forrest when he travelled to China and eased tensions between the Soviets and Americans. Finally, towards the end of the movie, he was the rising conservative movement that wanted to help take care of the people who got “carried away” in the sixties and seventies. He resurrected the idea of a stable home, with a father and mother. Jenny was carried through the decades with the majority of people, while Forrest represented the goals of each president.
The quote by Joel Achenbach is saying that History is a concept we invented. Like time, it is a way for humans to organize our existence. Since history is not a fixed concept in nature, it can be subject to interpretation by each individual. History can change depending on each person’s feelings, perception, memory, etc. Forrest Gump is an example of two different interpretations of the 1950s-80s. One interpretation is that of Forrest Gump, a simple-minded man who stumbles through some of the most important historical events in the 20th century. He saw history without bias. Forrest never understood the reasons why things happened. He never understood why the war in Vietnam happened. He never understood why people tried to assassinate JFK or Reagan. Forrest never understood events, so he did not try to place the blame on one person or paint one group in a bad light. He told history as he saw it because he was too simple a man to form opinions on such complex issues. Jenny, however, grew up in a complex situation. Her father abused her, she hung out with bad crowds in college, and she experimented with drugs early in adulthood. She was not a simple person like Forrest. She always looked for the bad things in society. She saw what was wrong with Vietnam, racial problems during that time period, etc. Jenny’s perspective on life would be much more biased than Forrest’s because she formed opinions. Jenny protested Vietnam and supported the Black Panthers. Her version of history would be much harsher towards the government in the late 60s and early 70s and be harsh against the privileged white people in that society. Because Forrest and Jenny went through different life paths, their views on history would be different. This is applicable to any person who tells history, and so history is not a factual concept, but a compilation of stories and opinions from people of all walks of life.
The quote provided relate to the the Movie Forrest Gump on many levels. Throughout the movie we see how the characters lives unfold before our eyes.Two of the main character Forrest And Jenny lead two very different lives and show opposite decision making skills. v Because Of this they both went down two very different paths and learned different things. Forest seems to be better at making choices because he stays out of trouble and does what he is told. Jenny on the other hand is a free spirit hippie who gets involved with drugs and alcohol. Although there lives are so very different they are happening at the exact same time. Achenbach’s quote said that the stories told by people are he history and it’s not just all about the facts that you find in a text book. Jenny and Forrest show the history through their stories alone. We got to look at how that time period was and how the political and social issues affected average american s. Forrest and Jenny showed the stories and many people during this time had a similar story. For example we saw in the movie that people had very conflicting views about the war. You could read this in a text book but you would fail to understand how controversial it was. When forest Gump stood up at the podium and gave his speech we got to see the sheer amount of Americans all wanted something different from our government. The movie showed the issues we were facing from the view of a few Average american. I think this is one of the reasons that this movie has stood the test of time. Reading a text book is dry and dose not paint a picture nearly as vivid as this movie.