I.

Title of the Movie:

“Forrest Gump”
Characters:
1. Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump: Though at an early age he is deemed to have a below
average IQ of 75, he has an endearing character and shows devotion to his loved ones and
duties, character traits which bring him into many life-changing situations. Along the
way, he encounters many historical figures and events throughout his life. Tom's younger
brother Jim Hanks is his acting double in the movie for the scenes when Forrest runs
across America.

2. Robin Wright as Jenny Curran: Forrest's childhood friend whom he immediately falls in
love with and never stops loving throughout his life. A victim of child sexual abuse at the
hands of her bitterly widowed father, Jenny embarks on a different path from Forrest,
leading a self-destructive life and becoming part of the hippie movement in the 1960s and
the 1970s/1980s drug culture. She re-enters Forrest's life at various times in adulthood.
Jenny eventually becomes a waitress in Savannah, Georgia, where she lives in an
apartment with her (and Forrest's) son, Forrest Jr. They eventually get married, but soon
afterwards she dies of an unspecified illness caused by a kind of virus. Her illness is
implied to be HIV/AIDS.

3. Gary Sinise as Lieutenant Dan Taylor: Forrest and Bubba Blue's platoon leader during
the Vietnam War, whose ancestors have died in every American war and regards it as his
destiny to do the same. After losing his legs in an ambush and being rescued against his
will by Forrest, he is initially bitter and antagonistic towards Forrest for leaving him a
"cripple" and denying him his family's destiny, falling into a deep depression. He later
serves as Forrest's first mate at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, gives most of the
orders, becoming wealthy with Forrest, and regains his will to live. He ultimately
forgives and thanks Forrest for saving his life. By the end of the film, he is engaged to be
married and is sporting "magic legs" – titanium alloy prosthetics which allow him to walk
again.

4. Mykelti Williamson as Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue: Bubba is Forrest's friend whom
he meets upon joining the Army. Bubba was originally supposed to be the senior partner
in the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, but due to his death in Vietnam, their platoon
leader, Dan Taylor, took his place.

5. Sally Field as Mrs. Gump: Forrest's devoted mother, who raises him after his father
abandons them. Field reflected on the character, "She's a woman who loves her son
unconditionally. … A lot of her dialogue sounds like slogans, and that's just what she
intends."

II. Movie Abstract

 The movie Forrest Gump follows the life events of a man who shares the name as the title of
the film. Gump faces many tribulations throughout his life, but he never lets any of them
interfere with his happiness. From wearing braces on his legs, to having a below average IQ and
even being shot, Gump continues to believe that good things will happen and goes after his
dreams. While several less than ideal things occur during Gump's life, he manages to turn each
setback into something good for him, such as when he finally gets his braces off he discovers
that he is capable of running faster than most other people. This skill allows Gump to not only
escape his bullies while he is a child in Greenbow, but also to gain a football scholarship, save
many soldiers' lives and become famous for his ability. While Gump eventually achieves the
majority of the things he hoped to throughout the movie, it proved a much more difficult task to
win the heart of his life-long friend Jenny Curran. The movie is centered on Forrest Gump and
the incidences that occur during his life, but during each period in his lifetime he thinks back of
Jenny and how important she is to him. Although the two characters grew up together and shared
a very close friendship, as the movie progresses they grow apart. This upsets Gump who cares
immensely for the girl who had a rough start in life, and it seems the two always end up back in
each other's lives, often in extraordinary ways like meeting in the Reflection Pond in D.C. Even
though Gump is the main character of the film, it similarly tells the story of Curran and the
hardships she faces.

III. Philosophical Line of the Characters

a. “My mama always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what
you’re gonna get.'”-Forrest
PHILOSOPHY:
Based on the Epicurean Philosophy that there is no eternal rest or torment, no great
reward to work toward, and no great punishment to avoid. That means that all you have is
what you have on Earth, so while you’re here, you need to make the most of it.

POINT OF VIEW:
In my own opinion, Epicurean Philosophy matches this famous line from the movie
because personally, life is really a very adventurous one.
When you open a box of chocolates, there is a variety of flavors available. Problem is,
since they are covered in chocolate, you can't really tell what any given piece of chocolate is
going to taste like. You're going to eat a chocolate (you know you are! admit it! you want
chocolate!), but you won't know what you are getting until you bite into it - and then it's
done. Like it or not, you've tasted it. You never know what life is going to give you. But you
live nevertheless. So every day - every new experience - is something you really don't know
about until you actually live it. It may not be an experience you like. It may be the greatest
experience ever. But you don't know until you've lived it, and by then it's too late to not live
it.
 The real lesson: you take what life gives you and you learn to deal with it, because - as
they say - that's life.
b. “You have to do the best with what God gave you.” – Mrs. Gump

PHOLOSOPHY:
According to the Philosophy of Paul Jones (2016), “Even assuming that it is a
legitimate goal, there is no way to exceed the expectation of “your best.” This means
doing your absolute top best at all times is only “breaking even…”

POINT OF VIEW:

I like freedom. I have always enjoyed freedom. Thus, I’ve noticed that if you try
fitting in and being liked by others you’re living in a prison. You’re living with constant
anxiousness wondering how you will be perceived, and you start molding your behavior
according to what others think. You’re basically allowing yourself to become mind-
controlled.
You’re living according to other peoples needs, and not your own. You’re not
expressing your own personality and you’re not living your own life. You’re being a
copy of someone else and a shallow shell of your environment’s expectations. Honestly,
you might as well just kill yourself at this point because you’re not a real human anyway.
You’re a zombie by choice. You were given the gift of intelligence, but you chose to
throw it away in order to lead the most comfortable non-conflict existence possible. And
that’s sad. Life is conflict, so you need to learn to deal with conflict.

c. “Listen, you promise me something, OK? Just if you’re ever in trouble, don’t be brave.
You just run, OK? Just run away.” –Jenny

PHILOSOPHY:

Escapism by Longway, “Escapism is defined as the attempt to avoid awareness of

aversive beliefs. Strategies, and a few examples, of escapism are discussed. It is argued
that self-deception is one species of escapism and that entrenched escapism, escapism
pursued with the intention of permanently avoiding any awareness of one's belief, no
matter what happens, is theoretically irrational, except in the special case where it
compensates for irrationality elsewhere, by guarding one from the formation of further
irrational beliefs of more serious import than the belief one wishes to avoid. The model of
rationality employed in this argument is then extended to practical rationality, and it is
argued that entrenched escapism is pragmatically irrational as well, unless it compensates
for other irrationalities elsewhere in a person, as, for instance, when a person must avoid
certain facts to avoid succumbing irrationally to despair, or unless it compensates for the
effects of an environment in which it is otherwise impossible for an optimally functioning
person to survive emotionally. The results for entrenched escapism would apply to self-
deception as well, since it aims (in all but very odd cases) at the permanent removal of
the offending belief. The function of escapism, then, is to compensate for irrational
patterns of belief formation, and to maintain effectiveness (for the sake of continuance of
 the species), insofar as that is possible, in situation in which a rational person would
succumb to despair and suicide.

POINT OF VIEW:

I'm interested in what defines escapism. It seems a problematic term because of its
broad applicability - sports, arts, entertainment, mystical experience, etc. To be sure,
engaging with philosophy is not so cerebral that one feels nothing. I am inclined to think
that most thought is felt; in particular, focused, philosophical thought can be intensely
felt.

I still believed that human beings have this amazing ability to retreat from reality
without knowing precisely what reality is, in which direction it lies, and how to solve the
converse problem of deliberately approaching it.

d. “Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it,
broil it, bake it, saute it. There’s shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan
fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp,
pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp
burger, shrimp sandwich. That, that’s about it.” – Bubba

PHILOSOPHY:

According to Philip Holder PhD., “If you are truly in charge of your own life,
your choices are made based on your level of integrity and the principles you choose to
live by, rather than from reactions to the actions and/or behavior of others.”

For Existentialism, it emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. It is

the view that humans define their own meaning in life, and try to make rational decisions
despite existing in an irrational universe.

POINT OF VIEW:

The great thing about life though is that since life is full of choices, we can choose
to change things. You can look for a new job or start eating healthier or look into moving
and selling your house. You can choose to change things. But many times, we choose not
to and just complain, because the choice to complain is the one of least resistance or
involves the least amount of the unknown.
Too many people choose to live their lives as-is because they fear the unknown.
Some may even fear failing. In their minds, the new job might be horrible, or the new
house just won’t be as good as the current one. We allow our fear to control us and in
turn, we choose to live a life that isn’t all it could be. Don’t fall victim to this fear.
Choose to accept the fear. For all you know, the best job you ever had could be waiting
for you.
The next time you are about to complain about something in your life, pause for a
 moment and reflect on how you got here – what choices you made along the way – and
start to make new choices, so you can get to where you want to be and be the best you
possible.

e. "Have you found Jesus yet, Gump?"

PHILOSOPHY:

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel. It is a spiritual
gift, and it is necessary to our salvation. King Benjamin declared, “Salvation cometh to
none … except it be through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Mosiah
3:12).
The Apostle Peter preached that “there is none other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12; see also Mosiah 3:17). Jacob taught
that men must have “perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel [Jesus Christ], or they cannot
be saved in the kingdom of God” (2 Nephi 9:23). Through faith in the Savior and
through repentance, we make His Atonement fully effective in our lives. Through faith
we can also receive strength to overcome temptations (seeAlma 37:33).
Knowing of the many blessings that come through exercising faith in Jesus Christ,
we should seek to increase our faith in Him. The Savior said, “If ye have faith as a grain
of mustard seed, … nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20). A mustard
seed is very small, but it grows into a large tree.

POINT OF VIEW:

A person also needs to exercise the proper type of belief. For example someone
who holds to an accurate view of who Jesus Christ really is, and what the Bible says
about Him, still needs to do something with his or her belief, and not simply stand by on
the sidelines. True Christian belief is demonstrated through action. It isn’t merely a
passive acceptance of a set of doctrines (cf. James 2:19), but an active and dynamic
relationship with Jesus Christ, trusting Him as personal Lord and Savior (Rom. 10:9;
Titus 2:13). Christians are sinners saved by grace; and until a person has developed a
saving relationship with the Jesus of the Bible, he or she, unlike true Christians, still
remains dead in sin. In summary then, true biblical belief involves not only knowledge
and agreement, but also trust.