Essay on Forrest Gump and Vietnam War

Need help with assignments?

Our qualified writers can create original, plagiarism-free papers in any format you choose (APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, etc.)

Order from us for quality, customized work in due time of your choice.

Click Here To Order Now

Forrest Gump is a 1991 American epic romantic comedy ‘drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Eric Roth, and starring Tom Hanks. It is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The story depicts several decades in the life of Forrest Gump, a man from Alabama who witnesses and unwittingly influences several defining historical events in the 20th century in the United States

Forrest Gump is a simple man with a low I.Q. but he had good intentions. He is running through childhood with his best and only friend Jenny. His ‘mama’ teaches him the ways of life and leaves him to choose his destiny. After his graduation, Forrest joins the US Army for service in Vietnam. He finds new friends called Dan and Bubba. During the war, Bubba was killed by their enemies. Forrest Gump goes back and rescues all fellow soldiers, which wins him a medal of honor. Dan lost both his legs in the attack. Forrest is discharged from the army and is asked to endorse a ping pong paddle, which earns him $25,000. With this money, he buys a shrimping boat, keeping his promise to Bubba. He names the boat Jenny but has little success with it. Dan keeps his promise to Forrest and he joins him in his shrimping endeavors.

When Hurricane Carmen destroys all the boats except for the ‘Jenny,’ Forrest becomes a successful shrimper. Immediately after his success comes, Forrest discovers his mother is dying of cancer, and he returns home to her. Dan invests Forrest’s part of the money into Apple Computers, earning Forrest a fortune. At last, Forrest lives happily

With Jenny and his son Forrest Jr. Jenny eventually dies due to an unknown virus and the movie ends there.

The movie is analyzed from multiple perspectives. Forrest Gump from the perspective of trauma studies and PTSD, my research tries to prove the implication of the narrativization of trauma and PTSD in the film, Forrest Gump, especially concerning several main characters and side characters who are the real representatives of the traumatized victims of different events and mainstream culture of contemporary American society. This research attempts to show how different events that occurred during that period affected the lives of people living in that period and the struggles they had to overcome through trauma. Furthermore, this research aims to show how tragic events such as the Vietnam War, have greatly affected the lives of people resulting in loss of life, physical disability, mental and physical illness, and failure of dreams that shows how those events affect the American society and how the central character reduce the burden of trauma using narrativization of traumatic past.

The second chapter gives a theoretical overview of trauma theory and PTSD. The origin of trauma theory and Freud’s theories, symptoms of PTSD, and after-effects of war are some of the major aspects dealt with in this chapter.

The third chapter gives a storyline of the film Forrest Gump and also gives a brief idea about the characters and their life. The protagonist of the film Forrest Gump also gives details about the Vietnam War and other social events.

Forth chapter analyzes the trauma theory and PTSD approach to the film Forrest Gump and an attempt has been made to trace the change that took place in the thoughts and life of the protagonist and other characters. This chapter gives the idea about how trauma affects people’s lives and how they overcome trauma that has been occurring during the Vietnam War. Most of the characters in film face the traumatic events. This chapter also gives details about PDST and its symptoms and treatments preferred by the American Psychological Association.

In conclusion, the findings of the project are presented, thus fulfilling the objectives given introduction, that is, how the protagonist and other characters in this film Forrest Gump overcome the trauma caused by war and other traumatic events and lead a happy life in the end.

This project aims to prove that traumatic events can change the personality of people and their lives. Posttraumatic stress disorder after intense stress is a risk of developing enduring personality changes with serious individual and social consequences. A large number of individuals suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after exposure to an intense traumatic event. PTSD can have a chronic course with enduring changes in the functioning of the person.

Need help with assignments?

Our qualified writers can create original, plagiarism-free papers in any format you choose (APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, etc.)

Order from us for quality, customized work in due time of your choice.

Click Here To Order Now