American Historiography and Unreliable Narration in the Film "Forrest Gump" (1994)

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 1,7, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen (Anglistik), course: Introduction to the Study of Narrative, language: English, abstract: This paper focuses on the American history of the last century and its historiography. I will first investigate the theoretical background of historiography and then connect it with the concept of unreliable narration. I will then answer the question of whether historiography and unreliable narration correlate or influence each other while examining what the events of the past have demonstrated so far in this regard. In the practical section, I will establish a story and discourse analysis by focusing on the historiography presented in the movie Forrest Gump. I will choose particular scenes and compare them with America’s real historical events. After this, I will concentrate on the concept of unreliability in the movie. The central question is whether Forrest Gump is an unreliable narrator and why the audience might see him as such. The film’s framing, use of narrative techniques and cinematography are central as well and might contribute to answering this question. I will describe how the scenes are produced and to what extend this production influences the spectator. In a final step, I will summarise the results and place them in a sociocultural context."My momma always said, life was like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get. (Forrest Gump 1994: 00:03:37-00:03:46)"This famous sentence, articulated by Forrest Gump’s mother, sets the theme for the entire movie. While watching the film, the audience never knows what comes next in Forrest’s life, such as what he will achieve or who he will meet. The film is an ongoing surprise for the spectator.The film Forrest Gump is a 1994 American comedy-drama directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth. The story is based on the 1986 novel by Winston Groom and stars, amongst others, Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise. The good-natured Forrest Gump, who is slightly handicapped and has an IQ of only 75, lives through the second half of the 20th century and experiences first-hand many major moments in American history. He is accompanied by his great love from his youth, Jenny, whom he always loses sight of because their lives develop separately from each other. However, they finally find each other and get married, and Jenny gives birth to their son, who is also called Forrest.