Why Forrest Gump Is Very Much An Epic - 1584 Words

An Epic is defined as a long poem, typically derivative of ancient traditionally orally related tales that narrated the feats and adventures of heroic or often legendary figures, or the gallant history of a nation. I believe Forrest Gump is very much an epic. When a story transcends multiple lifetimes and incorporates many events across generational lines, it may be then considered epic. Forrest Gump, a tale about a man of slight mind but significant heart who originates from deficiency to become an American Hero leading one simple life leading to an adventure after another. The characterizations in the film and the original book by author Winston Groom will need to be explored to fully extrapolate on what make Forrest Gump an epic in its own right. These two manifestations have noticeably different characterizations of the title character and minor characters along with additional events, or changes to the timeline. Many of the events in the story are comparable to happenings in other epic tales as well such as Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey and to a lesser extent in its precursor Homer’s The Iliad. Odysseus’s journey and the epic adventure that was Forrest Gump’s life are quite reminiscent of each other. When Forrest Gump leaves Greenbow, Alabama to play football for the University of Alabama he starts his long journey away from home. He travels to Vietnam, Washington D.C, New York City, China, Outer Space, and eventually back home to the United States of America afterShow MoreRelatedA Different Kind Of R R2205 Words   |  9 Pagesof their network to Freeform in order to serve the new generation of â€Å"Becomers† who are â€Å"fans on that epic adventure of becoming an adult – from first kiss to first kid!† (Dabney). Younger than Millennials, Becomers are young adults who are on the crazy journey of figuring out who they are and how to become an adult. With this new image, ABC Family became a place that according to their ad â€Å"Why is ABC Family Becoming Freeform?† encourages their inquisitive minds and is a place to grow and ask questionsRead More Subverting the Conventional: Combining Genre in Kellys Donnie Darko6339 Words   |  26 PagesArt direction, cinematography, and narrative structure are important elements of film, to name a few, that cannot be categorized by genre and are often left out of the classification process. Many theorists wonder what purpose genre serves and why people feel compelled to classify films in this manner. Braudy and Cohen ask the pertinent question, â€Å"Are they [genres] critical and commercial conveniences, designed merely to help market a film or to describe a film for those who have not seen itRead MoreLee Daniels The Butler3535 Words   |  15 Pagesyears, it offers a presidential level insight into the historic freedom movements of the 1960’s, all the way through until the day that Barack Obama is elected president in 2008. I am going to argue that Daniels’ representation of history and race are much more than a ‘parody of historical drama’, as he defies the ‘conventional’ stereotypes of Hollywood (Martin 2013) through the focus on individual character depictions and rejection of generalisations seen previously in African American films. In theRead MoreThe Studio System Essay14396 Words   |  58 Pagesexhibition knew what the public wanted. - Those in charge of distribution knew what those in charge of exhibition wanted. - Ultimate decision on making pictures laying with CEO who: - determined A and B picture budgets - how much to spend on prestige pics - tentative production schedules Only at this point did a Hollywood based production dept. enter the fray. To recap, executives far removed from Hollywood were able to make key policy-making decision