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Portrayal of Mental Retardation in Forrest Gump: Analytical Essay

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Forrest Gump is one of my all-time favorite movies because it shows a person with a disability and how they can overcome their struggles and achieve great things. For most of the movie of Forrest Gump. The complex character that Forrest Gump was can be seen by his strong bonds. He forms with other characters in the movie. Furthermore, this also influences individual behavior and reaction towards specific aspects of life (Jordan, 2011) Forrest had a complex relationship with the love of his life, Jenny, who Forrest was besotted with. Forrest supported Jenny during her own struggles

Forrest Gump is a classic movie when it comes to conveying meaningful messages and inspiration to people. According to Psychological Disorders (n.d.), ' it is are patterns of behavior or mental processes that are connected with emotional distress or significant impairment in functioning.' Forrest Gump is a story about a man with a humorous IQ of 75 below average. The story tells by Gump and begins with the scene where Gump has a brace his legs because of his back arch. Not being able to walk normally with mental retardation caused Gump to be despised by everyone. The stated: “ Mental retardation (MR) refers to substantial limitations in present functioning. It is characterized by significantly subaverage intellectual functioning such as communication, social skill..” According to Emory University School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics, “ A Motor skill is a function which involves the precise movement of muscles with the intent to perform a specific act.” Since Forrest was a little boy he was known as “slow,” and it was continued into his adult years. Even though Forrest is considered “slow” he still experiences normal emotions such as sadness, love, nervousness, hate, and so on. According to DSM-IV, people who are mentally retarded have motor problems. Though throughout the movie, Forrest keeps getting more and more athletic. This means the movie was inconsistent with the characteristics of mental retardation. The DSM -IV also says that people who are mentally handicapped lack social skills. Which means Forrest was unable to pick up on social cues. Thanks to his mother, he was able to have a good educational environment. In his whole childhood life, he only had a friend, Jenny. She was a “beautiful thing in my life, like an angel”. As a person suffering from an intellectual disability and a pair of splints on his leg. He always became a target for other students to bully. They kicked him, and followed him. And then his leg brace unfolds, it’s like being fake, the freedom that comes after years of endurance. He rides in with the win in excitement as it was first moved like a normal person. According to Schenk, K. M. (2017, June 9), “Life is like a box of chocolate; you never know what you are gonna get.” His running skills grow every day when they bullied him. And he became an extremely fast person and caught the eye of a college football team. He was accepted to play for that school and graduated with a bachelor’s degree. He met the current US president. And after that time, Gump and Jenny are separate. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that follows a distressing event outside the range of normal human experience. In this scene, we see this disorder portrayed by an individual who survived the Vietnam war. Because Gump is enlisted and join the Vietnam War, while Jenny was caught up in social evils. She has a loose life. During his enlistment, Gump made a new friend, who deeply influenced him later Bubba, and met Lieutenant Dan. When participating in the Vietnam war, Gump’s platoon was injured and he carried each of them to a safe place. He was carrying Bubba and followed by the bombardment made me feel extremely excited. Returning from the war, Gump was awarded the honorary medal. He met Jenny again, who was participating in the anti-war movement. Unlucky, they are separated.

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Afterward, he set aside the bounty to help Bubba’s family. He became a multi-millionaire and the CEO of the Bubba Gump shrimp company. By analyzing crucial scenes in the movie and Lt. Dan’s behavior, you can form a diagnosis of his disorder and fully understand what it means. It was a big success and they made a lot of money. When everyone thought, everything would be smooth then his mother died. He followed his mother’s wishes and spent most of his money to build churches and schools. It shows that Gump is a very emotional person. Although he could not think like a normal person, he always had a warm heart. And then, Jenny came back. Gump feels extremely happy because the girls that he loves being back. They were happy, not a long time, Jenny was once again away from Gump. Jenny said she had suffered from a terrible disease and did not deserve to be with him. His life once again became uncertain. He decided to run, he kept running and running until he felt tired. When he came back home. he received a letter from Jenny and the story moved to the present. Most important, Forrest found the love of his life and manage to have a small happy family with her. Jenny died with the aforementioned disease. With love for his children, Gump has turned the loss into memory to start a new life better. The final image is a feather flying through the frame like a metaphor for his life. No matter how difficult, you will still fly and succeed if you try.

Throughout the movie, Forrest demonstrated many such good traits in which no average person with average IQ could have had, no matter what happened, people may call him stupid but “stupid is what stupid does.” Nothing could have to stop Forrest once he decided to do something, for instance, when he returned after his service at the military, nothing could have stopped him from being a shrimp boat captain, fulfilling his promise with his old friend Boba, even if he didn’t have a boat or have no experiment on sailing and scrimping whatsoever. Forrest is truly an inspiration to other people for not giving up hope and doing good things in life, living life to the fullest, every day. Forrest Gump maybe not smart in terms of IQ compared to other people but he always remembers one thing. He is finally able to defeat his PTSD and accept the circumstances that he must live with while fishing for a shrimp boat, Lt.dan comes to enlightenment and comes to peace. He is no longer a high-strung, anxious individual but one who has come to terms with his life and tragedy and betters himself from it. From that point, the next time we see Lt. Dan is at Forrest’s wedding where he shows up very well-dressed, clean-cut, and shaven, with his wife and a prosthetic leg. They think he was able to not only adapt to society but also thrive it. According to the DSM-IV, Forest was on the borderline of Mental retardation. In this movie Forrest Gump, the character Lieutenant Dan exhibits clear symptoms of PTSD. It is not just experienced by war veterans but also “ exposure to violence, harm, or threatening to use of the either, sexual abuse, childhood neglect or the experience an unprecedented disaster or death. Besides that, these five dimensions are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and intellect. The big five models of personality will be used to get an insight into the character Gump forms the movie, Forrest Gump.

In conclusion, The film Forrest Gump teaches us that not only should we live with a calculating mind but open our hearts to live with our emotions and hearts, be sincere and wholeheartedly for the loved ones. This is a movie that is extremely worth seeing because it is imbued with the humanity of family love, the courage to live, friends, teammates, and deep love but not dogmatic, making its impressions also forever deep in the hearts of every viewer.

Reference

  1. “Emory University School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics.” What Is Mental Retardation?(n.d). Retrieved from https://www.pediatrics.emory.edu/centers/pehsu/health/mental.html.
  2. Emory University School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pediatrics.emory.edu/centers/pehsu/health/mental.html.
  3. Groom, W., & Escott, J. (2001). Forrest Gump. Harlow, Essex, Eng: Pearson Education.
  4. Schenk, K. M. (2017, June 9). Life: is it really a box of chocolates? Retrieved from https://writingcooperative.com/life-is-it-really-a-box-of-chocolates-2276480fb6e.
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Portrayal of Mental Retardation in Forrest Gump: Analytical Essay. (2022, September 27). Edubirdie. Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/portrayal-of-mental-retardation-in-forrest-gump-analytical-essay/
“Portrayal of Mental Retardation in Forrest Gump: Analytical Essay.” Edubirdie, 27 Sept. 2022, edubirdie.com/examples/portrayal-of-mental-retardation-in-forrest-gump-analytical-essay/
Portrayal of Mental Retardation in Forrest Gump: Analytical Essay. [online]. Available at: <https://edubirdie.com/examples/portrayal-of-mental-retardation-in-forrest-gump-analytical-essay/> [Accessed 29 Mar. 2024].
Portrayal of Mental Retardation in Forrest Gump: Analytical Essay [Internet]. Edubirdie. 2022 Sept 27 [cited 2024 Mar 29]. Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/portrayal-of-mental-retardation-in-forrest-gump-analytical-essay/
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