History Film / ForrestGump

''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 film starring Creator/TomHanks and directed by Creator/RobertZemeckis, and based on a 1986 novel by Winston Groom.

* AlmightyJanitor: After his myriad accomplishments that leave him a war hero, shaper of history, and gazillionaire, Forrest accepts the prestigious job of...groundskeeper at the University of Alabama, which he ends up doing for free because he likes it so much.

--->'''Jenny''': Dear God, make me a bird, so I can fly far. Far, far away from here.

* AsHimself / NotQuiteStarring:

* BeardOfSorrow:

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: A poor nameless RedShirt dies of BoomHeadshot at the start of the ambush that also kills [[spoiler: Bubba]] (who ironically ends up being the last of the squad to die that death)
* BookEnds: The ObjectTrackingShot of the feather and Forrest waiting for a bus.

* BrickJoke:

** At the beginning of the movie, Forrest tries to get to know the bus driver, Dorothy Harris, because his mother has told him not to take rides from strangers and , Forrest being as dense as he is, to him introducing themselves won't make them strangers anymore. At the end, [[spoiler:Forrest Jr. immediately says upon being greeted onto the bus: "You're Dorothy Harris, and I'm Forrest Gump."]]

* CallingYourBathroomBreaks: Forrest announces this while meeting [=JFK=] of all people …

** "Stupid is as stupid does."

** "And that's all I have to say about that…"
** "…But most of all, I thought about Jenny."

---> '''Forrest''': You know what I think? I think you, should go back, to Green-Bow, AL-A-BAM-A!

* DeadPresidents and NotSoDeadPresidents: "I went [to the White House], ''a-gain'', [and met] the President, ''a-gain''." The RunningGag is that he meets almost all of the ones he reasonably could. He even moons LBJ (sort of on request).
** He asked if he could see the spot…

---> '''Hanks''': *inflecting Forrest's voice* So I went to the Academy Award, ''a-gain''. And I won an Oscar, ''a-gain''.

-->''Somebody from his family had fought and died in [[PunctuatedForEmphasis every single American war]]''
* DeathSeeker:

* TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed: It's debatable whether or not it's a fictional disease, but [[spoiler:Jenny mentions that the virus she's suffering from is a terminal disease]], in which it's left up to the audience on whether or not it is AIDS.
* DrillSergeantNasty: A subversion is that he frequently praises Forrest for his dedication and obedience … in the exact same tone of voice he'd use to berate anyone else. Of course, he does offer some backhanded compliments along the way:

'''Forrest Gump:''' … You told me to, Drill Sergeant?\\

* EndOfAnAge: Many have interpreted [[spoiler:Jenny's death from a disease that might be [=AIDS=]]] as being symbolic of the death of the 1960s/1970s counterculture in the early 1980s.

* ExactWords:

** Jenny gets caught by this trope too, after she tells Forrest "I wanna be up on a stage with just my guitar and my voice…" She later gets that dream. But she never specified whether she'd be wearing clothes at the time, and ends up with ''just'' her guitar and her voice.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: "I wanna be up on a stage with just my guitar and my voice…"

* HistoricalInJoke: So many that not all of them made it to the movie. Gump inspired and named for a while the trope that is now BeenThereShapedHistory.

* IronicEcho:

* TheKlan: Gump says he was named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
* TheLongList: "Shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo …"

* MentorOccupationalHazard: Lt. Dan tries to be this to a T he gives Forrest and Bubba advice on how to survive 'Nam concluding the mentor part and then tries to die fighting in the war believing that it was his [[YouCantFightFate destiny.]] However he didn't count on Forrest to [[ScrewDestiny subvert that.]]

* PinballProtagonist

** In a darker extent, many celebrities that Forrest met or talked about end up getting killed, most of them getting shot.

* SignificantBirthdate:

--> '''Lt. Dan:''' Where's this god of yours now?
--> '''Forrest:''' (narrating) It's funny Lt. Dan said that, 'cause right then, [[HostileWeather God showed up.]]

* MisterSandmanSequence

* ReactionaryFantasy: This the story of how a GoodOlBoy who sincerely believes he lives in {{Eagleland}} type 1 founds happiness and wealth by JustFollowingOrders [[hottip:*:"Run Forrest, Run", "[Because] you told me to, Drill Sergeant?", "The secret of ping pong is never taking your eye off the ball", "I got it -The Medal of Honor - just by doing what you told me to do"]] because DumbIsGood. It is mirrored by the story of an intelligent girl who ReallyGetsAround due to AbusiveParents who sincerely believes she lives in {{Eagleland}} type 2, becomes a SoapBoxSadie trying to change things for the better, and lives a live that goes FromBadToWorse because AntiIntellectualism (and it's implied to end with DeathBySex).

* SexyDiscretionShot: Invoked in the film, where Jenny climbs into Forrest's bed and the scene fades to black. [[spoiler: Completely invalidated in the novel, where the encounter begins with Jenny taking off her dress and saying "Forrest, I want you to fuck me now," and ends with the two of them having sex in the kitchen sink.]]

* SexyDiscretionShot: Invoked in the film, where Jenny climbs into Forrest's bed and the scene fades to black. [[spoiler:*: Completely invalidated in the novel, where the encounter begins with Jenny taking off her dress and saying "Forrest, I want you to fuck me now," and ends with the two of them having sex in the kitchen sink.]]

It's the tale of a good-natured but simple-minded man from [[TheDeepSouth Greenbow, Alabama]], telling his life story to other people while waiting at a bus stop. As the story continues, you find Forrest [[BeenThereShapedHistory touching important events and people]] from TheFifties to TheEighties (ranging from ElvisPresley to several presidents), rising to his own measure of fame and fortune in the process, mostly by just being himself. Because he is so simple-minded, he doesn't fully understand the significance of everything that he has done and just sees himself as an average person just living his life. But he's forever pining for his childhood sweetheart Jenny (played by Hanna Hall [[TimeshiftedActor and]] Robin Wright).

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Jenny]] dies, but [[spoiler: left their son in Forrest's care]], and Lieutenant Dan [[spoiler: found the strength to live and love again]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Jenny]] dies, but [[spoiler: left her son in Forrest's care]], and Lieutenant Dan [[spoiler: found the strength to live and love again]].

It's the tale of a good-natured but simple-minded man from [[TheDeepSouth Greenbow, Alabama]], telling his life story to other people while waiting at a bus stop. As the story continues, you find Forrest [[HistoricalInJoke touching important events and people]] from TheFifties to TheEighties (ranging from ElvisPresley to several presidents), rising to his own measure of fame and fortune in the process, mostly by just being himself. Because he is so simple-minded, he doesn't fully understand the significance of everything that he has done and just sees himself as an average person just living his life. But he's forever pining for his childhood sweetheart Jenny (played by Hanna Hall [[TimeshiftedActor and]] Robin Wright).

It's the tale of a good-natured but simple-minded man from [[TheDeepSouth Greenbow, Alabama]], telling his life story to other people while waiting at a bus stop. The longer the story continues, you find Forrest [[HistoricalInJoke touching important events and people]] from TheFifties to TheEighties (ranging from ElvisPresley to several presidents), rising to his own measure of fame and fortune in the process, mostly by just being himself. Because he is so simple-minded, he doesn't fully understand the significance of everything that he has done and just sees himself as an average person just living his life. But he's forever pining for his childhood sweetheart Jenny (played by Hanna Hall [[TimeshiftedActor and]] Robin Wright).

It's the tale of a good-natured but simple-minded man from [[TheDeepSouth Greenbow, Alabama]] and him telling his life story to other people while at a bus stop. The longer the story continues, you find Forrest [[HistoricalInJoke touching important events and people]] from TheFifties to TheEighties (ranging from ElvisPresley to several presidents), rising to his own measure of fame and fortune in the process, mostly by just being himself. Because he is so simple-minded, he doesn't fully understand the significance of everything that he has done and just sees himself as an average person just living his life. But he's forever pining for his childhood sweetheart Jenny (played by Hanna Hall [[TimeshiftedActor and]] Robin Wright).

* [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu Did You Just Flip Off God?:]] While not in a supernatural sense, the entire Hurricane Norman scene, Lieutenant Dan pretty much did that.

** The latter would at first glance seem not so significant within the film's context as [[spoiler:the Columbia disaster happened long after the film's release.]] However, the backup commander for mission STS-3 was Ken Mattingly, who was portrayed by Gary Sinise (Lt.Dan) in {{Apollo 13}}, which also starred Tom Hanks.

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