Forrest Gump's Language Characteristics in Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump's Language Characteristics

in

Forrest Gump

Author: Li Guangyun

Supervisor: Qi Jun

Ⅰ

. Introduction

It's well known that English is playing a more and more important

role in the world. There are many ways to learn English, besides school

learning, the best way to learn it is watching English movies.

Because the

sound

and

pictures

from

the

movie

can

create

a

concrete

and

real

environment for the audience. When people watch a movie they may pay

more attention to the plot of the movie, but if they want to have a fully

understanding

of

a

movie

they

should

pay

more

attention

to

the

movie

lines . They are the media that movies communicates with audience; they

are like a mirror of the country’s people and their culture.

Many people

may have watched the movie

Forrest Gump,

at least they may have heard

about the movie. The movie

Forrest Gump

is a great success, and as the

hero

is

a

special

person

whose

IQ

is

only

75,

so

his

language

has

his

special

features.

Before

watching

the

movie

one

should

first

know

the

background of the movie and should also know what kind of person the

hero

is.

Only

then

the

movie

can

be

fully

understood.

Because

of

the

popularity

of

Forrest

Gump

,

the

author

choose

it

as

a

representative

of

the importance of the learning of movie lines. This paper tries to make an

analysis

of

the

language

features

of

Gump,

it

will

show

that

a

people's

1

language

can

reflect

his

character.

Besides,

the

analysis

on

the

lines

in

movie

may

guide

the

audience

to

have

a

better

appreciation

in

movie

watching, and avoid misunderstanding in the process of watching movie.

Ⅱ

. A Brief View on the

Forrest Gump

A. Glimpse of

Forrest Gump

1. A summary of

Forrest Gump

The

film

tells

a

genuine

and

moving

story

about

an

amazing

character. The plot is relatively simple but remarkable. An Alabama man

named

Gump

who,

despite

an

IQ

of

75,

always

seems

to

achieve great

success.

Forrest’s

amazing

achievements

are

played

out

as

a

humorous

gimmick, but they are also part of his involving life story. The story, as

told

by

Forrest

himself,

opens

in

his

childhood.

Forrest

is

not

only

stigmatized

by

his

low

intelligence,

but

he

also

must

wear

leg

braces

because

of

a

crooked

back.

His

caring

mother

tried

to

teach

him

that

despite

his

problems,

he

is

no

different

than

anybody

else.

Forrest

is

befriended by a little girl named Jenny who is abused by her father when

she

is

little.

A

sequence

of

events

thrusts

Forrest

into

the

spotlight.

Literally shattering his leg braces, Forrest finds he is an amazing runner,

which

takes

him

through

college

as

a

football

player.

Soon

after,

he

enlists in the

military,

and is

sent to

the Vietnam

War.

In

the

army,

he

meets

a

young

black

man

named

Bubba,

whose

goal

in

life

is

to

be

a

shrimp

boat

captain.

He

also

meets

Lieutenant

Dan,

who

eventually

2

becomes legless through a war injury and is saved by Forrest.

The

four

characters

of

Mrs.

Gump,

Jenny,

Bubba

and

Lieutenant

Dan

figure

the

most

in

Forrest’s

life

direction.

But

through

everything,

the

inborn

desire

to

do

right

and

his

love

to

Jenny

are

Forrest’s

motivations.

Beyond

the

Vietnam

War,

there

is

more

to

Forrest’s

adventures, but to reveal more would ruin the experience of watching the

events

of

his

life

unfold

in

front

of

our

eyes.

To

experience

such

an

emotional and involving story is special. The film is an American classic.

The

messages

the

film

transfers

to

us

are

extensive,

including

politics,

economy, culture, history, education, war, pop music, etc.

2.

Background of

Forrest Gump

Forrest

Gump

is

the

Baby

Boom

generation's

tribute

to

itself,

a

panorama of American culture from the sleepy South of the 1950s to the

AIDS

epidemic

of

the

1980s.

The

film

is

a

technical

masterpiece,

skillfully

weaving

together

numerous

cultural

reference

points,

all

without

ever

causing

the

audience

to

pause

for

thought.

The

film

chronicles

Gump

’

s

accidental

experiences

with

some

of

the

most

important

people

and

events

in

America

from

the

1970

’

s

including

a

meeting

with

Elvis

Presley,

JFK,

Lyndon

Johnson,

Richard

Nixon,

fighting in Vietnam, etc. The movie,

Forrest Gump

, presents some very

accurate historical events that really happened. Three events in the movie

Forrest Gump

that really happened in real life are: the Vietnam War, the

3

integration at the University of Alabama, and Hurricane Carmen.

There

are a lot of smaller historical events in

Forrest Gump,

but these are the

major ones.

B. The Characters of Gump

Forrest

Gump,

although

a

mentally

retarded

person,

has

led

a

remarkably

successful

life,

from

football

star

to

a

war

hero,

from

Ping-Pang champion to business magnate. Forrest has his special quality.

One

of

the

most

obvious

and

important

characteristics

of

Gump

is

his

persistent attitude towards life. No matter what he does, he does it with

his

best,

and

never

easily

give

it

up.

His

love

for

Jenny

never

stopped

even she had left him for several times. In the Vietnam War, he risked his

life and persisted in finding his friend even when the forest was going to

be

boomed.

After

the

war,

he

insisted

on

purchasing

a

small

boat

and

catching shrimps to realize his friend

’

s dreams. Moreover, Forrest could

concentrate on particular thing and try his best to achieve it. For example,

when he was found to be a fast runner and was chosen to join the college

football team, nothing did he think and just tried his best to run as fast as

possible at the match. In Vietnam, when he was having military training,

he carefully listened to every word the officer said and could focus on his

task. And just because of this good quality, he had made great success in

his

life.

He

also

had

another

good

quality.

He

did

everything

with

a

simple

mind.

Things

like

money,

power,

and

social

status

in

his

pure

4

mind

seemed

meaningless

or

unimportant.

After

becoming

a

famous

Ping-Pang

player,

some

companies

wanted

him

to

be

their

brand

spokesman,

from

which

Forrest

earned

a

lot

of

money.

However,

to

everyone

’

s

surprise

he

gave

part

of

it

to

his

friend

Bubba

’

s

mother

to

make her not to be servant any more.

And he used another part of it to

buy

a

boat

and

set

about

to

do

shrimp

business.

After

unexpectedly

he

became a

millionaire, ignoring wealth and reputation, he returned home

and

donated

a

lot

of

money

to

the

church

at

his

hometown.

These

are

Gump

’

s characteristics.

Ⅲ

.

Forrest

Gump's

Language

Characteristics

in

Forrest

Gump

A. The Language Features of Gump

Film is an art to the public

，

and is the reflection of common life.

This trait decides that the lines in a movie must be simple and accessible,

so that most of the audiences can know the theme of the movie. Besides

lines a

re extracted from the writer’s daily observation and accumulation,

and are the reproductions of the sociality. In movie lines you can see a lot

of

slang,

idioms

and

Customary

expressions

which

can

be

found

in

American people’s daily use. This friendliness

of lines surely would help

the audience get closer to the theme of the movie and get touched.

Sometimes,

in

order

to

creat

a

nerve

circumstance,

or

portray

a

character’s

bravery

and

wisdom,

the

screenwriter

would

deftly

use

the

5

combination of the wor

ds’ rhythm, phrase, and simple sentence

s to make

the lines become rhythmed. This kind of lines is easy to be remembered,

and will increase the Artistic appeal of the movie.

No

doubt that the

purpose of

making

movies is

to

amuse people.

The sense of humor always takes up a very important part in American

people’s

life.

So

the

sense

of

humor

will

greatly

increase

the

fun

of

movies. The screen writers add jokes, irony and other fun stories that he

got

from

daily

life

into

the

script,

combining

the

perfect

acting

of

the

actors, makes the movies vivid and funny.

Language is the reflection of a person’s soul and thought. You can

tell one’s personality from his speech. The main function of movie lines

is to shape a character, making each character be vivid and accessible to

the

audiences.

For

this

reason,

in

different

type

of

movies,

different

stories and different occasions, the screenwriter will design different lines

for

different

characters.

From

those

well- chosen

lines

we

can

read

the

unique personality of different roles.

1.

The Non-metaphorical language

People live in the kingdom of language, which governs their way of

thinking and behavior. Many people may think that metaphor is for most

people a device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish

—

a

matter

of

extraordinary

rather

than

ordinary

language.

Moreover,

metaphor is typieully viewed as characteristic of language alone, a matter

6

of words rather than thought or action. However, the fact is that metaphor

is

pervasive

in

everyday

life,

not

just

in

language

but

in

thought

and

action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think

and

act,

is

fundamentally

metaphorical

in

nature.

While

that

of

Forrest

Gump,

the

hero

of

the

film

Forrest

Gump

,

is

not.

He,

with

lower

than

average

intelligence,

is

peculiar

because

of

his

unique

language

systemHis

language

is

non-metaphorical

which

can

be

reflected

in

the

dialogue

he

made

with

others.

The

following

are

some

examples

of

Gump

’

s non- metaphorical language features.

The black stud

ents’

entering of the school

F: Earl, what

’

s going on?

E: Coons are trying to get into school.

F: Coons? When raccoons tried getting on our back porch, Mama

just chased them off with a broom.

E: Not raccoons, you idiot. Niggers. And they want to go to school

with us.

F: With us? They do? ( The movie

Forrest Gump

00:22:48)

The

above

are

the

conversations

between

Forrest

and

Earl.

The

readers all know that the coons are referred to the niggers. However, it

’

s

hard for Forrest to understand. For him, coons are just coons, they can

’

t

refer to niggers. Because of his lower intelligence, his language system is

different

from

normal

people.

He

can’t

understand

the

metaphorical

7

language. The conversations reflected his character correctly, and it also

made the movie more humorous.

Meeting with Jenny in the school

It was raining one day, and Forrest went to Jenny

’

s school to give

her

some

chocolates.

Jenny

was

having

a

date

with

a

man

but

it

was

stirred by Forrest. As Forrest was Jenny

’

s friend and she knew him well,

she didn

’

t blame him. When she saw that Forrest was in wet, she asked

him to go to her dormitory to change his clothes. And in the room, Jenny

asked what his plan about the future.

J: Do you ever dream, Forrest

…

about who you are going to be?

F: Who I am going to be?

J: Yeah

F: Aren

’

t I going to be me?

J:

You

’

ll

always

be

you,

just

another

kind

of

you.

(The

movie

Forrest Gump 00:27:02)

For

a normal person,

when

you

ask

who he is

going to

be in

the

future,

he

will

understand

it

immediately.

But

for

Forrest,

it

’

s

hard

to

dream who he is going to be in the future. To him, he is Forrest, he didn

’

t

think about who he will be in the future, and he just did what he should

do

now.

So

when

Jenny

asked

what

he

was

going

to

be,

he

can

’

t

understand what she means.

Meeting with the president of the United States

8

The president of the United States met the collegiate all-American

football team at the Oval Office. To normal people, it must be a fantastic

moment, but to Forrest, the best thing about meeting the president of the

United States is the food. He drank about 15 bottles of soda.

P: How does it feel to be an all- American?

A1: It

’

s an honor, sir.

P: How does it feel to be an all-American?

A2: Very good, sir.

P: Congratulations. How do you feel?

F: I got to pee.(The movie Forrest Gump 00:30:14)

When

we

see

this

scene,

we

will

find

it

is

very

humorous.

The

president

asked

about

what

Forrest

feel

in

his

mind,

not

his

body.

But

Forrest can’t

know that. He wound not say like others that it was a great

honor to join the All-American . As he drank a lot of soda, he wanted to

pee. So when the president asked what he felt, he just said that he got to

pee.

On

the one

hand,

it increased

the

humor

of

the

movie,

and

on

the

anther hand, it reflected that in Forrest

’

s mind the word

used to describe the felling of the body and it can

’

t to describe what one

thinks about something.

Meeting with Jenny in her house

When Jenny left him, Forrest ran across the country several times

which was broadcasted by the TV

. Jenny was ill at that time and she knew

9

that she was going to die. So she wrote a letter to Forrest when she saw

Forrest in the TV

.

F: You are a mama, Jenny.

J: I am a mama. His name is Forrest.

F: Like me?

J: I named him after his daddy.

F: He got a daddy named Forrest, too?

J: You are his daddy.(The movie Forrest Gump 00:55:15)

When

Jenny

said

that

she

named

the

boy

after

his

father,

she

implied that Forrest was his daddy.

But Forrest can

’

t understand and at

last

Jenny

had

to

say

that

Forrest

was

his

daddy.

At

that

time,

it

is

ashamed when someone had a child without a marriage. So Jenny

didn’t

say it directly at first. But Forrest really couldn't know that he was little

Forrest's daddy. He even said he got

“

a

”

daddy named Forrest, as if the

little

Forrest

had

several

daddies.

This

shows

that

Forrest

was

really

a

lower IQ person.

2.

His simple and even mistaken words

As

Forrest

is

a

retarded

person,

he

has

a

poor

vocabulary.

In

the

movie, Forrest

’

s words are all simple words, almost no complex words.

Errors even occurred in the use of common terms. For example, he said

many times that

“

Bubba was my best good friend

”

. He had a problem to

use the highest degree of

10