Forrest Gump Psychology

The main purpose of this paper is to understand and analyze the psychological components that lie within a famous film. The movie chosen in this circumstance is Forrest Gump. Many underlying messages and key psychological themes are included within the movie and have a leading role in influencing characters’ thoughts and actions; a few of these being abandonment, intellectual/developmental disability, drug/substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The movie, Forrest Gump, was selected because it portrays a wide variety of personalities, as well as differences in intelligence levels, socio and economic standings, physiological and behavioral tendencies, and emotional factors. The popular movie, Forrest Gump, displays a variety …show more content…
Many of these are focused and exemplified through the film’s central character, Forrest Gump. As a young child, Forrest was called “stupid” due to the fact that he had an IQ of only 75, which is part of the criteria in diagnosing a developmental or intellectual disability. In addition to meeting conditions for an intellectual disability, Forrest was also physically handicapped in his younger days, being that he wore braces on his legs that enabled him to walk. Despite that having intellectual and physical disabilities are usually paired with life hardships, such as his ongoing bullying and limited friendships, Forrest overcame these challenges and flourished as an individual. He met the love of his life, Jenny, as a young child; was witness to many historic events; met a couple presidents; served in Vietnam and met his good friends Bubba and Lieutenant Dan; was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor; became a world-famous Ping-Pong champion; was founder of Bubba-Gump Shrimp; and even ran across country, unknowingly inspiring thousands of people nationwide just because he “felt like running.” In Forrest’s case, ignorance really is bliss. During his lifetime, he was faced with some of the world’s harshest cruelties and responded with having high morals and …show more content…
Therapy in general, was not presented within the film, Forrest Gump. Instead, the movie focused on more “natural” remedies for the characters’ psychological symptoms. For example, Forrest’s cross-country expedition began with running for “no particular reason.” Although Forrest states that his coast-to-coast marathon stemmed from nothing in particular, it can be implied in the film that he was distraught and overwhelmed by emotions he did not quite understand. The night before, he had proposed to Jenny and was turned down. Later that night they made love, but Jenny sneaked away before he awakened. Those events, along with the recent passing of his mother, lead to his famous and inspiring run, which in turn provided therapy for Forrest as well as his

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