Compare and Contrast Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump

After I finished watching the movie <Forrest Gump>, I was confused. Who should be applauded for the excellence of the movie? Is it Winston Groom, the author or Eric Roth, the script writer? Though the movie was based on the book, I could sense that Eric Roth made many changes in characters and storyline while adapting the story into a film. So, what are the changes he made? And what was the purpose of them? Let’s think of the answer.

The biggest change Eric made through adaptation was the change in the personality of Forrest, the main character. Though he was a self-centered character, who curses a lot in the book, he is portrayed too much innocently in the film. In the movie, Forrest is a compassionate character who always cares about others. Through his narration, we can often hear his concerns of Jenny, Bubba and Lieutenant Dan. Furthermore, by changing details like the moment he loses his virginity, Robert tried to emphasize his innocent and heroic character. This change in Forrest’s character made it necessary to change other character’s personality. Jenny, who was veiled in mystery in the book, is described with details in the film. An often interaction between Jenny and Forrest, and frequent usage of the word “love” and “like” enable us to experience the empathy for their love story.

Besides recognizing the differences between the book and the film, it is also important to understand why the two differ in many ways. The reason lies in the characteristic of Hollywood films. To make bigger success, Hollywood films usually draw people’s empathy by portraying universal virtues like love, compassion, hope and so on. This explains why Forrest was portrayed as an innocent, heroic character who gives us hope in the film. This nature of Hollywood movie lets us discover more changes. In the book, Jenny and Forrest are separated in elementary school. When Jenny had Forrest’s child, she is married not to Forrest but to another man. However, in order to emphasize the universal virtue of love, Robert had to put Jenny and Forrest together by sacrificing Forrest’s mother, and make Jenny marry Forrest. Furthermore, the time constraint of about two hours is also the reason for several changes in plot. The story of Forrest as a world class chess player, an astronaut, and physics genius were deleted in the movie to have people’s attention focused on several main events.

As mentioned above, the film and the book of <Forrest Gump> differ a lot from each other. However, their messages are the same. We feel hope, and love both when we read <Forrest Gump> and when we watch <Forrest Gump>. Though many things were changed, Forrest still runs, bringing us hope and love.