Kaitlyn Paetzke
Mr.Mielke
Film Study
10/3/14
Coming of Age:
Forrest Gump and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Forrest Gump both tell similar coming of age stories. In Forrest Gump, the director, Robert Zemeckis, starts the movie off showing Forrest, (Tom Hanks), as a young boy with disabilities. The director of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, David Fincher, has the main character, Benjamin Button, (Bradd Pitt), born old, rather than young, and he ages backwards throughout the movie. Both movies tell a story about a special/different man’s life and how that odd life turned out to be both lasting and rewarding.
In the film, Forrest Gump, the director intermixes events from our American history with Forrests life. Most of it is…show more content… Throughout the movie, Forrest works to over come adversity from being handicapped. Forrest is present during the Vietnam War, where he saves an entire force of wounded soldiers from being killed by “Charlie” and receives the “Medal of Honor”. Forrest discovers the “Watergate Scandal”, founds the Apple coorporation, defends American honor in a ping-pong tournament with Chinese Communists, and meets a good amount of presidents, such as, John F. Kennedy and Gerald Ford. Forrest Gump never seems to change, but the few friends he does make change over time and their progression is compelling. Forrests childhood friend, Jenny, is the best example. She grew up with an extremely rough childhood, being apart of sexual abuse. She turns to experimentation and the excesses of the hippie culture in order to cope with her pain. Jenny is unable to realize that maybe real happiness lies in the examples that Forrests supplies; simplicity and faith in the goodness of the self and others.