The first person narrator point of view in the film Forrest Gump is arguably the movie’s defining feature, the very narrative technique that makes the entire film function. Forrest Gump’s life story is told through his recollections, his subjective perception of the happenings of his life. But as the viewer soon learns, Forest Gump has in fact, despite his simple and humble appearance and character as a type of village idiot archetype, led a remarkable life. Through Gump’s first person narration, the viewer is taken through decisive moments in American history, from the birth of popular rock n roll with Elvis Presley, to Richard Nixon’s ping pong diplomacy with China in the 1970s, events which, the viewer learns, Gump has played a key role in. At the same time, however, through the first person narrative, a thesis is also offered about history is created. Many times, as Gump’s life story shows, history is created by unexpected events and chance. The first person narration technique of Forest Gump thus gives the viewer a living, breathing view into what makes history.
The first person narration technique shows that history is above all made up of individual, human experiences in relation to events. A common sense definition of history is that it is an artifact of the past, something that has occurred. Gump’s first person point of view reminds us that historical events are composed of living, breathing human beings, who live with the same hopes and fears that we experience today. Therefore, when Gump gives a first person perspective of his actions in the Viet Nam War, he takes the viewer directly into the conflict, to the fear and insanity of war. This subjective character of the film’s narration arguably communicates more about what war means to human beings than any accurate, scientific account of dates, names, and places.
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"History in Forrest Gump".
Another key point about history which the first person narration technique creates is how history is largely shaped by chance. When we think about history from a common sense perspective, we just think about events that have happened. Because these events have happened in the past, they remain for us unchangeable. But the first person narrative technique of the film shows how many different multiple futures are possible. For example, Gump as a youngster meets a young Elvis Presley, an itinerant musician who boards at Gump and his mother’s house for a short time. Gump, who at this time wears leg braces to correct physical disability, dances with the young Presley in an unusual manner because of these braces. Presley, inspired by this dance, copies it and it becomes the iconic dance of rock and roll music. Without this chance encounter, history would not have unfolded in this particular way. The subjective viewpoint allows us to see how history is created from spontaneous moments.
At the same time, what the first person narrative also captures is the opposite feeling: the way that the individual is swept away in the tide of history and events, which he or she cannot entirely control. Thus, Gump is torn from his idyllic country life as a football star to the Viet Nam war. He is then caught up in the opposition movement to his war because of his romantic feelings for his childhood love. Certainly, Gump also shapes history, as the film shows, meaning that the individual can impact the world, but there is also a sense in which Gump’s first hand experiences demonstrate how we are caught in the wave of history, in events that force us down certain paths in life which are not entirely of our own choosing.
Thus, the first person point of view narration technique in Forrest Gump shows the viewer the very “stuff” history is made of. Through Gump’s first person narration, historical events are humanized. Through Gump’s recollection of chance encounters in his life, he shows that history could have been entirely different. At the same time, Gump is caught in the vortex of history, many of his life choices shaped by events that are outside of his own autonomy.
