Brief Response to the first thirty pages of Forrest Gump

Brief Response to the first thirty pages of Forrest Gump

 

   I have seen a number of idiots throughout my life, especially in schools where I have attended. To confess, I have participated in creative pranks with which others teased idiots. I didn't think about idiots' feelings. To make clear, I merely regarded their thought as nothing: just as a vacant scene.

   

   What the introduction of this novel informed to me was a way how idiots usually think when they encounter routines we sometimes have to face. Forrest Gump, using idiotic words and phrases, falls in many problems caused, though not intended. Watching movie, he accidently rips his fellow's dress, and is imprisoned in a jail for a while. Nonetheless, he doesn't argue against such an unjust treatment, for he doesn't understand the situation. What he does is just a guess; he just guesses that he just had committed an inappropriate behavior.

   

   What made me surprised was that idiots have definitely different motivations. When it comes to football, any 'normal' football player would actively chase those who have balls since his chasing is directly related to his team's victory and his own reputation as a member. Unlike him, Forrest Gump in a football league runs because he doesn't want to be caught by others; what motivates him is merely a fear.

   

   I became repentant upon my biased view on idiots. Without any regard, I took their 'normal thought' as granted, and teased them if they didn't fulfill my expectation. After reading first three chapters of Forrest Gump, I realized that my prejudice is definitely wrong and determined to be open-minded upon them and their incomprehensible behaviors.

Review 01: Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption

Imprisoned in an illusion

    Rewarding virtue and punishing vice. This shibboleth has predominated over the world since the thing called culture established. Whether vice is superficial or inner, it has been harshly oppressed throughout the history. Individually, I have thought that since the essence of vice cannot be appreciated fully, vice should not be regarded more than once after it is punished.


     Nevertheless, reading this "chronicle" of Andy Dufresne in Shawshank, I realized that vice cannot be objective and is a mercurial subject of judgment. I committed a crime of making a hasty judgment without taking a perspective of the person concerned. In other words, I had not been a prisoner before reading this novel. One of the most attractive aspects of Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption was that it "imprisoned" me in a prison named an illusion. I mistook as if I were Andy in a solitary cell while reading. Being passionate and desirable upon freedom, which I have had in my life without any restriction, I was able to reflect upon my previous conception of vice and virtue.


     Sympathized. Feeling Andy's persistence while he was making a hole through the wall and laundering money for Norton without any grumbling, I felt as if I were Andy. Rather than focusing on the outcome of his tenacity: eternal freedom, I concentrated on everyday life of him in the Shawshank. Persistence is concomitant with hardships. Stephen King might have decided to hire Bogs Diamond to highlight his endeavor and patience. Why did Andy have to put up with such ordeals? I wanted to understand the root of his encumbrances. At the very first part of the novel, the judge doesn't put much effort in differentiating superficial vice and real vice. Norton, preoccupied by avarice, doesn't permit Andy to make the truth clearly. Being another Andy in the novel, I changed my notion about crime and punishment; more weight should be added to crime, not to punishment.


     What I thought as a minor drawback of this novel was that it took a perspective of observer. Rather than expressing Andy's innermost of mind, the author took Red as a detached narrator of the story. Though I was able to fully take Andy's emotional stages with descriptions of Red, the story would be better if it took Andy himself as a narrator. This thought got strengthened while I was about to appreciate Andy's persistence and hope. 

Group 3: Hero's Journey of Kung Fu Panda

Group: 3
Our Film: Kung Fu Panda
Why We Chose It: The fact that the protagonist does not have the hero's ordinary characters at first, but changes into a hero would make an interesting analysis of the movie. The almost incredible voice casting of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoff, and Jackie Chan was also interesting.

ACT I
1. Ordinary World
Working under the noodle restaurant chef, Mr. Ping (a goose), Po, the panda protagonist, admires the "Furious Five" and yearns to become a kung fu master.
2. Call to Adventure
Po, wanting to watch the kung fu tournament match, straps himself to a set of fireworks and rockets into the sky, crashing into the middle of the arena. This is when Oogway the Grand Master points at the space where he has fallen to announce the Dragon Warrior who could defeat Tai Lung, so Po becomes the chosen one.
3. Refusal of the Call
Shifu dislikes Po because of his out-of-nowhere origin, and the Furious Five make fun of him. Po is frustrated, and has second thoughts about his training.
4. Meeting the Mentor
Oogway is right beside Po when he says that he will quit, and assures him that he is the chosen one.
5. Crossing the Threshold
The next day, Shifu finds Po stretching. He reluctantly accepts him, and begins his training.

ACT II
6. Tests, Allies, Enemies
Despite Po's willingness, the Furious Five and Shifu will still not truly accept him.
7. Approach to the Innermost Cave
As Shifu finds out that, if motivated by food, Po could be trained, soon Po becomes an adequate kung fu fighter.
8. Ordeal
When Po opens the Dragon Scroll, thought to contain ultimate way to defeat Tai Lung, he finds that the scroll is empty.
9. Reward
He is frustrated at first, but when his father says that the gossipped "secret ingredient" of his noodles do not actually exist, Po decides to confront Tai Lung.

ACT III
10. The Road Back
Po goes back to the Jade Palace to face Tai Lung. Meanwhile, Tai Lung has defeated all of the Furious Five and is fighting with Shifu.
11. Resurrection
Just when Shifu is defeated, Po fights Tai Lung and wins.
12. Return with the Elixir
With Tai Lung back in prison, Po has brought back peace, or metaphorically the elixir, in the world.

Ponts of contention
As simple as the plot is, there was a controversy in what parts belong to numbers four through eleven. As "resurrection" is the part where a protagonist defeats his enemy, Tai Lung in this case, and it was not clear who the "enemies" would be. It was a difficult decision to make the "good guys" Po's enemies. Also, "reward" was another problem upon which we stumbled, as it could be interpreted as "meeting the mentor." Nonetheless, a good talk brought a point of consent.