The narration in the film is conducted on behalf of Forrest Gump — a tall socially awkward guy with a noble appearance and an open heart. The main plot consists in the fact that the main character tells about his life, how he fantastically became a famous football player, and a hero of the Vietnam War. Since childhood, Forest Gump was a little different from ordinary children. His IQ level was below normal, and his body was not completely healthy, which was why there were problems with his legs.
The sociological concepts observed in the film are related to the stages of socialization of the main character. Early childhood and primary socialization of the hero follow the path of antisocial development. Forrest demonstrates, with rare exceptions, a general inability to build relationships with other people and emotional detachment. The boundary of secondary socialization is the beginning of Gump’s education in public school, when the hero meets Jenny Curran (Zemeckis, 2010). She, like Forrest’s mother, accepts him for who he is. Jenny becomes a close friend of Gump, helping him to assimilate other (not laid down by his mother) patterns of behavior, social norms and role models. In particular, he teaches to resist bullies, invents games, builds friendships and even becomes an object of love and worship for Forrest.
I think the portrayal of the concepts presented were quite accurate, since indeed the social models demonstrated in the school and the child’s household are often different. From these illustrations I learned that school is an independent factor of socialization that determines a person’s personal characteristics. I had heard about the factors of primary and secondary socialization, but how strong the influence of an educational institution is on the formation of a personality was new to me. From the film as a whole, I learned about the course of socialization for children with special needs, and the impact of these processes on the rest of the child’s life.
Reference
Zemeckis, R. (Director). (1994). Forrest Gump [Video file]. Web.