HOW TO HELP STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE, METAPHORS, IDIOMS, AND HISTORY WHEN LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE and when watching authentic films
BY USING THE MOVIE
FORREST GUMP
HOW TO USE A SELECTED MOVIE TO INTEGRATE LANGUAGE SKILLS AND INCREASE STUDENT APPRECIATION OF CULTURE AND IDIOMATIC LANGUAGE
By Kevin A. Stoda
Learning history of the United States from the 1950s to the present will help students see how trends in social movements have been affecting the globe in radical ways since before they were born. The social issues or concerns discussed in the movie, Forrest Gump, make the movie a good source for introducing culture in a motivating way. Although the issues are in someways universal, the American nature of most of the settings of Forrest Gump especially helps Non-American students to understand a wide range of American feature films in which many similar issues arise. It is , after all, American cinema which dominates world cinema going into this new millenium.(See
My Writing on Forrest Gump 2002.)
In the movie Forrest Gump the following events and social movements are looked at in a comical but sensitive way: The types of movements include student & youth movements, movements for peace or for revolution, movements for women's rights or for rights of handicapped peoples, as well as civil rights for blacks and other minority peoples of America. Similar struggles exist in all corners of the globe. Therefore, a focus on these movements as shown in this American film can be useful for students to learn internationally recognized metaphors. In addition, students will learn the vocabulary and idioms required to compare or contrast those social movements in America with movements in many other nations around the world.
By searching the following web sites and by watching the film Forrest Gump, students will hopefully expand their reading and writing skills while raising their vocabulary knowledge and general knowledge of the world to international standards. Before seeing the movie, students should do some pre-reading and research by going to my web site at
http://www.geocities.com/eslkevin/
or by choosing any search engine and typing in the name: "Forrest Gump".
How many different Forrest Gump sites did you find?
_________________________________________________________________________________
Find
Les' Forrest Gump web page
if you can. Read what the author has to say about Forrest Gump.
Next, on this same page click on QUOTES.
Write down some of the quotes from the movie.
Quotes:
(1) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(2) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(3) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(4) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(5) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Click on Fun Movie Facts. What are some of the Fun Movie Facts?
(1) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(2) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(3) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Who are some of the famous people, musicians and presidents whom Forrest Gump met in his life?
(1)_____________________________(2)___________________________ (3)_____________________________(4)___________________________ (5)_____________________________(6)___________________________
What is the "fruit" company Forrest invested in and became very rich? _________________________
Finally, click on the Forrest Gump Pictures and then click on the characters' images to see an index of their pictures. Who are the main characters in the film? (1)__________________________________,
(2) ___________________________________
(3) _________________________________
(4) ___________________________________ (5)_________________________________
Note that Robert Zemeckis, who actually produced and directed the film, is also shown here.
The second major part of this teaching unit is for the students to see, make notes on, and discuss the movie, Forrest Gump. This will take several days as the students will be introduced to the history, social issues, and some of the language of the film, including metaphors, similes, idioms, and vocabulary along the way. Students are encouraged to ask questions and retell the story to partners each day. Partners will be changed every half hour, so that good note-taking, cooperation, and other language and study skills are practiced. During these 4-5 days working on and discussing the film's contents, students should write down information on the following, i.e. Take notes!
Notes
American History
1950s________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1960s________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1970s________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1980s________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Story of Forrest's mom________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Story of Jenny________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Story of Bubba & the Bubba Gump Company________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Story of Lt. Dan________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
List of ceremonies Forrest was in, big events Forrest was at, and
TV program he was on________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Famous people who had tragic deaths________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Friends and Family of Forrest who died________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After students have seen the movie Forrest Gump completely, they should be asked to read book reviews, so as to understand what other people have said about Forrest Gump and the interpretation the director of the movie gives of recent American history and its culture. The following web sites provide reviews of the movie. Students should read and copy some of them to discuss in class and to prepare for the writing quiz with:
REVIEW 1,
REVIEW 2,
REVIEW 3.
After reading carefully through at least two of these three reviews of the movie Forrest Gump, students should ask their teacher to explain any interesting or important words or phrases. It also might be helpful for them to understand a few things about the director of the film, Robert Zemeckis. The students should do a web search for his name and find out something about his interests in making Forrest Gump and/or about other films he has made.
A helpful site for doing this would be ZEMEKIS.
One last thing a good student might do is to note what kind of political position the director,
Zemekis, was taking when he created Forrest Gump.
In short, the movie is a story or even a metaphor for American history, as shared through the character of Forrest and through his adventures. Students should be asked to find out whether the view of American culture and history is radical, liberal, moderate, conservative, or reactionary. In order to do this, they might look at Mr. Showbiz in Go.com to see what one viewer thought of Forrest Gump.
After seeing the Forrest Gump movie and learning about American history, culture, language usage, metaphors, and cultural memory, the student should be able to understand more clearly that without knowledge of the extra information provided in this unit, he or she might still have enjoyed the movie and laughed at Forrest's adventures and even cried at his tragedies. Nonetheless, the viewer would have gone home with little deep appreciation for what Forrest Gump, the movie, was about and just how much it reflected some Americans of the 1990s memories of their own history as portrayed in many other Hollywood films (especially Oliver Stones' films on the 60s and 70s) and in the media around the globe. By reviewing the notes taken during the film and by rereading the material collected from the web sites shared in this unit, students should feel themselves much better prepared for other types of writings, readings, discussions, and movies related to many similar topics, issues, and plots.
Tip #1: The script for the Forrest Gump movie can be downloaded from
MOVIE SCRIPT FOR FORREST GUMP.
Tip #2: If you are interested in studying more about cultural identity, use the term "Cultural Memory" in your search engines. "Cultural identity"* is another possible term.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
* "There is no single criterion that provides a necessary basis for identity, and neither is there a threshold, a critical
mass of sufficient conditions. It's impossible to make up a definition which covers all that there is about identity.
The experiences and memories are mainly on the personal level, the question is; are there any common memories
and experiences for all? The physical environment (rural or urban) and the cultural environment together with the
language aspect form an ongoing historical process. Nostalgia and knowledge of the past are key words when
identity is the subject.
Bo L�nnqvist, Professor of Finland's folklore, defines identity as a feeling of agreement between the self and the
community, the environment. Identity on the personal level is created by name, age, language; and identity on the
public level by native country, feeling of nationality, ideologies, culture, which all together form a collective identity.
Thus identity has a social dimension that must be communicated, inherited, practised and symbolized - flags,
speeches, events, exhibitions, sport, music, institutions). Identity isn't a static state, a point where it is fully
developed doesn't exist. We continue to build our identity throughout life, by changing jobs, environment, looks and
style. When ethnic minority identity is in question, one has to consider the lingual, cultural, historical, traditional
and geographical dimensions, and also what values and attitudes influence and how. Therefore it is impossible to
pinpoint any specific criterias or details which make up ... general identity .... All the mentioned issues are important, but nobody can tell, which one is the most important,
and why? And are they equally important ...? Does such a ... identity . . . exist? Is it an "exaggerated" identity, something created
out of a need, an urge for some things there could be in common, no matter where we live?"------ Mia Lindstrom in So it Seems--a Question of Identity
