The Naïve Protagonists of Candide and “Forrest Gump”

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Society is corrupt in many diverse customs. Corruptions of religion, morals, government and cruelty of society are issues that are faced on a daily basis. Voltaire, the author of Candide, and Robert Zemeckis, the director of "Forrest Gump", both use overly naïve protagonists to demonstrate their views of the world.

Corruptions within religion are a prevalent theme in both Candide and “Forrest Gump”. Voltaire throughout his novel has several exposés which reveal the corruption and hypocrisy of the church. One of these exposés is the old woman's story of her father, Pope Urban X (popes being sworn to celibacy), and the life of wealth she lived as a child shows the corruption of the Catholic clergy. Voltaire using the Pope to be a father opposed to a priest or cardinal, also sworn to celibacy, is an indication of his belief that the Catholic clergy are corrupt throughout the entire hierarchy including “god’s representative on earth” only to show the intensity of the corruption. Voltaire’s commentary also extends to comment on the wealth in which the old woman lived in, while the rest of people lived in poverty. Zemeckis within “Forrest Gump” also explores the corruption of religion an example of this is when Lt. Dan Taylor says:

That's what these cripples, down at the V.A ... that’s all they ever talk about. Jesus this and Jesus that, have I found Jesus? They even have a priest come and talk to me. He said God is listening, but I have to help myself. Now, if I accept Jesus into my heart, I'll get to walk beside him in the Kingdom of Heaven. Did you hear what I said?! Walk...beside him in the Kingdom of Heaven. Well, kiss my crippled ass. God is listening. What a crock of shit. (Forrest Gump)

Lt. Taylor is expressing his frustrati...

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... of people. Due to Forrest’s naïve nature he doesn’t seem to have any repercussions of the war although the movie does show the atrocities that happened. The use of naïve characters seems to be affective in making the audience sympathise with the protagonist and then being able to use the protagonist to prove social commentaries.

Both Voltaire and Zemeckis use their stories to create social opinions which are pessimistic in their nature. The stories reveal the nature of society and its many corruptible aspects. Both stories use innocents to over exaggerate and clearly show the monstrosities of the world. Religion, Morals, politic and cruelty are used and corrupted for self-perseverance at the expense of others. Both Voltaire and Zemeckis use their overly naïve characters to make their commentary and hopefully cause a pensive attitude towards society and its values.

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