Theme in Forest Gump and Raging Bull

Theme in Forest Gump and Raging Bull

Themes play a major role in many movies. This is the way a director is able to express the main point of the movie in his or her own way. A good example of a movie that does this is Forest Gump. This movie is directed by Robert Zemeckis. The movie takes place over a span of thirty years and all focuses around the life of one man. During this period we see the way a boy grows to a man in body, but remains a child in heart and spirit. A major theme in this movie is destiny. Forest’s mother tells him that God has a special plan for everyone. However, his platoon leader tells him that there is no such thing as fate and that everyone is moving around like “dust in the wind”. Sort of like the Kansas song (just kidding).

I think that the director had an opinion somewhere in-between these two theories. God gives us some things, but it’s up to you to make a lot in your life happen. The director shows this theme many times throughout the movie. An example is the feather that opens and closes the story. The feather gets caught in the wind and is carried to forest who picks it up and puts it into a book. Many things happen throughout the movie that may or may not have been Forest’s fate. Such as meeting John Lennon and telling him what Vietnam was like and therefore inspiring him to write the lyrics to the song “Imagine”. He also meets Elvis and teaches him how to do his trademark pelvis swing. The movie ends with the same feather floating out of the book that his son is now reading many years later.

Another movie with a theme that a director is trying to express is Raging Bull. It was directed by Martin Scorsese. This is a movie about an Italian boxers rise and fall in his career and in life. A major theme in this movie is jealousy. This is shown when Vicki, his wife, comments on the good looks of a young boxer. Jake the main character immediately tells her to shut up and leave the room.