Review 05: Winston Groom's Forrest Gump

Everyone dreams of a situation in which everything fits. One wants a mistake or an unfortunate event that has happened to turn into a positive impact later on in life, for instance. While such lucky moments in life are hard to come by, in the life of Forrest Gump they are not. His entire life, perhaps, was like a giant puzzle that just “happened to happen.”

Having accustomed to the setting of the movie counterpart to this Winston Groom novel, I was not able to match the two, at least not in an exact manner. Forrest Gump that I had known before was a man that was able to give off much positive emotional impression to others around him, yet this portrayed in the book seemed to be more of a funny and ridiculous person. While it is not to say that the movie’s Forrest Gump, portrayed by Tom Hanks, was not a hilarious character, but it is to elaborate that the two had some significant differences.

After reading this novel, I was able to understand, that through Gump, Groom was trying to elaborate the small yet important things in life. Well, I am not totally sure whether it was that well-portrayed in the novel’s part where Forrest does a lot of football. Nonetheless, the novel inflicted me with a great sensation in that despite the hardships that Gump has been through, he was always enjoying his life. Though the world itself tormented him with the barrages of everyday life, he was standing tall, both literally and metaphorically, in his own magnificence. And he did this with having one of the most unprivileged qualifications – having low intelligence.

Looking back, I had always lived my life in a very negative manner. I always believed that this was some kind of a treatment for me, because through being pessimistic, I would be able to fix myself as well as the environment around me. But how Forrest Gump pulled it out really surprised me, in that while he did things that were perhaps directly opposite to what I was doing, he was more successful than I was. While one may simply dismiss this incident as something that is simply out of lucky moments, I felt that the author was trying to say more with this rather ridiculous yet heart-warming novel. I hope to discover more in the movie counterpart to it.

Review 04: Everything Must Go

The movie Everything Must Go seemed like a creative expansion from Why Don’t You Dance?, the short story counterpart to it. While the main character of the short story does not reveal his logic behind letting all of his belongings go, that of the movie - Nick Halsey, portrayed by Will Farrell – has a story. And that story is indeed a very unfortunate one. He did not pay much attention to his family – consisting of only him and his wife, with no children between them – and only cares about the work. At least that, I believe, is what the wife feels. But when he is fired from the work thanks to very unfortunate circumstances, he is forced to return home, only to find all of his belongings lying around in his lawn, and the door of his house locked.

 When I had first encountered the title of the movie, however, I did not even think of such a ridiculous yet very possible situation. All I could think of, though, was a Buddhist monk by the name of Beop-jeong, who emphasized the significance of non-possession. And though it was quite clear that the main character of the movie was practicing this, I was unsure whether his is dispossessing himself of things just because he wanted to buy more beer, or he realized the same thing that Beop-jeong found out about life. But it was clear towards to the end of the movie that perhaps Mr. Halsey was becoming more and more acknowledging about this. 

After watching this movie, and while writing this review, I had the queerest sensation. What am I exactly working towards? Acquiring fame, wealth, and knowledge – perhaps these are the things that I had pursued. But really, perhaps what I should have realized was some kind of quality that was not exactly a “tool” but a quality of its own importance. With this newfound realization, I think that perhaps “everything except such values can go.”

Review 03: A Wild Thing vs. Another

When I was a child, I often had to stay in a small, stale room in my mother’s dental clinic, for both of my parents were working then. What I remember from those days, though only little can I recall, are not much the memories of playing with friends, but rather are those of having the wildest imaginations. Back then, I had travelled in the little world that I created.

I thought I was the only one who had experienced this, but it turned out to be quite a common thing for young children. Perhaps their venues of imagination were not exactly a small office of a dentist. However, it was true that somewhere inside their brains their own worlds with their own imaginary creatures existed. This was clearly evident in a children’s novel, Where the Wild Things Are, written by Maurice Sendak. Having risen in Korea, I was not able to read this book while I was very young, but the illustrations and the author’s name rang a bell for me.

The book was great, if not inspiring. It was crisp and clear on the concept of that “wild imagination,” through introducing a wild character – a boy named Max. Even if one does not pay too much attention towards the hidden meaning of this adventure, it can be easily recognized that everything happened in Max’s mind, as it is clear that Max is still a child, full of imaginations. (On a side note, if an adult was seeing these things, the readers would definitely believe he or she is mentally ill) The readers can smile through this short novel for they will recall parts of themselves that they might have forgotten in the past.

However, when movie director Spike Jonze attempted create his own version of this children’s book, that tingling sensation was gone. It was perhaps narrowed down and created into something that was present in Jonze’s minds, but that image is obviously not something that we all can agree upon. This is because such a story is better when it is individually depicted in our own minds with our own thoughts. Besides, the movie was too long – a prime example of where something too long can be extremely boring.

To summarize, the “blow” was not present in the movie, while it might have been present in the book. (Now I wonder if my essays had such “blows”) Nonetheless, both ways, I was able to understand that something wild was still in my heart – and that’s all I really needed to recognize.