This paper seeks to examine the film theories, auteur theory and genre, elements, and methods used in the film Forrest Gump (1994)," Run, Forrest, Run!" .
The movie Forrest Gump (1994) is founded on a novel with a similar heading and written by Winston Groom. The film was produced and directed in the U.S in 1994. Forrest Gump (1994) was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Eric Roth (Manggalasari & Luthfiyati, 2018). The film stars some of the best cast members, including Tom Hank, Sally Field, Robin Wright, Mykelti Williamson, and Gary Sinise. Forrest Gump (1994) is an entertaining movie that depicts various theories, genres, and elements that make it intriguing. A film theory is defined as a set of scholarly strategies within the hypothetical discipline of cinema studies that examine the essentialism of film production (Murray, 2019). It also delivers the conceptual outlines for understanding the film's association to authenticity, individual viewers, art and craft, and society. Creative film writers like those in Hollywood are inventive in developing authentic film theories. Genres and subgenres in the film are the various categories within which the movie can be categorized or identified. The film Forrest Gump (1994) falls under the drama film genre, which has comedic and romance aspects. Subsequently, elements of a film tend to derive a connection between the writer, the filmmaker, and the viewer. The writer's and filmmaker's responsibilities are to deliver the best to the film's audience. Film theories, movie elements, and techniques are essential in giving vivid information about the movie.
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Figure 1 Forrest Gump (1994) accessed from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/apr/24/ive-never-seen-forrest-gump , Apr 24, 2020
Theories
One of the theories identified in Forrest Gump (1994) is the Auteur Theory. An auteur can also be referred to as an artist or the film director who plays a significant role in making a film (Doughty & Etherington-Wright, 2017). The Auteur Theory brings out the subjective control to the various aspects of collaborative work. It tends to depict the individual who is equivalent to the author of a particular play. The director is considered a significant individual among movie directors who conveyed noteworthy changes in the film industry. Robert Zemeckis excellently shows the Auteur Theory in Forrest Gump (1994) .
In the film Forrest Gump (1994) , Robert Zemeckis does a noteworthy duty to bring the best out of Tom Hanks, the main character. He revives popular memories of gender, race, and visualization of postwar history. The quality of the director's work is well illustrated by the characterization of Tom Hanks. Zemeckis is widely recognized for his innovation in various visual effects. In Forrest Gump (1994) , he uses the CGI technique in various scenes. The Auteur Theory argues that a movie is a reflection of the director's artistic vision.
Additionally, the film also employs the Genre Theory. This theory revolves around the concepts surrounding how filmmakers describe and differentiate various genres (Labarre, 2020). The Genre Theory can be depicted by spotting characteristic features unveiled within the movie. When categorizing a movie into a genre, some crucial aspects include the plot, sounds, characters, star persona, and various technical elements. Forrest Gump (1994) can be categorized into the drama genre, which has the subgenres of romance and comedy. It is a drama movie as it follows the life of Tom Hanks and Jenny, who is the love of his life. The subgenre can be traced from the various comedic lines such as "jenny and me was like peas and carrots", which depicted the relationship between Hanks and Jenny.
The audience's perception and notions about a particular film from a specific director complements his involvements. Forrest Gump (1994) has won various awards within its genre context, and the film can be categorized as a drama, comedy, or romantic film. This explains how the movie substantiates the genre theory. Tom Hanks has a famous iconic line that he uses most of the time in the movie, which is, "Life is like a packet of chocolate, you don't know what to expect." Ultimately, it is clear that the filmmakers used the film to create expectations for its target audience. The genre is used as a communication tool to inform the audience more about the film. Genre is essential to an audience since it makes it easy to determine the puzzles and conventions contained in the film (Hanke & Ibe, 2016). The genre theory appeals to a particular audience, making it easy to determine what to expect in the movie.
Figure 2 Forrest Gump (1994) accessed from https://www.indiewire.com/2019/07/forrest-gump-bad-movie-25-anniversary-1202154214/ Jul 4, 2019
Film Elements
Forrest Gump (1994) has various elements that can be used to describe its nature. With the flawless combination of some indispensable film elements, the scripts are driven into becoming a motion picture (Muhammad, 2018). Forrest Gump (1994) has the element of a plot. The plot describes Tom Hank's life journey as he encounters various individuals who end up playing various significant roles in his life. The film has the element of continuity, discontinuity, emotion, and time. This is because it tells a story with a beginning, a middle segment, and a conclusion. The pleasures of structure in a film are more vivid and effective than the descriptions of any other form. It also has the element of characterization. It shows how cinema styles and tastes have changed. This is because various characters have different roles that determine the trajectory of events and the key to understanding their behavior.
Subsequently, the film has the element of Mise en scene theory, which elaborates on all the actions appearing before the camera and its arrangement . Forrest Gump (1994) possesses the key elements of the Mise en scene that include lighting, composition, production design, film texture, costuming, and the hair, and makeup of the cast. The actors appear to be organized and dressed appropriately in various scenes. Forrest Gump (1994) has various visual effects that the director portrays. A visual can be described as the unique element which is highly essential to augment motion pictures. Visual is another feature of scriptwriting that must be integrated in the film to determine what the audience views and how they perceive the film. Film visuals tend to transcend cultural and time boundaries, and dialogue has also been used in Forrest Gump (1994) . Dialogue tends to carry a tremendous burden as an element in the film.
Figure 3 Forrest Gump (1994) accessed from https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/forrest-gump-1200438040/ Jul 11, 1994
Methods used in the Film
While previous movies utilized rear-projection or restructured a scene, Zemericks and his team created a painstaking process of blue screen with the help of CGI techniques. At industrial and magic studios, Ken Ralston and his team used various visual effects in the film (Radstone, 2020). Visual imagery has been used to bring out the story of Tom Hanks. This is because it was possible to depict Gump meeting departed individuals and greeting them by shaking their hands. The movie was shot on a blue screen to make it possible for Hanks to align with various archived footage. It was possible to record the voices of the ancient figures and come up with special effects that would later be lip-synced to formulate a contemporary dialogue.
Conclusion
The film Forrest Gump (1994) was directed by Robert Zemericks and is based on a novel with the same name. The paper explored the Auteur and the Genre theories and the roles they play. Subsequently, it distinguished not only the genres and subgenre, but also explained on the various elements and methods used by the film producers and the director. Forrest Gump (1994) has won several global prestigious awards due to its production and cinematography . The film is not only educative but also entertaining.
References
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Hanke, M., & Ibe, P. (2016). Lies, irony, and contradiction — an annotation of semantic conflict in the movie "Forrest Gump (1994)". F1000Research , 5 , 2375. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.9635.1
Labarre, N. (2020). How genres are maintained: The case of genre Curation in crossovers. Understanding Genres in Comics , 63-77. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43554-7_5
Manggalasari, D. S., & Luthfiyati, D. (2018). An analysis the character of Forrest Gump (1994) movie by Robert zemeckis viewed from Big Five personality traits theory. Jurnal ELink , 5 (2), 89. https://doi.org/10.30736/e-link.v5i2.65
Muhammad, F. (2018). Quasi-mental retarded represented in speech Act of Forrest's utterances in Forrest Gump (1994) movie. LINGUISTICA , 7 (4). https://doi.org/10.24114/ling.v7i4.11892
Murray, T. (2019). Feminist film theory: An introduction. Studying Feminist Film Theory , 7-30. https://doi.org/10.3828/liverpool/9781911325802.003.0001
Radstone, S. (2020). Screening trauma: Forrest Gump (1994), film and memory. Memory and Methodology , 79-107. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003086086-6
McCarthy, T. (1994, July 11). Forrest Gump [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/forrest-gump-1200438040/
Kohn, E. (2019, July 4). 'Forrest Gump,' 25 Years Later: A Bad Movie That Gets Worse With Age [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.indiewire.com/2019/07/forrest-gump-bad-movie-25-anniversary-1202154214/
Hoffman, J. (2020, April 24). I've never seen ... Forrest Gump [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/apr/24/ive-never-seen-forrest-gump
