Forrest Gumps Language Characteristics in Forrest Gump.docx

1、Forrest Gumps Language Characteristics in Forrest GumpForrest Gumps Language Characteristics in Forrest GumpAuthor: Li Guangyun Supervisor: Qi Jun. Introduction Its well known that English is playing a more and more important role in the world. There are many ways to learn English, besides school le

2、arning, the best way to learn it is watching English movies. Because the sound and pictures from the movie can create a concrete and real environment for the audience. When people watch a movie they may pay more attention to the plot of the movie, but if they want to have a fully understanding of a

3、movie they should pay more attention to the movie lines . They are the media that movies communicates with audience; they are like a mirror of the countrys people and their culture. Many people may have watched the movie Forrest Gump, at least they may have heard about the movie. The movie Forrest G

4、ump is a great success, and as the hero is a special person whose IQ is only 75, so his language has his special features. Before watching the movie one should first know the background of the movie and should also know what kind of person the hero is. Only then the movie can be fully understood. Be

5、cause of the popularity of Forrest Gump, the author choose it as a representative of the importance of the learning of movie lines. This paper tries to make an analysis of the language features of Gump, it will show that a peoples language can reflect his character. Besides, the analysis on the line

6、s in movie may guide the audience to have a better appreciation in movie watching, and avoid misunderstanding in the process of watching movie. . A Brief View on the Forrest GumpA. Glimpse of Forrest Gump1. A summary of Forrest Gump The film tells a genuine and moving story about an amazing characte

7、r. The plot is relatively simple but remarkable. An Alabama man named Gump who, despite an IQ of 75, always seems to achieve great success. Forrests amazing achievements are played out as a humorous gimmick, but they are also part of his involving life story. The story, as told by Forrest himself, o

8、pens in his childhood. Forrest is not only stigmatized by his low intelligence, but he also must wear leg braces because of a crooked back. His caring mother tried to teach him that despite his problems, he is no different than anybody else. Forrest is befriended by a little girl named Jenny who is

9、abused by her father when she is little. A sequence of events thrusts Forrest into the spotlight. Literally shattering his leg braces, Forrest finds he is an amazing runner, which takes him through college as a football player. Soon after, he enlists in the military, and is sent to the Vietnam War.

10、In the army, he meets a young black man named Bubba, whose goal in life is to be a shrimp boat captain. He also meets Lieutenant Dan, who eventually becomes legless through a war injury and is saved by Forrest. The four characters of Mrs. Gump, Jenny, Bubba and Lieutenant Dan figure the most in Forr

11、ests life direction. But through everything, the inborn desire to do right and his love to Jenny are Forrests motivations. Beyond the Vietnam War, there is more to Forrests adventures, but to reveal more would ruin the experience of watching the events of his life unfold in front of our eyes. To exp

12、erience such an emotional and involving story is special. The film is an American classic. The messages the film transfers to us are extensive, including politics, economy, culture, history, education, war, pop music, etc.2. Background of Forrest Gump Forrest Gump is the Baby Boom generations tribut

13、e to itself, a panorama of American culture from the sleepy South of the 1950s to the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. The film is a technical masterpiece, skillfully weaving together numerous cultural reference points, all without ever causing the audience to pause for thought. The film chronicles Gumps

14、 accidental experiences with some of the most important people and events in America from the 1970s including a meeting with Elvis Presley, JFK, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, fighting in Vietnam, etc. The movie, Forrest Gump, presents some very accurate historical events that really happened. Three

15、 events in the movie Forrest Gump that really happened in real life are: the Vietnam War, the integration at the University of Alabama, and Hurricane Carmen. There are a lot of smaller historical events in Forrest Gump, but these are the major ones. B. The Characters of Gump Forrest Gump, although a

16、 mentally retarded person, has led a remarkably successful life, from football star to a war hero, from Ping-Pang champion to business magnate. Forrest has his special quality. One of the most obvious and important characteristics of Gump is his persistent attitude towards life. No matter what he do

17、es, he does it with his best, and never easily give it up. His love for Jenny never stopped even she had left him for several times. In the Vietnam War, he risked his life and persisted in finding his friend even when the forest was going to be boomed. After the war, he insisted on purchasing a smal

18、l boat and catching shrimps to realize his friends dreams. Moreover, Forrest could concentrate on particular thing and try his best to achieve it. For example, when he was found to be a fast runner and was chosen to join the college football team, nothing did he think and just tried his best to run

19、as fast as possible at the match. In Vietnam, when he was having military training, he carefully listened to every word the officer said and could focus on his task. And just because of this good quality, he had made great success in his life. He also had another good quality. He did everything with

20、 a simple mind. Things like money, power, and social status in his pure mind seemed meaningless or unimportant. After becoming a famous Ping-Pang player, some companies wanted him to be their brand spokesman, from which Forrest earned a lot of money. However, to everyones surprise he gave part of it

21、 to his friend Bubbas mother to make her not to be servant any more. And he used another part of it to buy a boat and set about to do shrimp business. After unexpectedly he became a millionaire, ignoring wealth and reputation, he returned home and donated a lot of money to the church at his hometown

22、. These are Gumps characteristics. . Forrest Gumps Language Characteristics in Forrest GumpA. The Language Features of Gump Film is an art to the public，and is the reflection of common life. This trait decides that the lines in a movie must be simple and accessible, so that most of the audiences can

23、 know the theme of the movie. Besides lines are extracted from the writers daily observation and accumulation, and are the reproductions of the sociality. In movie lines you can see a lot of slang, idioms and Customary expressions which can be found in American peoples daily use. This friendliness o

24、f lines surely would help the audience get closer to the theme of the movie and get touched. Sometimes, in order to creat a nerve circumstance, or portray a characters bravery and wisdom, the screenwriter would deftly use the combination of the words rhythm, phrase, and simple sentences to make the

25、lines become rhythmed. This kind of lines is easy to be remembered, and will increase the Artistic appeal of the movie. No doubt that the purpose of making movies is to amuse people. The sense of humor always takes up a very important part in American peoples life. So the sense of humor will greatly

26、 increase the fun of movies. The screen writers add jokes, irony and other fun stories that he got from daily life into the script, combining the perfect acting of the actors, makes the movies vivid and funny. Language is the reflection of a persons soul and thought. You can tell ones personality fr

27、om his speech. The main function of movie lines is to shape a character, making each character be vivid and accessible to the audiences. For this reason, in different type of movies, different stories and different occasions, the screenwriter will design different lines for different characters. Fro

28、m those well-chosen lines we can read the unique personality of different roles. 1. The Non-metaphorical language People live in the kingdom of language, which governs their way of thinking and behavior. Many people may think that metaphor is for most people a device of the poetic imagination and th

29、e rhetorical flourisha matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language. Moreover, metaphor is typieully viewed as characteristic of language alone, a matter of words rather than thought or action. However, the fact is that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in tho

30、ught and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. While that of Forrest Gump, the hero of the film Forrest Gump, is not. He, with lower than average intelligence, is peculiar because of his unique language systemHis lan

31、guage is non-metaphorical which can be reflected in the dialogue he made with others. The following are some examples of Gumps non-metaphorical language features.The black students entering of the school F: Earl, whats going on? E: Coons are trying to get into school. F: Coons? When raccoons tried g

32、etting on our back porch, Mama just chased them off with a broom. E: Not raccoons, you idiot. Niggers. And they want to go to school with us. F: With us? They do? ( The movie Forrest Gump 00:22:48) The above are the conversations between Forrest and Earl. The readers all know that the coons are refe

33、rred to the niggers. However, its hard for Forrest to understand. For him, coons are just coons, they cant refer to niggers. Because of his lower intelligence, his language system is different from normal people. He cant understand the metaphorical language. The conversations reflected his character