Forrest Gump x Ragtime
In the popular film Forrest Gump, a fictional young man named Forrest travels through the world, bumping into various historical events along the way. Whilst reading Ragtime, I noticed Doctorow inserting fictional characters into real historical situations.
The most interesting example of this was towards the end of the book in part four. Doctorow has seemingly ended the plot of the book with Coalhouse's death, yet he continues with the narrative of Mother's Younger Brother. After he is gifted Coalhouse's newly restored Model T, he embarks on a road trip that lands him in the middle of the Mexican Revolution. MYB uses his knowledge of explosives to aid Pancho Villa and later Emiliano Zapata in their revolutionary endeavors.
Similarly, in the movie Forest Gump, Forrest, who is a fictional character, also embarks on a journey that lands him in the middle of several important historical events like the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement.
In class, the point was made that Doctorow loses control of his characters towards the end of the film. We saw this happen with Coalhouse once he began his hunt for justice, and we saw it briefly at the end of the book when MYB takes matters into his own hands and drives south towards Mexico. However, this journey of self-discovery wasn't the only time Doctorow lost control over MYB. In fact, MYB had already been engaging in wild behavior when he decided to join Coalhouse Walker's group. Some might even say Doctorow lost control over him when he began to travel to New York City in chapter 22. MYB started to watch Broadway shows and solicit prostitutes, something that the reader might not have expected considering his lifestyle back in New Rochelle.
Forrest Gump leaves his small-town lifestyle for college, then the war, then major cities where peace protests are being held, and he's exposed to the rise of recreational drugs. Forrest grew up in a conservative, small southern town, and as he steps out of his comfort zone, he experiences more, and his views of the world are influenced by the things he sees. It can be argued that the movie never fully has control of Forrest Gump, and he goes wherever life takes him.
The same can be said about Mother's Younger Brother. He begins to step out of the New Rochelle bubble and sees the world differently than his parents. These new experiences might have shaped his perspective in a different way than Father's, which might've led to their disagreement and perhaps his eventual union with Coalhouse's cause.
This was a great idea for this blog- Forest Gump is such a phenomenal film and the connections you talked about here made me appreciate both pieces of art much more. The absurdity of Forest Gump's life holds so many parellels to Ragtime characters' lives. Forest Gump's run across the world sort of reminded me of MYB's car ride across America, and Tateh's rise to greatness in the film industry sort of reminded me of Forest's rise to wealth with the fish stuff. Contrasting the two works, while no one is safe from Doctorow's disrespectful portrayal of his characters, Forest Gump treats nearly all of the characters in the film with much more respect and Forest is the main dummy. Even then though, Forest is a quite a respectable person for his goodness of character. Great Blog!
ReplyDeleteComparing MYB's journey in Ragtime with Forrest Gump's adventures is a great way of displaying Doctorow's technique of embedding fictional characters into historical events. This technique, while enriching, risks narrative credibility as characters like MYB navigate transformative journeys in real settings like the Mexican Revolution. It sparks debate on the balance between historical immersion and character believability, urging us to wonder where fiction meets history and the implications of narrative choices like these. Nice blog!
ReplyDeleteI think that the parallels drawn between Forrest Gump and MYB are pretty strong, especially the aspects of living in more conservative communities and stumbling into major historical events. However, MYB's experiences have a transformative effect on him and change him from a directionless firework designer into a militant anarchist, and Gump seems to enter and exit his movie with relatively unchanged attitudes and values.
ReplyDeleteI think making a connection between Forest Gump and MYB is a very interesting take. While I do think they share similarities with the way they travel through significant historical events (and seemingly play important roles). I also agree with Walter, these two characters differ in the manner their involvement in these events impacted their characters. MYB seems to finally find a purpose in life and some sense of direction while Forest not only remains unchanged from the beginning of the film to the end he also seems to simply go where the wind take him (I think this is especially interesting for Forests character because of the way the feather blows off at the end of the movie, quite literally being taken wherever the wind decides to take it.) Anywho, I kind of rambled on, great post! This was very interesting to think about.
ReplyDeleteI haven't ever seen _Forrest Gump_ (there, I said it! I'm still sore about it beating _Pulp Fiction_ for Best Picture in 1995!), but I would wonder about the degree of irony that Zemeckis deploys when portraying Gump's participation in these historical events. With MYB and others in this novel, there is a kind of fun "look! that's Father's flag at the North Pole!" kind of dynamic, but there's also always this sense that Doctorow may be placing the fictional characters into the history for ironic or satirical purposes. Again, this seems especially the case with MYB, where we can't figure out HOW to interpret his use of blackface (which is appreciated for its ironic humor by the other members of the gang), or his deep commitment to the Mexican Revolution, which not too long ago he had never even heard of.
ReplyDeleteI can easily imagine Hollywood using a Gump figure for some light "white savior" narratives, where the Hanks character is not treated with irony but celebrated for saving the day when he stumbles into a historical scene. But I don't want to jump to conclusions, because I haven't seen the movie--and while generations of HaF students have suggested that I should watch it (as you note, it does have these relevant aspects), I have no immediate plans to do so.
Thanks to your post I can really understand the parallel between these two stories. The theme of fictional personas interacting with historical events is present through both, however I see Ragtime as a implementing irony into the telling of their historical story much more (At least my remembrance of Forest Gump). But both do portray that uncontrolled element that you mentioned in your post. Great post Luca!
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ReplyDeleteComparing _Ragtime_ and _Forrest Gump_ is something I would've never thought to do, although after reading your post, the shared themes are pretty clear. Classifying the famous movie as postmodern isn't really a stretch, considering how it plays with reality by inserting a fictional character into real history, much like _Ragtime_. I think your comparison of Forrest and MYB is also valid, given that they are both fictional characters who, in their respective works, supposedly leave historical evidence of their existence which doesn't actually exist in our reality. That being said, you could also argue that Forrest Gump and Coalhouse Walker are comparable using the same rhetoric. All in all, this post is a well-put insight on the various characters.
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I've never seen Forrest Gump before, so I would've never thought of this connection, but this post was really interesting to read! The connection between Forrest Gump and MYB is really intriguing and makes a lot of sense-- they're both characters that have been sort of sheltered by their environment but begin to develop more radical ideas that are out-of-place with their old homes. I think this is really relevant in when the family meets Coalhouse and MYB is the only one who is familar with ragtime music, since he's the only one who leaves New Rochelle. The fact that the narratives seem to lose control over these characters as the story progresses really ties them together. Great post!
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ReplyDeleteI have seen Forrest Gump before, and I agree with your interpretation of how Gump and Doctorow's characters both navigate through historical events despite being fictional. However, I think Walter has a point. Forrest Gump is portrayed as a morally concious person, who understands who they want to be, unlike MYB. I agree with you that Gump lest life take him in mysterious throughout the movie (and I think him joining the army is similar to MYB joing radical rebellions), though. I would be interested to keep talking about Forrest Gump as a piece of historical fiction in class!
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