Disability - Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump – played by Tom Hanks

Created by – Winston Groom

Disability – little brain activity, bow legs
D.O.B – 06/06/1944
Hometown – Alabama
I.Q – 75
Occupation – soldier, businessman, shrimp boat captain, football player, professional ping pong player, lawn mower


Forrest Gump’s disability is portrayed well in the film as the audience see that he is simple-minded and doesn’t think through his actions. The film is set in 1981 but there are flashbacks to different events in his life, this means Forrest Gump is 37 years old throughout most of the story, this character is played by Tom Hanks; however the scenes involving him as a child are played by Joseph Urso.

The stereotypes of a mental disability are that the person is typically ‘not right in the head’; they’re often described as crazy or a ‘freak’. The audience can’t tell visually if a character or person has a mental disability, it’s usually shown through body language or speech.

The start of the film shows Forrest Gump sitting on the famous bench waiting for a bus, talking to a woman. He begins telling her his life story, this could show abnormality within the character; this is shown as the average person wouldn’t tell a stranger their life story on a normal day. He shows a personal level to the woman, the woman doesn’t react very much and just sits and listens, this could show that she knows he’s ‘not right in the head’.

The physical disability with his ‘bowed legs’ is shown twice vividly in the film, at first when he’s younger being chased by a group of boys, the famous quote ‘Run Forrest run!’ is shouted by Jenny, Forrest’s friend. This scene is repeated later in the film, during his adult life, the same group of boys are chasing him but in a truck as they’re all older; Jenny shouts ‘Run Forrest run!’ again. His physical disability is visually stronger when he’s a child as he wears leg braces to fix it, when the character grows up and becomes an adult his physical disability disappears.

The film, ‘Tropic Thunder’ shows a clip of two characters talking about going ‘Full Retard’, they say how no one can go full retard, however as Forrest Gump has both a mental and physical disability he is verging on ‘full retard’. One of the characters in the scene mentions Forrest Gump being ‘slow’ and having braces on his legs, but he’s a professional ping pong player therefore he can’t be ‘full retard’.




Jess Pardoe and Grace Keogh

Representation - Disability

As a class we listened to 'Spasticus Autisticus' by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, this was playing as the lesson started. Ian Dury had polio and therefore this illness stopped the growth in one of his legs, making him physically disabled, this song is aimed at disabilities but as he wrote it, it's accepted by the public. 

We discussed our views on disabled people as a class and how we feel around them; there were mixed reactions depending on whether a student had experienced being around disabled people before or not. The ideas we came up with were that it depends on the disability, whether it's mental or physical, we all came to the conclusion that we feel comfortable around them but more uncomfortable around mental disabilities than physical. We all agreed that we feel awkward around disabled people but we don't want to patronise them so we don't stare, this is harder for younger people as they can't help it if they see someone 'different'. It's easier for people to take the mickey out of disabilities than to empathise with the person, we try to avoid them in public places as we feel intimidating to them. 

We then listed famous people with disabilities;

Stephen Hawking - wheelchair

Heather Mills - one leg

Gordon Brown - one eye 

Stevie Wonder - blind

Verne Troyer - Achondroplasia

Muhammad Ali - Parkisons' disease

Gary Coleman - Achondroplasia

Albert Einstein - Autism

Leonardo Da Vinci - Autism

Michael J. Fox - Parkinsons' disease

Ian Dury - Polio

Terry Pratchett - Alzheimer's

Ray Charles - blind

Mozart - deaf

We went on to looking at characters in films that have disabilities;

Rainman - Dustin Hoffman

Forrest Gump - Tom Hanks

My Left Foot - Daniel Day Lewis

I Am Sam - Sean Penn

Born on the 4th of July - Tom Cruise

Waterboy - Adam Sandler

The Ringer - Johnny Knoxville

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Brad Pitt

Unbreakable - Samuel L. Jackson

iRobot - Will Smith

Million Dollar Baby - Hilary Swank

Avatar - Sam Worthington

Four of these films feature the disabled person as being a hero in the end, proving to the audience that even with disabilities people can win over others and be successful. Seven of the films listed above were nominated and/or won Oscars for Best Film and Best Actor, this shows that the public like to see actors playing characters who are 'different' and unusual, the films usually sell well and are very successful with awards and responses are often positive.