IndexThe historical context and its influenceRepresentation of family values ​​in the film "Forest Gump"Final thoughtsList of references Towards the end of the twentieth century, the United States of America was a nation struggling to maintain many of its distinctive ideas. Many people believed that the country needed to “redefine” itself, and as a result of this new ideology, American pop culture became the dominant platform for creating new narratives about American history. Furthermore, explaining these narratives about American history – especially through films – helped build a popular political sense, which is exactly what happened in 1994. In this article, I will argue that Robert Zemeckis' box office success “Forrest Gump” is been used by conservatives to express a mainstream version of recent American history and as a tool to set the political stage for the 1994 congressional elections. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Historical Background and Its Influence The Republican Revolution of 1994 was a conservative movement that emphasized the importance of America, primarily the Republican Party, in "redefining" itself. Led by Newt Gingrich, the movement ushered in a new wave of partisan politics never seen before. Gingrich came to power in the 1980s as the leader of a new assertive conservatism that fused the “moralistic language of the New Right with mystical conservative ideas” creating a powerful ideological message. His strategy was to blow up essential bipartisan coalitions for legislation, and then exploit the resulting chaos as a way to incite a populist war against Congress itself. In other words, it was Gingrich who created the hyperpartisanship that currently dominates modern politics. Furthermore, the Republican Revolution sought to exploit the idea that current family values ​​in American society needed to be renewed. For example, the presidential campaigns of George Bush and Dan Quayle highlighted the decline of American morality and made family values ​​a major campaign issue. Their primary issue was the disintegration of two-parent families and the need for America to return to the traditional family structure for America to succeed. They pointed out how single mothers – especially black mothers – are mocking the importance of fathers with their “lifestyle choices.” Simply put, their main goal was the re-establishment of male patriarchy in American families and the restoration of a preferably white-male social order. Depiction of family values ​​in the film "Forest Gump"In relation to the Republican revolution, the film "Forrest Gump' continues the trend of idolizing the family values ​​of the 1950s and 1960s, defined by the traditional family. For example, the film basically takes all the major flaws of 1960s and 1970s American culture and pushes them onto the female character Jenny The film made it seem like the reason she died of AIDS was solely her countercultural lifestyle, and the reason for Forrest's success. it's because he chose the opposite path: the conservative one. The film promotes a very conventional conservative political position, mainly by making counterculture life seem extremely unattractive. To further illustrate, James Burton, a professor at Salisbury University, pointed out that "the The film's content and advertising campaigns were influenced by the cultural climate of the 1990s, which emphasized thefamily values ​​and American values". Furthermore, the conflict over family values ​​was one of the main reasons why this film was such a success at the box office in 1994. For example, based on data acquired from the IMBD Box Office, the film "Forrest Gump" has grossed over $667,387,716 worldwide, largely due to the disturbing political climate. As a result, one can see this film as an answer to the questions of when, where and how United States as a nation has deviated from the traditional path and who was to blame, "Forrest Gump" was about a slow-talking, learning-challenged Southerner who wanders through four decades of American history, later finding himself in the heart of several important moments in our nation's history. In the film, Forrest wanders through the civil rights movement, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the Black Panther movement and Watergate, and each event is explained through perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75. The film attempts to summarize them. historical events in a simple way for the audience, but somehow ends up reshaping part of post-war American history. To explain further, historical events are told in the stylistic manner of flashback and the images displayed are reconstructed and recombined in such a way as to create a new revisionist history of the American past. The problem with recontextualizing these historical events is that the public is allowed to share in this new American story, therefore creating this broad and false narrative of how these events actually happened. Another example of how "Forrest Gump" continued the trend of idolizing traditional family values ​​hinges on how the film portrays the feminist movement of the 1960s. In relation to the political message launched by Dan Quayle, according to which women's "lifestyle" choices are the catalysts of feminine and feminized chaos, the film lays the foundation for which a "free woman" is responsible for the end of the country. For example, the film seems like Jenny is on a path of self-destruction when she decides to be a loving and free woman. Jenny ends up joining the counterculture (hippie) lifestyle, and the film attempts to correlate her sexual experimentation with the political and cultural movements of the 1960s. Even though the director claims that these conclusions are unintentional, it's hard to ignore how the film makes it seem like sexual freedom is the reason for the historical chaos of the era. Furthermore, as already mentioned, the goal of the far right of the time was the re-establishment of male patriarchy and the restoration of a preferably white-male social order. The inherent death of Jenny's character once she chooses to be free is symbolic of the idea that once American families - primarily men - lose control of their women, bad things tend to ensue. Final Thoughts Regarding the civil rights movement, the film 'Forrest Gump' delves into the concept of selective revisionist history. For example, in the entire film there are only two instances where racial conflict is depicted, the two being the famous scene with Governor George Wallace in front of the University of Alabama and the infamous Black Panther scene While at first glance the audience member may not grasp the film's skewed angle on these cases, a deeper analysis will bring. these issues to light. To further illustrate, during George Wallace's hate speech, viewers cannot fully understand the message due to Forrest's inability to understand the speech itself, but on the other hand the speech about Black Panther race war is. 2,