Sergio Natali (013305132) - University of Helsinki

Introduction to Film Music - Professor Erkki Pekkila

24.02.2009

The Music of Forrest Gump

INDEX
1. General aspects-------------------------------1
2. The music used in the film------------------3
3. Analysis of musical cues--------------------4
3.1 The "feather theme"---------------------4
3.2 The "running theme"--------------------5
3.3 Everybodys talkin--------------------6
3.4 Imagining the song----------------------8
4. Conclusion------------------------------------9
Appendix-----------------------------------------------10
Bibliography-------------------------------------------12

1. General

aspects

Forrest Gump (1994) is a comedy and drama film, and it differs in many things from the
novel of 1986 by Winston Groom, on which it was based. The film was a very successful
on both, commercial and artistic aspects. In the first case, the film obtained a profit that
placed it in the top ten films of all times. In the artistic aspect, it obtained thirteen
nominations from the Academy Award in United States and it won six Oscar prizes: best
picture, best director (Robert Zemeckis), best actor (Tom Hanks), best visual effects, best
film editing, and best adapted screenplay. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Gump)

With respect to the background, Forrest Gump (the main character) tells his story to
different people that are seated with him at the bus stop. Although he suffers from low
intelligence, his innocence converts him in a honest person with transparent feelings,
describing the historical facts without any analysis. Forrest has a conservative life, while
his friend Jenny, embraces the countercultural lifestyle of the hippie movement.

The movie shows a panorama of American history from the 50 to 80. Forrest
participated and influenced the most relevant American events of the period without
noticing. In this way, he meets with several presidents, he designed the well known
symbol of smile on T- shirts, he inspired John Lennon for writing the song Imagine,
etcetera.

The movie shows the life as a series of meaningless accidents (like the feather falling at
the beginning and ending of the film) and the opposite as well, as it is governed by a
predetermined destinity.
In general, the viewer accepts all historical distortions in the fiction, but some people
believe that Forrest Gump promoted the republican party ideas with his traditional and
conservative values. The review by Dennis Schwartz (2008) shows this point of view:
...to pursue the American Dream becoming an all-American college football player, a Vietnam
hero, champion ping-pong player and millionaire.... It's not surprising that it was embraced by
several national figures in the Republican Party who viewed it as homage to traditional values and
a disapproval of the 1960's counterculture. But it also glorifies Hollywood's traditional liberalism:
racists are evil, war is hell, and the assassinations of American leaders are not a nice thing to do.

In my oppinion, the film is a great work with several interpretations of its message, with
good performance, good direction, good effects and good original and borrowed music.
Even if the intention was influence us politically, the movie has good artistc values in
itself, as one could prescind of Wagners nationalist intentions when judging about his
music.

I chose this movie not only because music has an important rol, but also because it shows
a wide spectrum of different functions, and there are a couple of strange cases that are
difficult to include in the traditional functions of any theory of film music.

2. The music used in the film

Alan Silvestri composed and conducted the score for the film. He was a constant
colaborator of Zemeckis in different films. The idea of the director was that the music of
the film would be shared betwen Alan Silvestris music and a variety of famous song
from the 50s to early 80s, but with a major percentage in the decade of 60s and beginnins
of 70s. These songs performed by famous artists were compilated in 2-CDs and it was a
top selling album in the United States. Filmtracks Editorial Review (2009)
It is difficult to find musical unity with that wide selection of songs, althoug there is high
percentage of rock music, because the history is developed on the decades of start,
expansion and consolidation of that musical genre. The music has a function of historical
context and nostalgic meanings, geography and history in Adornos words (Kassabian
2001, 39). This is the way that Zemeckis keep the emotional grip on his viewers. Some
writers criticized the constant usage of wide variety of songs. For example, Filmtracks
Editorial Review (2009) said: Zemeckis employed his songs so liberally that they are a
distraction in the finished picture and put Silvestri at a distinct disadvantage.

About the original score, Silvestri composed some different themes for specific
necessities of the plot. The most important are four:
1) The opening theme I'm Forrest... Forrest Gump presenting the principal
character.
2) You're No Different represents the life in his childhood with his mother.
3) You Can't Sit Here appears the first time when Forrest knows Jenny.
4) Run Forrest Run is the most famous song of the movie and it is used when Forrest
discovers that he can run.

3. Analysis of musical cues

This work uses some categories of Gorbman, Kassabian and Kracauer for the analysis of
the musical cues and I will suggest a new classification for a couple of special cases. The
following musical cues were selected: I'm Forrest... Forrest Gump and Run Forrest Run
from the original score; and the song Everybodys talkin and the imaginary music in the
scene that evokes Imagine, from the list of borrowed music.

3.1 The "feather theme"

The opening theme, I'm Forrest... Forrest Gump sometimes is called the "feather theme",
because there is a feather flying in the opening scene. The melody is played by the piano,
in high notes like a music box, and accompaniment with gentle strings. The rhythm of the
melody has only quarter and eight notes in a slow tempo. It is a simple melody but
beautiful. It denotes ingenuousness and it adapts very well to the principal character,
establishing the mood of the film. The function of this musical cue is clearly non diegetic
and parallel, if we use Kracauers category.

The director had serious problems for adapting this theme into other different scenes of
the film. Therefore, this theme only appears again, at the final part of the film, in I'll Be
Right Here. (filmtracks, 2009)

It starts at the beginning of the film with feather flying (symbol of fortune or vicissitudes
of life) until the feather felt down in the foot of Forest and he takes it and put into his
book and then into the mallet. The music in this opening scene, spent 2 minutes and 20
seconds, and introducing the history that Forest will tell us.

When this theme returns at the final scene of the movie, it is called I'll Be Right Here.
The melody is played by louder strings starting when the feather felts down from the
book and fly again.

3.2 The "running theme"

The theme Run Forrest Run is the most famous track of the movie and it is used when
Gump runs. That theme is reproduced with variations in The Crimson Gump, and The
Crusade (and in the summary in the suite at the end of film).
In Run Forrest Run, Gump runs with his mechanical legs, escaping from bullies. In the
beginning of the cue, the strings play smoothly with a piano arpeggio and established the
mood of suspense by 43 seconds. Then, the music increases its intensity, higher notes and
orchestration, coinciding with Forrests crutch felting down, when he realizes that he can
run.

In this cue, the music takes 2 minutes long and his function is non diegetic. Its tempo is
fast and the use of brasses represents a fantastic experience. This musical cue not
becoming to Mickey Mousing music it can be defined as a clich (Eisler-Adorno). In
this way it has been criticized as the most obvious and overrated music in the film: ...a
score that has obviously defined the concepts of sports and competition with fantastic
success. (filmtracks 2009)
Other musical shortcomings are the similarities with other music and lacking of ending of
the theme:
It was obviously inspired by the football action music from Jerry Goldsmith's Rudy, and it would
take tin ears not to notice the thinly disguised similarities in melodic structure, chords, and
rhythm. There are two melodic lines in Forrest Gump's action theme. The 'a' melody is from Rudy,
but Silvestri does manage to come up with a fairly original and heroic 'b' melody. Unfortunately,
the music never goes anywhere once the 'b' melodic line is stated. The orchestra simply fades out
without any attempt to resolve the action theme. The lack of an appropriate ending to this theme,
even in the end credits, leaves this listener unsatisfied and frustrated, almost with a sense that
Silvestri

had

great

idea

and

didn't

know

how

to

follow

through

with

it.

3.3 Everybodys talkin

I want to pay attention to the song Everybody's Talkin used in Forest Gump, because in
my opinion it is a special and strange case. That song was used in the drama film
Midnight Cowboy, directed by John Schlesinger in 1969, with the actors Dustin Hoffman
and Jon Voight. The film won an Academy Award as Best Picture and his principal song
Everybody's Talkin, won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, for
Harry Nilsson.1 (http://www.answers.com/topic/midnight-cowboy)
Furthermore, the AFI (American Film Institute) recognized Midnight Cowboy within the
100 movies of all times in 1998, ranking the 36th position. In the same way, his song
Everybody's Talkin is considered for the same institute within the 100 songs movies in
2004, ranking in the 22nd position. (http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/songs.aspx)
These considerations put the movie and the song as a classic, very well known for the big
audience. In this sense, when people see an image of that movie the song comes to its
memory. In the same way, when people hear that song, remember the movie.
The plot of Midnight Cowboy is the dream of a cowboy Joe Buck (John Voight). He
arrives to New York to be a gigolo and to get an easy life. Little by little he discovers that
the reality is not what he thought and he gets swindled by a tubercular and lame person
Rico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), that then becomes his partner and offered his
apartment so that they can help each other to survive. The movie shows lots of scenes
with this couple walking in New York.
In Forrest Gump, this quotation is used in a scene where Forrest meets in New York with
Dam, who was his ex-lieutenant in Vietnam. The music cue spent 32 seconds and shows
Forrest carrying Dam in a wheelchair like a tramp, going to Dams apartment in a poor
hotel.
In a simple way, it is possible to classify this music like a borrowing, a quotation and non
diegetic music, but here, music evokes a history that is not in the film. It evokes
1

John Barry, who supervised the music for the film, won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Theme.

something external to the film. It brings us to our memory and we remember something
for its similarity. In this sense, that musical cues has an external connotation or
connotative narrative (refers ideologies or cultural meanings) in Gorbmans words.

Other films have used this allusion but in the context of a parody, imitating the same
scene of another movie. This is not the case of Forrest Gump, since its story is original
and independent of the other story.
The most nearly category I found for this situation, is allusion of Kassabian (2001, p.
50). He said about this: Allusion is a particular kind of quotation, that is, a quotation
used to evoke another narrative. But all examples that Kassabian gives us are allusions
to the meaning of another music, like the scene of helicopter attack in Apocalypse Now
with Wagners Ride of the Valkyries. In the case of the song Everybody's Talkin in
Forrest Gump, these quotations do not evoke an external music that expresses similar
feelings, but also the audience remembers the history of other movie.
If Gorbman defined meta diegetic (Milicevic, 2009), when the music expresses what
the character is feeling, so it may be possible to call meta non diegetic, when it
expresses only what the viewer is feeling.
Of course, this meaning is only perceived for a viewer that has knowledge of classic
movies or the Cowboy Midnight in particular. For the rest of viewers, this music
quotation is only one song more with a non diegetic function.
For this reason is good to have into account the point of view of the viewer. Kassabian
said that the Gorbmans model considers the music in relation to the narrative world of
the film: ...that narrative world has been unhinged theoretically from authorial intention
but not connected thereby to audience reception. (2001, p. 41)
We can interpret in the same way the use of the song Mrs Robinson of the famous duet
Simon & Garfunkel. This song was a symbol of the film The Graduate (1967), and it is
used in Forrest Gump, when the president of United State gives to Forrest a decoration as
heroes of war. This quotation maybe symbolizes the graduation of a man, but in this

case, it is not clear the relation of both stories. The plot of The Graduate is a student that
graduated from a secondary school, and on the other hand, his graduation in the sexual
aspect with a woman.

3.4 Imagining the song

In the following analysis, music does not exist but it is evoked for the dialogue of the
characters. The scene shows Forrest meeting with John Lennon in the Dick Cavett
Show on TV. The dialogue of that scene is reproduced by Michael Thompson (2009) in
his web page:
Dick Cavett: Forrest Gump, John Lennon.
John Lennon: Welcome home.
Dick Cavett: You had quite a trip. Can you, uh, tell us, uh, what was China like?
Forrest: Well, in the land of China, people hardly got nothing at all.
John Lennon: No possessions?
Forrest: And in China, they never go to church.
John Lennon: No religion, too?
Dick Cavett: Oh, hard to imagine.
John Lennon: Well, it's easy if you try, Dick.
Forrest: (voice-over) Some years later, that nice young man from England was on his
way home to see his little boy and was signing some autographs. For no particular reason
at all, somebody shot him.
Here the narrative remembers us the music, while in the case of Everybody's Talkin the
effect is the opposite: the music evokes us the external narrative. It is possible to analyze
it like a kind of allusion but it is made only by the text.
I will call this case psychical non diegetic, because the music only exists in the mind of
the viewer.

Conclusion
Although the original score is lovely and represents very well the character's innocence,
Silvestri applies the film music in a conventional way.
In my opinion, Silvestri wants to establish the mood only, not supporting a story by using
of leitmotif. This is the reason for the lack of development of the themes.
Also the music keeps invariably calm even when the narrative changes in intensity;
maybe it can reflect the point of view of Forrest (meta diegetic).
The directors imposition of using several borrowed songs between the original scores,
forced Silvestri to use several fades out and not to develop the music. Although this
eclectic music lacks of unity, on the other hand, it helps to establish the historical context
of the story.
The film has a couple of strange allusions of music (one present and other absent) that I
dare to give as new categories.
Finally, I thought the music (original and borrowed) of the film to achieve very well the
aim of the work. Like some reviewers said, Todd China (2008): While not a masterpiece
of film scoring, the score to Forrest Gump is a memorable, melodic effort that remains
one of Silvestri's most enjoyable scores.

Appendix
Tracks (* Tracks analized)
1. * I'm Forrest...Forrest Gump
2.
You're No Different
3.
You Can't Sit Here
4. * Run Forrest Run
5.
Pray With Me
6.
The Crimson Gump
7.
They're Sending Me to Vietnam
8.
I Ran and Ran
9.
I Had a Destiny
10. Washington Reunion
11. Jesus on the Mainline
12. That's My Boat
13. I Never Thanked You
14. Jenny Returns
15. The Crusade
16. Forrest Meets Forrest
17. The Wedding Guest
18. Where Heaven Ends
19. Jenny's Grave
20. I'll Be Right Here
21. Suite from Forrest Gump

Plot
"Stupid is as stupid does," says Forrest Gump (played by Tom Hanks in an Oscarwinning performance) as he discusses his relative level of intelligence with a stranger
while waiting for a bus. Despite his sub-normal IQ, Gump leads a truly charmed life, with
a ringside seat for many of the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th
century. Entirely without trying, Forrest teaches Elvis Presley to dance, becomes a
football star, meets John F. Kennedy, serves with honor in Vietnam, meets Lyndon
Johnson, speaks at an anti-war rally at the Washington Monument, hangs out with the
Yippies, defeats the Chinese national team in table tennis, meets Richard Nixon,
discovers the break-in at the Watergate, opens a profitable shrimping business, becomes
an original investor in Apple Computers, and decides to run back and forth across the
country for several years. Meanwhile, as the remarkable parade of his life goes by,
Forrest never forgets Jenny (Robin Wright Penn), the girl he loved as a boy, who makes
her own journey through the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s that is far more troubled
than the path Forrest happens upon. Featured alongside Tom Hanks are Sally Field as
Forrest's mother; Gary Sinise as his commanding officer in Vietnam; Mykelti Wiliamson
as his ill-fated Army buddy who is familiar with every recipe that involves shrimp; and
the special effects artists whose digital magic place Forrest amidst a remarkable array of
historical events and people. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
(http://www.answers.com/topic/forrest-gump)

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Principal Cast

Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump

Robin Wright Penn - Jenny Curran
Gary Sinise - Lt. Dan Taylor
Mykelti Williamson - Bubba Blue
Sally Field - Mrs. Gump

Track listing (Wikipedia, 2009)

Disc One
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

"Hound Dog" performed by Elvis Presley 2:16 @1956

"Rebel Rouser" performed by Duane Eddy 2:21
"(I Don't Know Why) But I Do" performed by Clarence Frogman Henry 2:18
"Walk Right In" performed by The rooftop Singers 2:33
"Land of 1000 Dances" performed by Wilson Pickett 2:25
"Blowin' in the Wind" performed by Joan Baez 2:36
"Fortunate Son" performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival 2:18
"I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" performed by The Four Tops 2:43
"Respect" performed by Aretha Franklin 2:27
"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" performed by Bob Dylan 4:35
"Sloop John B" performed by Beach Boys 2:56
"California Dreamin'" performed by The Mamas & the Papas 2:39
"For What It's Worth" performed by Buffalo Springfield 2:38
"What the World Needs Now Is Love" performed by Jackie DeShannon 3:13
"Break On Through (To the Other Side)" performed by The Doors 2:27
"Mrs. Robinson" performed by Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel 3:51

Disc Two
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.

"Volunteers" performed by Jefferson Airplane 2:04

"Let's Get Together" performed by The Youngbloods 4:36
"San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" performed by Scott McKenzie 2:58
"Turn! Turn! Turn!" performed by The Byrds 3:54
"Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" performed by Fifth Dimension 4:48
"Everybody's Talkin performed by Harry Nilsson 2:44
"Joy to the World" performed by Three Dog Night 3:16
"Stoned Love" performed by The Supremes 2:59
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" performed by B. J. Thomas 3:00
"Mr. President" performed by Randy Newman 2:46
"Sweet Home Alabama" performed by Lynyrd Skynyrd 4:43
"It Keeps You Runnin'" performed by The Doobie Brothers 4:13
"I've Got to Use My Imagination" performed by Gladys Knight & the Pips 3:30
"Go Your Own Way" performed by Fleetwood Mac 3:40
"On the Road Again" performed by Willie Nelson 2:29
"Against the Wind" performed by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band 5:33
"Forrest Gump Suite" composed by Alan Silvestri 8:49

Songs in the movie but not on the soundtrack include:

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"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" - Pete Seeger

"Love Her Madly" - The Doors
"Soul Kitchen" - The Doors
"Voodoo Child - Jimi Hendrix
"Hello, I Love You" - The Doors
"People Are Strange" - The Doors
"Free Bird" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
"All Along the Watchtower" - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
"Running On Empty" Jackson Browne
"Hey Joe" - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
"Get Down Tonight" - KC & The Sunshine Band
"Let's Work Together" - Canned Heat
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" - Tony Orlando & Dawn
"Hanky Panky" - Tommy James and The Shondells

John Lennon's song "Imagine" is mentioned in the film, but does not actually appear in it, therefore it is not
on the soundtrack.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gorbman, Claudia. 1987. Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music. Bloomington,
Indiana: Indiana University Press, 22-23, 83.
Kassabian, Anahid. 2001. Hearing Film. Tracking Identifications in Contamporary Film
Music. London Routledge.
Milicevic, Mladen. 2009. Film sound beyond reality: Subjetive Sound in Narrative
Cinema. Available in: http://www.filmsound.org/articles/beyond.htm
Schwartz, Dennis. 2009. "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" - Reviewed on 3/10/2008 http://www.sover.net/~ozus/forrestgump.htm
China, Todd. 2009.
http://www.filmtracks.com/comments/titles/forrest_gump/index.cgi?read=3
Thompson, Michael. 2009. http://michaelthompson.org/gump/
American Film Institute. 2009. http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/songs.aspx
Answers. 2009. http://www.answers.com/topic/midnight-cowboy
Filmtracks. 2009. http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/forrest_gump.html
Filmsound. 2009. http://www.filmsound.org/articles/beyond.htm
Wikipedia. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Gump

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