Forrest Gump 英语视听说教案
Background information
And some of the cultural knowledge in Forrest Gump
Motto: Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’ re gonna get.
Social background for Forrest Gump
Counterculture
The “counterculture” is a term used to describe any cultural movement that runs counter to prevailing norms, but is often used to refer more specifically to the anti-establishment cultural movement that arose in the late 1950s and 1960s in Europe and the USA.
Key ideas of the 1960s counterculture: personal empowerment, cultural and political decentralization, communal living, ecological awareness, consciousness expansion, intuitive spontaneity and a rejection of middle class morality.
Anti-Intellectualism in American Life
In spite of the fact that it is now more than 30 years old, Richard Hofstadter’s book,
Anti-intellectualism in American Life (1963) remains the authoritative (权威的) statement on the
deep anti-intellectual trend in American culture and society. It is a trend that remains alive an well, and is observable in American television (The Simpsons), cinema (Forrest Gump, Dumb and Dumber, The Green Miles), and business and politics (see Michael Moore’s Stupid White Man).
Hofstadter looked into the roots of American anti-intellectualism, arguing that “our
anti-intellectualism is, in fact, older than our national identity”. He cites as evidence the viewpoint
of 17th century Puritan (清教徒) John Cotton, who claimed that “the more learned and witty you
bee, the more fit to act for Satan will you bee”. The notion that education and intelligence lead one inexorably into evil, ungodly ways is at the heart of the American distrust of the intellect (智力)
and intellectuals (知识分子).
Taking his analysis further, Hofstadter argued that the three sources of anti-intellectualism (反智主义) in America were evangelical (新教会：福信教) religion, bug business, and the
populism (人民党主义) of American-style democracy. Religion suggested that truths were simple
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Forrest Gump 英语视听说教案
and absolute; business suggested that practical skills outweighed intellectual fussiness (琐事); and
populist politics suggested that specialized knowledge granted privileges that were elitist and anti-democracy.
The exception is the “technical intellect”, which through the twentieth century became
increasingly valued. The Cold War in particular made “big science” acceptable, and those who
used it to deliver material benefits (in the form of pharmaceuticals (医药品), computer, weapons)
come to be admired. These “brains” were different and acceptable because they were brains kept in their place (i.e. a limited technical field).
Forrest Gump is not an isolated phenomenon. It is just one example of a wide-spread
) – and suspicion of the intellect – in the USA. celebration (庆祝) of ignorance (无知
Forrest Gump – the movie
Starring: Tom Hanks
Director: Robert Zemeckis
The 67th (1995) Academy Award : 6, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, and Visual Effect.
获1995年第67届奥斯卡奖六项；最佳影片、最佳导演、最佳男主角、最佳剧本改编、最佳
剪辑、最佳视觉效果六项大奖。
Oscar
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was an organization founded in 1927 at Hollywood, California, for the purpose of raising the cultural and technical standards of professional filmmaking. „
Annually the academy makes special awards of merit, called the Academy Awards. The symbolic statuette presented to the winners since 1927 is known as an Oscar; 34.3 cm (13.5 in) high and weighing about 4 kg (8.5 lb), the gold-plated bronze human figure was executed by the American sculptor George Stanley based on sketches made by art director Cedric Gibbons Categories recognized for awards include:
– the Best Motion Picture;
– Best Actor;
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Forrest Gump 英语视听说教案
– Best Actress;
– Best Supporting Actor (since 1936);
– Best Supporting Actress (since 1936);
– Best Director;
– Best Screenplay;
– Best Original Screenplay;
– Best Original Song;
– Best Animated Short Subject;
– Best Documentary Feature, etc.
– In addition, various special or honorary awards are often given for distinguished
career or humanitarian achievement.
Major Characters
Forrest....Tom Hanks A somewhat slow (not smart) person, who happens to be incredibly
kind, decent, and over the course of his life, quite lucky.
Jenny...Robin Wright Forrest's most important friend from early childhood, who remains
his friend for over 35 years despite the very different lives that they will lead.
Mama ..Sally Field Forrest's loving mother who will do all she can to give Forrest a
good life despite his lack of intelligence.
Lieutenant Dan...Gary Siniese An army officer that Forrest meets while serving in the
Vietnam war, who eventually becomes a loyal friend of Forrest.
Bubba...Mykelti Williamson A poor black solider, and another friend that Forrest makes
in Vietnam.
Synopsis；剧情简介，
Tom Hanks gives an astonishing performance as Forrest in this acclaimed film. Forrest Gump is no longer just a movie but has become a vivid legend.
Through three turbulent decades of his life, from Vietnam hero to shrimp tycoon, from White House honors to the arms of his one true love. The viewer is granted a peek at his life’s journey
where he learns to deal with not only the prejudice, hate, hope, fears and dreams of human nature
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Forrest Gump 英语视听说教案
but also life and death.
Forrest is the embodiment of an era, an innocent at large in a world that is losing its innocence. His kind and loving heart knows what his limited IQ cannot. Armed with only his nature versus the world’s cruelty, he never allows his moral compass to waver.
Food for thoughts in Act 1
?What does the feather mean?
? How do you understand “Stupid is as stupid does”?
? Why doesn’t Jenny want to go home?
Forrest, Nathan Bedford (1821-1877)
), known as one of the most effective American Confederate cavalry general (骑兵
Confederate generals during the American Civil War (1861-1865).
At the start of the war, Forrest enlisted as a private in the Confederate army, and subsequently raised a battalion of cavalry, of which he was made lieutenant colonel；陆军中校，. Forrest served
as the first leader of the original Ku Klux Klan. He attempted to disband the organization in 1869 when its members became increasingly violent.
Ku Klux Klan
Secret terrorist organization that originated in the southern states during the period of Reconstruction following the American Civil War and was reactivated on a wider geographic basis in the 20th century. The original Klan was organized in Pulaski, Tennessee, during the winter of 1865 to 1866, by six former Confederate army officers who gave their society a name adapted from the Greek word kuklos. Although the Ku Klux Klan began as a prankish(恶作剧的) social
organization, its activities soon were directed against the Republican Reconstruction governments and their leaders, both black and white, which came into power in the southern states in 1867.
Civil War, American (1861-1865)
Sometimes called the War Between the States, the War of Rebellion, or the War for Southern Independence. The war took more than 600,000 lives, destroyed property valued at $5 billion, brought freedom to 4 million black slaves, and opened wounds that have not yet completely
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Forrest Gump 英语视听说教案
healed more than 125 years later.
Causes of Civil War
The chief and immediate cause of the war was slavery. Southern states, including the 11 states that formed the Confederacy, depended on slavery to support their economy. Southerners used slave labor to produce crops, especially cotton. Although slavery was illegal in the Northern states, only a small proportion of Northerners actively opposed it. The main debate between the North and the South on the eve of the war was whether slavery should be permitted in the Western territories recently acquired during the Mexican War (1846-1848), including New Mexico, part of California, and Utah. Opponents of slavery were concerned about its expansion, in part because they did not want to compete against slave labor.
Economic and Social Factors
By 1860, the North and the South had developed into two very different regions. Divergent social, economic, and political points of view, gradually drove the two sections farther and farther apart. Each tried to impose its point of view on the country as a whole. The election of Abraham Lincoln as president was viewed by the South as a threat to slavery and ignited (点燃：导火索) the
war.
By 1860 cotton was the chief crop of the South, and it represented 57 percent of all U.S. exports. The profitability of cotton, known as King Cotton, completed the South's dependence on the plantation system and its essential component, slavery.
The North was established as an industrial society. Labor was needed, but not slave labor. Immigration was encouraged. Immigrants from Europe worked in factories, built the railroads of the North, and settled the West. Very few settled in the South.
The South, resisting industrialization, manufactured little. Almost all manufactured goods had to be imported. Southerners therefore opposed high tariffs, or taxes that were placed on imported goods and increased the price of manufactured articles. The manufacturing economy of the North, on the other hand, demanded high tariffs to protect its own products from cheap foreign competition.
Political Factors
In the early days of the United States, loyalty to one's state often took precedence over loyalty to one's country. In the nation's early years, neither North nor South had any strong sense of the
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Forrest Gump 英语视听说教案
permanence of the Union.
As Northern and Southern patterns of living diverged, their political ideas also developed marked differences. The North needed a central government to build an infrastructure of roads and railways, protect its complex trading and financial interests, and control the national currency. The South depended much less on the federal government than did other regions, and Southerners therefore felt no need to strengthen it. In addition, Southern patriots feared that a strong central government might interfere with slavery.
Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe
Elvis Presley (1935-1977)
American singer and actor, one of the most popular entertainers of the 20th century, who is renowned as an early pioneer of rock-and-roll music
Love Me Tender (1956), Jailhouse Rock (1957), Loving You (1957), and King Creole (1958).
Food for thoughts in Act 2
? Why can Forrest be enrolled by the University since he is a little slow in his mind? ? Why could Forrest be met by President Kennedy? What is his strange behavior in the party? ? What happened in Forrest’ s college?
Integrated the University of Alabama
The University of Alabama began to enroll both the white and black in 1963. Civil War in 1861, no real action. Segregation is still a problem. The black were still discriminated in the south and could not go to school with the white. The federal government and troops enforced a court order integrated the University of Alabama.
George Wallace(1919-)
United States political figure, governor of Alabama and presidential candidate known for his anti-desegregation；反对废止种族制度， platform. As governor, he personally blocked the door
of the University of Alabama to black students in 1963, but backed down when faced with federal troops. Wallace sought the U.S. presidency in 1968 as candidate of the American Independent
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Forrest Gump 英语视听说教案
Party, running on anti-desegregation issues, he received 13.5 percent of the popular vote and 46 electoral votes from five southern states.
On May 15, 1972, while campaigning for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, he was shot while speaking in Laurel, Maryland, by an itinerant laborer, partially paralyzed as a result of the shooting。In 1976 he led a third unsuccessful campaign for the presidency. On leaving office in 1979, he took a post at the University of Alabama.
John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963)
The 35th president of United States. He was elected at the age of 44 and the youngest president in American history. Unfortunately he was assassinated in 1963 for unknown reason.
Robert F. Kennedy, (1925-68)
U.S. political leader and legislator, brother of President Kennedy. In 1960, following the election of his brother to the presidency, he was appointed U.S. attorney general (首席检察官：司
法部长). He in 1964 was elected U.S. senator (美国参议员). In the spring of 1968 Kennedy, who
sharply differed with some of the policies of President Lyndon B. Johnson, campaigned for the Democratic Party nomination. Upon leaving a celebration in Los Angeles after his victory in the California primary was assured, Kennedy was shot by a Jordanian (约旦人) and died the
following day, June 6, 1968.
Food for thoughts in Act 3
? What do you know about Bubba?
?What is Forrest’s life in the army?
? What happened to Jenny in those years? Has Jenny achieved her goal to be a folk singer and reach people in a personal level in this act? How do you know that?
Background in Act 3
Hippie:
They rejected the material values and work ethic of the older generation, and espoused (支
持：赞成) a philosophy of “do your own thing”. They deliberately (故意) violated conventional
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Forrest Gump 英语视听说教案
(传统的) attitudes towards public decency (正当：体面), shocking conservatives with bad
language and displays of public nudity (裸露). Some hippies dropped out of conventional society
and set up “communes”(公社) where they lived in harmony with nature, growing their own food and sharing their property. Many also experimented with free love (multiple sexual and romantic
). partners) and with mind-altering drugs such as the LSD (迷幻药) and marijuana (大麻
Beatnik:
垮掉的一代They wear and behave strangely to show their world-weariness and even hatred to the society.
New bohemian libertines:
Though a Bohemian is a native of the Czech province of Bohemia, a secondary meaning for bohemian emerged in 19th century France. The term was used to describe artists, writers, and disenchanted people of all sorts who wished to live non-traditional lifestyles.
The major beat writings；
Jack Kerouac’s On the road, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, and William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch.
Both Howl and Naked Lunch became the focus of obscenity trials in the United States that helped to liberalize what could be legally published.
Questions for Act 4
?How is the life and situation like in Vietnam?
?What did Forrest do in this war?
?What do you think of Lt. Dan?
Vietnam War
Military struggle fought in Vietnam from 1959 to 1975. It began as a determined attempt by Communist guerrillas (the so-called Vietcong越共) in the South, backed by Communist North
Vietnam, to overthrow the government of South Vietnam. The struggle widened into a war between South Vietnam and North Vietnam and ultimately into a limited international conflict.
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Forrest Gump 英语视听说教案
The United States and some 40 other countries supported South Vietnam by supplying troops and munitions；军需品，, and the USSR and the People's Republic of China furnished munitions to North Vietnam and the Vietcong.
Vietnam and the Anti-War Movement
The Vietnam War (1961~1975), in which the US provide military support to the South Vietnamese government against the communist North, aroused a great deal of opposition within the United States and polarized (两极化) the nation. Some critics argued that the military lacked clear objectives, some believed that the South Vietnamese government lacked legitimacy (合法性),
and other held that the war was interventionist (干涉主义的) and immoral (不道德的). On 15
October, 1969, hundreds of thousands of protestors took part in the National Moratorium (演说)
anti-war demonstration (示威) across the country.
Background in Act 5
President Johnson
The 36th president in U.S. (1963-1969) succeeding Kennedy. He’s famous for his support of
Vietnam War, which confronted him many criticis from the public.
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party was a group set up to further the cause of black liberation. They rejected the integrationist (主张取消种族主义的人) and pacifist (和平主义) stance Martin Luther King,
and instead developed a revolutionary nationalist agenda (纲领：议程). Some of the radical ideas
of the Black Panthers included, for example, proposals for the release of all black men in jail, as well as for the trial of black defendants (被告) by all-black juries (陪审团).
Watergate Scandal
A major U.S. political scandal that began with the burglary and wiretapping of the Democratic Party‘s campaign headquarters, later engulfed (卷入) President Richard Nixon and many of his
supporters in a variety of illegal acts, and culminated (达到顶点) in the first resignation (辞职) of
a U.S. president.
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Forrest Gump 英语视听说教案
Soon after the Watergate scandal came to light, investigators uncovered a related group of illegal activities: Since 1971 a White House group called the “plumbers” had been doing
whatever was necessary to stop leaks (泄漏) to the press.
On August 5, 1974, three tapes revealed that Nixon had, on June 23, 1972, ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to stop investigating the Watergate break-in. Tapes also showed that Nixon himself had helped to direct the cover-up of the administration‘s involvement in the affair.
Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974： the first U.S. president to do so. A month later his successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned him for all crimes he might have committed while in office; Nixon was then immune from (豁免) federal prosecution (起诉).
The Watergate severely shook the faith of the American people in the presidency.
Gerald Rudolph Ford (1913- )
38th president of the United States (1974-1977), the only president elected neither president nor vice president. He attempted during his 2.5-year term to restore the nation‘s confidence in a
government tarnished by the Watergate scandal and an economy suffering from inflation (通货膨
胀) and unemployment.
Reagan, Ronald (1911- )
40th president of US (1981-1989), oldest person ever to serve as president. implemented policies that decisively reversed the the economic and social trends of two generations; brought in a new style of presidential leadership, downgrading the importance of the president as an administrator and increasing the importance of the media as a means of communication. He first became famous as an actor in Hollywood motion pictures and a television host. Succeeded (继任)
as president by George Bush.
After retiring to California, Reagan supported conservatives on many issues. He published his autobiography, An American Life, in 1990.
In November 1994, announced he had Alzheimer‘s disease(早老性痴呆症), a degenerative
disease of the brain. In 1995 Reagan and his wife announced that the couple, along with the national Alzheimer's Association, would establish the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute to help find treatments and a cure for the disease.
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