The Social Imagination of Forrest Gump

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The Sociological Imagination of Forrest Gump
The Sociological Imagination Concept As Illustrated by the Movie, Forrest Gump


One event in the movie that really stands out to me as a good example of sociological imagination is Forrest's stay at the Watergate Hotel. While recovering from a wound received in the Vietnam War, Forrest discovered and developed an outstanding talent for playing table tennis. Due to his exceptional table tennis skills, Forrest was called to Washington, D.C., and recognized as the "Player of the Year." He went to the White House to receive this award. As President Nixon presented the award to him, he asked where Forrest was staying. Forrest commented, in his very innocent way, that the hotel was not very nice or well kept. Nixon apparently thought Forrest deserved much better accommodations and told Forrest he would arrange for a better place. In the next scene of the movie, Forrest is on the phone with hotel security and is looking across the way into another wing of the hotel. Forrest suggests to the man on the phone that the hotel needs to send a maintenance person "to the room across the way." He explains that there are some men with flashlights in that room, and he (Forrest) thinks that they are trying to locate a fuse box. In actuality, instead of locating a fuse box, the scene he described was the infamous break-in at the Watergate Hotel. Had Forrest never been shot in the Vietnam War, a major occurrence in society during Forrest's lifetime, Forrest would never have started playing table tennis nor received the prestigious award from President Nixon. The War was the event in society that shaped Forrest's personal life in many ways, but, in this instance, the occurrence that placed him at the Watergate Hotel at the time of the historical break-in., thus providing the path for his personal life and society to intersect.

Another example of sociological imagination was Forrest's opportunity to attend college at the University of Alabama. At a time in society when handicapped individuals such as Forrest, who had to wear braces in order to walk, were treated disrespectfully, taunted, and bullied. Due to the attitudes that existed in society toward handicapped persons, Forrest learned to run,' as his friend Jenny told him to do, anytime he was being bullied or harassed by cruel classmates. When he was in high school, he was chased by a group of bullies. They pulled up in their truck and were throwing rocks and beer bottles at him. Jenny, as usual, yelled to Forrest to run. As Forrest began running, his braces fell off his legs; and Forrest took a course right through the practice field of the Greenbow High School football team's practice. Coaches from the University of Alabama were there on a scouting trip and seeing what talent for running Forrest had, gave him a scholarship to play football at the University. The attitudes of society at the time toward a handicapped person actually coincided with Forrest's opportunity to attend college on a scholarship.

During his time at the University of Alabama another happening in society intersected with an event in Forrest's personal life. The time Forrest attended the University of Alabama was the same time that a Federal court decided to de-segregate the...
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