Film and Engaging Cinema

Why are so many people fascinated with film? This is what the book Engaging Cinema by Bill Nichols tries to answer. In the chapter "Storytelling and Narrative Fiction Film" we can see how telling a story not just is about beginning, middle and end. Perspective, subliminal messages, manipulating emotions and creating open ending questions for the audience to answer are just some areas this book tackles. In the film Forrest Gump,  the protagonist represents the archetype of the innocent. This is unusual in storytelling because the main character is usually the everyman, but in this film, Forret is an outcast, due to his lower than average I.Q. This film however, does take advantage of the narration aspect, keeping him as a bystander, with life events, history and time passing him. The analysis done on this film during class covered key narrative elements, plot, style and interpretation. But there is so much more to this film on a deeper level. I plan to explore the topics of history, mythology and political influence on this film in our next class. Note: Group work by those presenting this film was enlightening!