Friday evening’s Flora Film was “Forrest Gump”, the classic Tom Hanks movie which chronicles Forest’s adventures through notable, historical 20th century events including presidential assassinations, civil rights campaigns and war. Considering the last time I saw this movie, almost five years ago, I have a different appreciation for the movie now.

On one level, the seemingly seamless transition between events with accompanying music is quite impressive. Yet as the semester picks up with successes and road bumps, the overarching themes from the movie provide salient reminders of the importance of having a mindset for persevering. For example, Forest explains his mother’s statement “stupid is what stupid does”; he also explains her saying that “you have to put the past behind you before you can move on”; lastly, he is seen in a recurrent state of running. Taking all of these statements and symbols together, the overarching theme from the movie seems to be that human disposition and behavior in the face of adversity or predicaments defines one’s character. Thus, Forests incessant ability to charge forward in the face of adversity proves to be a much more valuable character trait compared to the slight learning impairment and physical disability he inherited from birth.