Last Week when I watched the Forest Gump film, I remember how initially when I saw Forest Gump get bullied mercilessly by those boys throughout his college years, I felt so bad for him, but it also made me also reflect how I have never known students who were “different” in my schools that I’ve grown up in nor schools that I know of to be treated so harshly. I’ve only heard of special students treated this different in the news and in movies. Although Hollywood Movies tend to exaggerate situations, I think the importance is to really highlight how people are ignorant of many unfortunate occurrences of cruelty in some communities and to promote education on these matters. Although Hollywood movies are often criticized for not being authentic, there are certain ideas in movies that are exaggerated to bring attention to people who have never seen or been exposed to issues such as bullying of special needs children. Had Hollywood not emphasized and exaggerated these scenes, people wouldn’t pay attention to them and then there wouldn’t be as much awareness as there is on bullying as there is now. For example, in my high school, I always attended high school lectures on bullying even though it was not an issue in my school, however, the reason there was so much awareness was because of the media and Hollywood. This made me reflect on how more ignorant I would be of the world around had it not been for certain monumental Hollywood movies or reporters making news of various incidents. Although this seems like a very random thought, at times I feel that I take for granted things like watching movies and understanding that the purpose that they serve is beyond just entertainment but educational, and has actually helped mould part of my understanding of society today.  It’s interesting to think how the simple things and activities we do in life have had a role in shaping the people we become today.

On another note, a parallel between Jenny and Forest’s friendship that I found true and indicative of real life is how one friend who has supported a person in hard times will be there to pick the other friend when they are going through hard times, no matter how tough the circumstance. Whenever I’ve gone through tough times, my friends are always one to remember how I’ve helped them out and are always there for me. That being said, I’ve not always had those friendships. I’ve had friendships where people have only talked to me when it was convenient for them and watching this movie again, made me feel grateful for the friends that I have back at high school who I know will always have my back. I still am looking to create more of these types of friendships at the end of the day so that once I leave Cornell, memories with those people will be the ones that I remember, and not just memories involving studying for exams.