To get an "A"

Update:  I'd originally wanted this turned in on paper before the end of the year, but just try to write something about Gump on your blog.  Just keep in mind that at least SOMETHING should be on your blog, and the more the better.  If there's nothing - not even a review on one of the many films we watched - it's going to look like you weren't interested at all and just occupying a seat.  I do want to be nice.:)

As we all know, this class is big, this class got canceled a lot, and this class is an elective in the last semester of your senior year - so, it isn't high priority.  Apologies if it was disappointing to some of you.

In any case, I do plan to be generous, but I would like just a bit of effort from you all to secure a minimum score before the end of the semester.

Please write an official essay on Forrest Gump.

We will discuss possible thesis ideas in class.  Off the top of my head:

• Trace the treatment of a historical event within the book and the film.  What comment is being made on it?  How is it being projected through the interpretations of Forrest Gump?
• Gump as allegory.  How is this story and this character an allegory?
• Gump as "hero."  How does Forrest fit into the universal definition of a hero?  Is he a hero?
• Comparative review.  How does the film differ from the book, and how does it succeed or fail in the metapmorphisis?

I would like to split the class into two group for today and tomorrow, and then we will watch the film next class.