How ‘Forrest Gump’ mastered musical storytelling
25 years ago, Forrest Gump sprinted on-screen across football fields, marshy Vietnamese jungles, and the great rebellious 60s and 70s. Based on the 1986 novel by Winston Groom, “Forrest Gump” was directed by Robert Zemeckis with an award-winning soundtrack composed by Alan Silvestri. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s scored a ton of other monumental films, notably Marvel’s “The Avengers,” “Back to the Future,” “Fandango,” and most recently “Avengers: Endgame.”
In addition to Silvestri’s original music, the soundtrack to Forrest Gump also contains over 30 pop songs by revolutionary artists of the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s (the time period depicted in the film), including Elvis Presley, Creedence Clearwater, Bob Dylan, The Doors, Simon and Garfunkel, and more. What’s so amazing about the soundtrack to this film is not that it includes both pop and original music; many movies do that. It’s how both come together to make “Forrest Gump” a time capsule for the period in which the film takes place.
Silvestri’s score
“Forrest Gump” is the story of a naïve, dim-witted young man who makes something remarkable of his life through determination and sheer luck. Silvestri’s score helps to highlight the emotion behind moments that could otherwise be overlooked. He sets these motifs over appropriate action on-screen to signify changes in identity and interactions between characters.
From the first moment of the film, we’re introduced to “I’m Forrest, Forrest Gump,” the theme of the feather.
The suite is a piano melody over a sound bed of strings. This is the character of Forrest (Tom Hanks). Much like the character, Silvestri’s theme is simple, innocent, and childlike. You can play the melody with one hand, like a child on a piano. It’s so similar to Forrest himself; the man leads a remarkable life, but he’s hardly aware of it. The violins beneath the piano add depth and gravity to the melody. Silvestri is showing us a childlike character, but hints that the events taking place around him will have truly epic proportions. This feather theme comes back often during the course of the film, particularly during emotional moments when Forrest interacts with his mother (Sally Field) or his girlfriend, Jenny (Robin Wright).
The feather itself is incredibly significant to Forrest as a character, and also to the philosophical questions brought up in the film, namely the question of predetermined destinies, which is explored several times. The comparison of our paths in life to a feather on the wind is explicitly stated by Forrest towards the end of the film: “I don’t know if we each have a destiny,” he says, “or if we’re all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze.”
Silvestri uses this and other recurring themes and motifs (running and victory, loneliness and alienation, growth and redemption) to draw attention to internal character: These returning motifs sometimes juxtapose the action on-screen to better get into the character’s head.
Pop music
The flip side of the soundtrack is everything happening around the characters. That’s when popular music comes in. Silvestri aptly inserts popular rock and folk music from the time period of the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, and tries to match the lyrics to the action on screen. The pop songs play in chronological order as the film goes through the decades, following the course of Forrest’s life.
One of the recurring gags in the movie is that Forrest is almost always present at the cusp of the most important historical events of the time period — present, and sometimes even the cause: A young Forrest meets Elvis Presley early on in the film, and he’s singing “Hound Dog” and playing a guitar. Forrest (who’s still stuck in leg braces at the time) dances and inspires Elvis. This collision with a major historical figure (that has no relation to Forrest’s internal character) is the first time that music other than Silvestri’s composed soundtrack is played.
So Silvestri’s soundtrack reflects the characters; pop music reflects the times. To prove our point, check out this short clip with Jenny. She’s playing guitar in the streets, singing “Let’s Get Together” by the Youngbloods.
She’s interrupted by a hippie in a van who asks if she wants to go to San Francisco. As soon as she agrees “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” by Scott McKenzie starts to play. Since Jenny is recounting her time as a hippie and a political activist, it makes sense that her storyline is so closely linked to the soundtrack of popular music; she is more aware of the world around her, and therefore more directly connected to the anti-war folk music of the time. Silvestri establishes this close connection by making the barrier between character and soundtrack almost nonexistent.
Pop music meets the score
The best example of this shift from score to pop is in the scene immediately following: Forrest and Jenny have spent the day together in the nation’s capital, but Jenny, and her current boyfriend, Wesley, are boarding a bus heading for Berkeley. Before she departs they have a brief conversation during which Forrest gives her a medal he won during the war:
Lieutenant Dan’s theme comes in the background, played on a clarinet. This motif serves to remind the audience of Forrest’s time in Vietnam, increasing the emotional significance of the medal, adding further weight to the act of giving it away. Jenny departs saying “I’ll always be your girl,” and as she walks onto the bus “Turn, Turn, Turn” by the Byrds begins to play. This abrupt jump from Silvestri’s music to popular serves to express how Jenny and Forrest’s relationship is being pulled apart by the events taking place around them.
Silvestri’s score is largely character-driven and tells the story of Forrest and the people around him, while not focusing on the outside world. In contrast, the additional tracks of pop music serve to elevate “Forrest Gump” to another level, making it not only a moving story, but a capsule for the time period during which the film takes place. While Silvestri gives personality to the characters on-screen, the popular music gives personality to the world around them. Though they each symbolize different elements of the film, the two types of music are not meant to segregate character from the world. Rather, they work together to better illustrate how strongly the characters are impacted by the world around them.
