Disability representation: Forrest Gump
Date
Credits
- Winston Francis Groom Jr. Creator
Format
- Poster 1531
Media
- paper 1093
Locations Made
- United States 527
- Alabama 12
- South Carolina
The movie and novel of Forrest Gump is an iconic piece of media created by Winston Francis Groom Jr. in 1989 and published as a movie in 1994. It follows the life of Forrest Gump who is mentally and physically disabled, but he has never thought of himself as disadvantaged with the help and support from his mother and the people around him.
This use of disability in these forms of media help to draw compassion from the audience towards the characters and realize that they can complete great accomplishments. He becomes a character that can be related to by people and is an encouraging message of hope. In the U.S. today, one in four people (26 percent) have a disability and yet only 3.1 percent of characters on-screen are disabled. Forrest Gump being an early representation of disabilities becomes a stepping stone for future media and ideas in inclusivity and accessibility.
