Forrest Gump Plays Ping Pong
Discretion: Spoilers for Forrest Gump ahead!
If you’ve ever watched Tom Hanks is Forrest Gump, then you might have wondered why Forrest was sent to China to play ping pong.
Stepping back a bit, Forrest Gump, believe it or not, covers many aspects of the 20th century. Starting from Forrest’s encounter with Presley, it can be assumed that it was Forrest’s strange dance that would influence Presley’s Hound Dog (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJslCsekjIg). Afterwards, JFK’s assassination, would eventually pave the way to Lyndon Johnson’s presidency and of course Richard Nixon’s. It is then that we see this iconic scene where the lights keep Forrest Gump “awake at night” which we know as the Watergate scandal (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmnSMlAstMc). Then, we see Jenny’s indoctrination to the hippie counterculture and her heavy use of drugs.
Then of course we get to Gump’s iconic scene where he gets shot in the buttocks. Interestingly enough however, Gump’s friendship with Bubba showed greater integration of black men into the army during the Vietnam War despite the disproportionately higher casualties. It was then that black men shared barracks and were even treated as friends and allies. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rT5fYMfEUc). Eventually, Forrest’s introduction to ping pong would land him on the All American ping pong team. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Forrest gets sent to China as part of the ping pong diplomacy, a historical event that opened U.S. China relations after U.S. ping pong player Glenn Cowan accidentally enters the Chinese national team’s shuttle bus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvJ4wh1kwR8) Mao, took this opportunity to thaw U.S. China relations by inviting the team on an all expense paid trip to China.
In many ways, Forrest Gump reflects many of the dirtier realities of the 20th century. The Vietnam War’s atrocities are reflected by Bubba’s death and Lieutenant Dan’s amputations. Jenny’s contraction of aids, presumably due to her previous hippie lifestyle, would leave Forrest a widower and a single father. However, Forrest Gump was by no means a completely accurate representation of the 20th century. It is no more than a movie that teaches us key events of the 20th century in an emotional and humorous way. In the end, we see Forrest lead a very exciting and fulfilled life -- all because his mom cared about his education ;).
I found the idea of ping pong diplomacy very interesting and decided for further research the affect it had in-depth. In 1967, Nixon purposefully said that China was going to become a key player in international relations and activities, and that the US should improve its relations with the country. This improvement ultimately stemmed from the World Ping Pong Championships in 1971, where China's top player Zhuang Zedong gifted Glenn Cowan, a US player, a silk screen picture and proceeded to casually talk with him. What was perticular about this case was that many Chinese were sent to the tournament with strict orders avoid contact with American players. However, upon hearing of this, Mao Zedong applauded the Chinese player for his skilled diplomacy. At the end of the tournament, Mao invited the US team to an all-expense paid competition in China, paving the way for future thawing of the Cold War.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.history.com/news/ping-pong-diplomacy
I didn't realize how much this movie draws on 20th century struggles until I read this post. Ping-Pong diplomacy was one of the weirder yet effective strategies during the Cold War. Time magazine called the invitation from the Chinese "The ping heard round the world." This would become the first time Americans had been invited to the country since 1949. Ping-Pong diplomacy lead to Nixon's visit to China, which has been credited with "showing the world that two vastly different governments could meet on the grounds of common interest and in a spirit of mutual respect."
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ping-pong-diplomacy-60307544/
I really liked reading this blog post and found it very eye opening. Forest Gump has been one of my favorite films made and it was through reading your blog that I made the connection that the entirety of the film depicts the Nixon presidency, the issue of race, the drug and hippy lifestyle, and the ping pong diplomacy. Although the movie may seem like a humorous movie, it brought lots of important issues in the 1960's up. Now the movie makes more sense where the characters and the plot are tied into the historical context of the era.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Gump#Critical_reception