Here is the presentation of my final paper.
Author: johnmill79
33, currently residing in Durham, NC. I have a somewhat tedious job, but it's helping me live a bit of the good life until I get things going. Here, I'll blog about things I encounter in my daily life, my continuous search for a career path, entertainment, books I like, etc. Hope you enjoy. View all posts by johnmill79
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Hey John! Great digital presentation. As you know I peer-reviewed your Inquiry Project draft and since then you’ve added a lot of great details regarding your ‘equipment’ for living. I really like that you chose Forrest Gump to analyze because it is very relatable. But more importantly, I like how you connected your personal experiences with Forrest’s. Being that you are an individual who is legally blind, I am sure you have encountered very similar situations like Forrest although his disability was cognitive. In your presentation you mentioned how movies can alter the self in minor ways. I find this to be true as well because although the movie does point out how “odd” or different Forrest is I find him to be the individual who has the most heart. In every situation he was placed in her always took on someone else as his responsibility while others were giving him “limitations.” I also took note of the article you used in your Literature Review that used the word homology, and how that closely relates to your ‘equipment’ for families directly raising children with disabilities. That was an article I had not read and I am glad you were able to find one article that directly discussed disabilities–I know that was difficult. Nonetheless, you did a great job making other articles work for your thesis. Great job!
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Hey John! I appreciate that you chose a movie that connected to you personally; I think when we can write about something we are connected to, touched by, or passionate about, we naturally are more interested and motivated to get our point across. Thank you for sharing with us the fact that you are legally blind; I think that you bring an incredibly unique perspective to this course and especially this inquiry project. Your application of Forrest Gump is fitting and a great example of how to familiarize and humanize people with disabilities.
I could identify with your inquiry project presentation growing up with a best friend who was deaf. I moved to North Carolina when I was in middle school and there was a deaf girl in my class. I wanted to be able to talk with her so I went up to her interpreter one day and asked if she would teach me how to sign. She agreed and started tutoring me after school and pretty soon it turned into an after school ‘club’ with multiple people joining so they could learn to sign. Growing up with my friend, I witnessed first hand some of the obstacles she would have to overcome and some of the discrimination she faced so when you pointed out the equipment for living Forrest Gump provides, it makes me look at it in a new light.
I did not have a chance to peer review your rough draft but from the information, data and literature you provided in your digital presentation I feel confident that you found some good research to back your thesis: that the movie Forrest Gump provides equipment for living for those who have disabilities and how their parents react/treat/manage a child with disabilities. In the future, I would just take a step back from your work and digest it again. Your digital presentation provided some good overview but I would suggest rehearsing through the verbiage a little more. There were definitely a few spots here and there that you could tell you got tongue-tied (which happened to me as well…I think it happens to all of us). Breath, hit pause, collect your thoughts, then pick it back up and begin again. I did like that you sounded natural/conversational and not necessarily staged or rehearsed; there is something very relatable to that type of tone.
Overall I think you did a great job supporting your thesis and providing personal and literary examples and linking them back to the movie. Bravo.
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Hey John, what a topic to tackle. Forrest Gump is one of the movies I did see. It is a cult favorite, you mentioned that it is one of your favorites as well. I definitely agree this movie falls under the guideline for equipment of living, in that it allows you to see the progression of a child to man with a disability and even though there is no mention on what his disability is, the film places it under the sub title, ” Slow”. I noticed you stated there is limited information on disability issues, did this limited resource pool affect your scope of information? I think you hit on some great points, if I may suggest, add in some more connections to how theory would is relate to this film. I think Forrest Gump had a series of connections to particular traditions, for example socio-cultural played a major role in how Forrest reacted to his environment and it reacted to him. Jenny being a “normal” connection to a different world. This contrast highlights the disability but there are times in the story where his disability is more normal than Jenny and her drug addiction. As I stated earlier, great film to highlight the topic of disability. Awesome choice, great job.
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