Compare and Contrast Essay on Forrest Gump and Wonder August

Both Zemeckis and Palacios convey through their speech and script the negative actions and measures that main characters have to deal with at the different times throughout the texts. Throughout Wonder August has to deal with constant bullying/harassment. From the first day that he enters his new school, he is given death stares from nearly every other student, and they struggle to look at him face to face or even in the eye. This portrays that even though most adults seem mature enough to treat August the same, most of the children do not understand that people should not be treated differently, even though they may not look the same as most people do. This is in contrast to Forrest Gump as throughout the entire film, Forrest is judged on how he wears leg braces and how unintelligent he is by adults and children. This is evident throughout his school years as Jenny is basically his only friend, and no other student attempts form a friendship with him as they do not want to be friends with the “weird kid”. Zemeckis uses this as for someone like Forrest, it is hard to make friends and having that one true friend that is able to stick with him is so important to him. Another action that Palacios decides to use against August is that of similar properties of “The Cheese Touch” from the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Similar to the cheese, this touch is revolved around touching August and immediately having to wash your hands. Although is an obvious culture reference, the “Cheese” was something that was mouldy and repulsive to look at, whereas in this text, Palacios depicts August as gross and someone that no one wants to touch. This is similar to Forrest Gump where Forrest is first seen getting on the school bus as a child. All children do their best to avoid sitting near or close to him. As Forrest Gump is set in the 60s, most people did not think kindly of children and people with special needs, as if they would contract the diseases or die if they are within close vicinity of them. These themes are common as they can outline the target audience that the texts are set to. The target audiences can be people who have suffered from these issues, and they would like to observe how these fictional characters deal with the actions that are thrust upon them at certain times throughout their texts.