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No way in hell, says I. Call Maury.
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RTTP: Forrest Gump. Jenny. Her?!
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No way in hell, says I. Call Maury.
shadowsdarknes
Member
*Sorry want to post this on the fresh page.
This thread compelled me to watch Forrest Gump for the first time in like 10 years. I just assumed it was overrated and overplayed so thus wrote it off. Oh boy was I wrong, Forrest Gump is an enjoyable story about ironic good fortune. At first, your assessment of Jenny caused me to hate the movie even more, but then I thought about it. I then remembered Jenny wasn't like that at all in the movie. I think it's ridiculous to ridicule her character with sinister motivations. I see a conflict between two behavior and emotional forces. Jenny emotionally distraught loves Forrest but he isn't the one who can heal the pain inside. She needs to figure that out for herself. So she adventures around the U.S getting involved with different people, political movements, music and drugs. I think it's pretty clear she isn't quite passionate about politics, therefore she is following dominant, passionate men into that scene to search for answers to only find abuse again. She said she wanted to be famous, to sing and be on stage which only led to her embarrassment. Forrest saved her at a point of desperation and helped her realize her road must keep on continuing. I believe that moment killed her dream of becoming famous, not her love of music per say, alas that experience did not yield answers. Drugs was a constant escape from her past, however we see in two scenes her drug abuse leaves her in a state of distress. Later on during the Free Bird scene, you can see a black eye painting her face. The apartment she is in is filthy and littered with drug paraphernalia, I believe the room serves as a reflection of how she feels about herself and at that point she realizes who she is and finally accepts herself. She shuts Forrest out until she can become the woman Forrest deserves, for if he could understand her emotional damage he would not see her as the innocent girl he fell in love with as children.
This thread compelled me to watch Forrest Gump for the first time in like 10 years. I just assumed it was overrated and overplayed so thus wrote it off. Oh boy was I wrong, Forrest Gump is an enjoyable story about ironic good fortune. At first, your assessment of Jenny caused me to hate the movie even more, but then I thought about it. I then remembered Jenny wasn't like that at all in the movie. I think it's ridiculous to ridicule her character with sinister motivations. I see a conflict between two behavior and emotional forces. Jenny emotionally distraught loves Forrest but he isn't the one who can heal the pain inside. She needs to figure that out for herself. So she adventures around the U.S getting involved with different people, political movements, music and drugs. I think it's pretty clear she isn't quite passionate about politics, therefore she is following dominant, passionate men into that scene to search for answers to only find abuse again. She said she wanted to be famous, to sing and be on stage which only led to her embarrassment. Forrest saved her at a point of desperation and helped her realize her road must keep on continuing. I believe that moment killed her dream of becoming famous, not her love of music per say, alas that experience did not yield answers. Drugs was a constant escape from her past, however we see in two scenes her drug abuse leaves her in a state of distress. Later on during the Free Bird scene, you can see a black eye painting her face. The apartment she is in is filthy and littered with drug paraphernalia, I believe the room serves as a reflection of how she feels about herself and at that point she realizes who she is and finally accepts herself. She shuts Forrest out until she can become the woman Forrest deserves, for if he could understand her emotional damage he would not see her as the innocent girl he fell in love with as children.
James Woods
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Absolutely. Goddamn. Jenny isn't evil because she doesn't return Forest's love. She liked Forest but that was the extent and it's the one honest thing in this film full of soap. I love the film but it is soapy as all fucking hell.
Great post shadowsdarknes.
Sometimes the perception of the movie, that it's too over sentimental and schmaltzy and the Pulp Fiction/Shawshank backlash (which is just 3 great movies), eclipses my last viewing of it. But I watch it to ending almost anytime it's on tv. Its just so well executed, and I've come to really love it.
I understand you could perceive it as a condemning of a rebellious life in Jenny, but I think it really was just a tale of an isolated incident. It's certainly happened before that drugs and abuse have taken someones life, and I think it worked really well narratively for Jenny. Just to contrast Forrest, as stated previously, adds another layer to the story. It makes it a bigger film than it would have been otherwise in scope.
Mostly the best shit of the movie though, is how Forrest communicates with Jenny and Lt. Dan throughout the movie. It plays pretty brilliantly on the surface as a very direct charmed life comedy of hilarious historical significance. (kind of like Norm MacDonald-lite in directness "that's bad" "that's good" prose) But the movie really excels as it hits another layer of complexity, when it comes to a few specific people in Forrest's life and their issues. Also, how through events of grand historical significance, Forrest keeps perspective with a shocking amount of reverence for Momma, Lt. Dan, and Jenny. When any of them need him, he's there. It constantly pulls it back from its larger scale story, to keep focused on his relationships. Which Forrest understands as important to him. Forrest is never as distraught about political events, as he is about what Jenny might be doing. There's obviously depictions of lifestyles at work, but I don't think it's a political movie at all. It's got about as much real political intent as Back to the Future or Roger Rabbit.
Sometimes the perception of the movie, that it's too over sentimental and schmaltzy and the Pulp Fiction/Shawshank backlash (which is just 3 great movies), eclipses my last viewing of it. But I watch it to ending almost anytime it's on tv. Its just so well executed, and I've come to really love it.
I understand you could perceive it as a condemning of a rebellious life in Jenny, but I think it really was just a tale of an isolated incident. It's certainly happened before that drugs and abuse have taken someones life, and I think it worked really well narratively for Jenny. Just to contrast Forrest, as stated previously, adds another layer to the story. It makes it a bigger film than it would have been otherwise in scope.
Mostly the best shit of the movie though, is how Forrest communicates with Jenny and Lt. Dan throughout the movie. It plays pretty brilliantly on the surface as a very direct charmed life comedy of hilarious historical significance. (kind of like Norm MacDonald-lite in directness "that's bad" "that's good" prose) But the movie really excels as it hits another layer of complexity, when it comes to a few specific people in Forrest's life and their issues. Also, how through events of grand historical significance, Forrest keeps perspective with a shocking amount of reverence for Momma, Lt. Dan, and Jenny. When any of them need him, he's there. It constantly pulls it back from its larger scale story, to keep focused on his relationships. Which Forrest understands as important to him. Forrest is never as distraught about political events, as he is about what Jenny might be doing. There's obviously depictions of lifestyles at work, but I don't think it's a political movie at all. It's got about as much real political intent as Back to the Future or Roger Rabbit.
Zoe
Member
It's harder to go female -> male, so his chances (especially with his luck) were low.
Doesn't explain Forrest Jr though...
Why? What would that have accomplished? Did they even understand it by the time she died?
ShipTheCheese
Member
Have seen this movie 20 times and I still love every bit of it.
People hating this movie are just soulless, jaded people.
People hating this movie are just soulless, jaded people.
opinions are great
This is one of the reasons why it's hard for me to watch this movie. The romance in this movie is very unfair and cheap shotted.
What I mean by this is simply give the characters role reversals. What if the Jenny character was the one with a mental disability, leads a charmed life, and trusts everyone and Forrest was the one who was selfish, did what he wanted and took without giving?
Now take those characters and fast forward to the scene in the rain in the college. What would selfish Forrest do when mentally handicapped Jenny arrives at his door step in the rain professing her love for him. It gets worse if you role reverse the scene where they actually did make love.
It goes to show its perfectly okay for Jenny to boink Forrest but if you turned it around it would be a horrifying scene and end up as a Lifetime movie special.
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