Was Forrest really the father of Jenny’s son?
She shows up, has sex with him once and then disappears and later we discover Forrest is a father.
I have no idea why I suddenly came to doubt, 'cause I haven’t seen the movie in years, but there you have it.
He was in the book.
I never questioned who was the father, although it is an interesting question. In the movie, I think it is more than implied when Forrest meets him and they have similar mannerisms.
Well that, and Jenny says, " He’s your son Forrest…"
Again in the book it is never implied, he is Forrest Junior.
If it makes you feel better I always kind of doubted it myself from the first viewing. He’s told it is, and the audience through him, but it always occured to my friends and me that she could be lying, not know the truth, or anything else.
I think he is. In the movie, Jenny is living with Forest for a while before the night they have sex and she runs off, so it clearly can’t be any of the men she slept with before him. Now, we have no idea what Jenny was doing in the few months after she left Forest, but if she’s sure it’s his child, then it’s possible he was the last man she slept with (at least until Forest was born.) Unlikely with Jenny’s past, sure, but the time she spent with Forest probably helped changed her attitude towards that lifestyle.
Somewhere along the line she contracted HIV and by the time Forrest found her again she had developed full-blown immunity deficiency. The timing seems very very narrow for her son to not have been born with it.
I always wondered if she glommed back onto him because he was fabulously rich, and wanted her son taken care of because she knew she was dying. Her recovery does seem sincere, so in the spirit the movie intended I will accept that Forrest is Forrest Jr’s father and Jenny has repented.
Certainly, Tom Hanks’ reaction to finding out he’s a father and wondering if “Is he smart or is he like me?” is one of the most touching things I’ve ever seen in a movie. Tom Hanks nails the fear, the hope, and the anguish perfectly.
Jenny was a filthy tramp, and dumped her bastard with Forrest because she knew he would be decent enough to take care of it. Thats the way I see it. Didn’t, and won’t read the book. I’ve wasted too much of my life on that crappy story.
I hated that movie.
No sympathy for the fact she was sexually abused by her father? Back then there weren’t the resources to deal with that…Jenny pretty much had to muddle through on her own.
I won’t say she didn’t use Forrest, but I do think she did love him in her own way and finally realized at the end that he was the only man who would never hurt her.
The book is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike the movie.
[Stephan Colbert] Sorry! Not fallin’ for the East-Coast-Liberal-Elite-Feminist-Agenda Pary line! Movin’ on…[/Stephan Colbert]
I agree with your assessment of the movie, but your hate is directed at the wrong character. Jenny is the one who is resisting the lesson: “Try to be more retarded, and the world will be a better place.”
No, the lesson is, “The world is retarded, you need to be retarded to be happy.”
I agree with the comment as it applies to the movie. Not seeing it applying to the book so much. Nor to the fact that the movie is nothing like the book.
It’s been awhile, though, and all that I’m left with from the book, really, is Forrest treating Jenny badly once he gets a good job - as a wrestler dressed in diapers. That and the phrase from the book is “Being an idiot is no box of chocolates.”
Does the child always get it when precautions aren’t taken to prevent it? I have wondered that before, but never remember to research the answer.
You know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna go around quoting that. Then when someone corrects me and says, “no, the line is 'life is like a box of chocolates…you never kno…”
I will cut them right off and say, “Obviously, you’ve never read the book. Reading is great. You should try it sometimes.”
Of course I never read the book, but they won’t know that.
This is one case where the movie is a definite improvement over the book. I feel dumber having read it and never would have if I’d had any other option.
I read that untreated HIV+ women have a 25% chance of giving birth to an HIV+ child. Treatment can cut that down to 2%. I don’t know if it makes a difference whether the HIV has progressed to AIDS.
Some states make it a part of normal pre-natal or post-partum care to test for HIV to reduce the number of children born with HIV.
I think the movie makes it clear that the kid is FOrrest’s by the way he gets on the bus and uses exactly the same dialogue as Forrest when he rides the bus for the first time.
StG
I thought she had said “You’re his Daddy”, but it’s been a while.
One of my few little-known facts about a movie that I discovered without the help of the internet is about Forrest Gump. The movie is set in 1981. How do I know? There’s an ad for a 1981 Chevy Citation on the bus as it goes by. (of course it could be a warm day late in the year of 1980, but let’s not split hairs)
Chevy Citation…It Works.
I can’t say I hated it, but IMO there’s NO WAY it should have beat Pulp Fiction for Best Picture. 