I am sitting here watching Forest Gump for the umptenth time and am thinking…Jenny was a tree hugging, drugged out, hippie slut that kept leaving Forest. Forest was a star athlete, war hero, ping pong champion, and a millionaire. The guy even liked to mow the lawn–what woman wouldn’t be lucky to have him. I know he loved her, and he was happy when he was with her, but it makes me a bit sick to my stomache when they are together. What do y’all think?
But she died, she got it in the end.
I know, it’s mean, it’s mean.
I didn’t read the book so my comments only apply to the movie. In the movie I got the impression that Jenny knew that Forrest was a good person and the best guy for her. I think she went with those other men because she felt as though she didn’t deserve him. That’s just my interpretation though.
Marc
More importantly…did “Forrest Gump” deserve all that critical praise? Blah.
I think Jenny couldn’t see how good Forrest really was until the end, by which time her days were numbered. It’s that whole grass is greener conundrum.
A hijack survey and spoilers to the book and movie.
Still with me? Okay. In the book, Jenny eventually falls in love with another man, marries him instead of Forrest, and presumedly lives happily ever after. In the movie, Jenny eventually falls in love with Forrest but then dies. In both cases, Forrest is left without the woman he loves, but which ending do you think is more tragic?
An interesting question. I think the movies’ popularity can be accounted for when you look at the enormous amount of nostalgia our society generates. You didn’t see a lot of teenagers identifying with the historical aspects of the movie much; they had no understanding of what it was about except in the vaguest terms. But adults who lived through the events it contains loved it because it unblinking examined the good and bad of a turbulent era in American history. But time has a way of erasing such feelings. Just like few people visit monuments to the veterans of the war of 1812 anymore, someday people will watch “Forrest Gump” and fail to understand it. It is very much a movie of its time.
Definitely the first, even though it is more realistic. Let’s face it, if they were real people they would have had nothing in common.
Nope.
But in the book Forrest was dumb, but not the innocent simpleton of the film(drug use,etc). I think the book Forrest would be a lot more fun to be around.
Wasn’t Forest a math genious in the book?
I’m not even sure Jenny “fell in love” with Forrest. But I think the movie version was certainly more poignant, and worked better for a movie (having her marry some other guy and vanish wouldn’t have worked as well on screen as it did in print.)
I thought the movie was terrific, and I’ve never understood the criticism it gets.
I think it was the fact that she didn’t deserve him. He loved her anyways. Love isn’t about whether you “deserve” someone, unless you treat them like shit. Basically, she was treated like shit by everyone in her life-from her father on upwards. Forrest was the only one who really cared about her and wanted her to be happy.
I’m 22, but I LOVED the historical aspects-the soundtrack ROCKS.
The question is irrelevant. In real life, how often do people end up with the person they deserve? Here’s a news flash: Life isn’t fair.