# Does "Forrest Gump" make fun of dumb people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 7, 2014, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-forrest-gump-make-fun-of-dumb-people/695022 "2014-08-07T11:23:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-forrest-gump-make-fun-of-dumb-people/695022/41 "2014-08-08T19:41:39Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > At the moment I’m not recalling a lot of intellectuals in the movie, perhaps I’ve forgotten since I only saw it once soon after its release. The closest thing is Wesley, Jenny’s boyfriend, President of the Berkeley chapter of the SDS and an associate of a chapter (?) of Black Panthers. He looks like a caricature of a [white, comfortable Marxist radical](https://www.google.com/search?q=forrest+gump+wesley&tbm=isch&imgil=c60TfPqAF2CMMM%253A%253Bn0HljVznLlcJfM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fchristopherfountain.wordpress.com%25252F2012%25252F08%25252F04%25252Flowlife-imitates-art%25252F&source=iu&usg=__-iREuLPKCPXiRzIC8ZGpRhN40Ig%3D&sa=X&ei=YSflU-LEKsydyATiv4LYAw&ved=0CC8Q9QEwAw&biw=1619&bih=827#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=c60TfPqAF2CMMM%253A%3Bn0HljVznLlcJfM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fchristopherfountain.files.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F08%252Fjenny-and-wesley.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fchristopherfountain.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F08%252F04%252Flowlife-imitates-art%252F%3B255%3B192), refers to Forrest as a “baby killer”, slaps Jenny during the Black Panther party, then blames it on “this war and that lying son of a bitch Johnson”. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-forrest-gump-make-fun-of-dumb-people/695022/42 "2014-08-08T20:20:41Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > “Forrest Gump? Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain’t retarded!” Everybody knows you never go full retard! ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-forrest-gump-make-fun-of-dumb-people/695022/43 "2014-08-09T00:11:51Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > It has a clear anti-intellectual message and it offended me greatly, and still does. I was offended by the heavy-handed feminist message. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-forrest-gump-make-fun-of-dumb-people/695022/44 "2014-08-09T03:31:29Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > That is what is so horribly pernicious about the film – it sends a clear and a false message that virtue is more important than intelligence, not in any abstract scale of values but in terms of material, financial success. Forrest’s shrimp boat is the only one left afloat in the harbor after the storm, apparently just because Forrest has been going to church and making nice with God (none of the other shrimpers went to church?!). And thus he grows rich. In real life, rich Forrest Gumps who did not inherit their money are perhaps not unknown, but they are very extremely rare. Actually, I think you got that all wrong. Forrest goes to church and comes up empty time and time again. What saved his boat was that he never looked at the weather report and stayed out in the middle of a hurricane, which is about the stupidest thing he could have done. What’s pernicious about Forrest Gump is that it gives the impression that someone can stumble and luck their way through life while doing nothing out of the ordinary, all they need is a good heart. We certainly agree on that. But religion was never a strong aspect of the movie, he was horribly out of place in the church and was going through the motions, he came to doubt God when Jenny died, and while he was a believer it never drove his actions. ---
**Author:** ![kurtisokc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kurtisokc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kurtisokc)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-forrest-gump-make-fun-of-dumb-people/695022/45 "2014-08-09T03:52:18Z")
Forrest is, at most, borderline retarded. At one point it is mentioned that his IQ is 74. 70 is the most commonly accepted cut off AFAIK. Why is it a “creepy interpretation” that Jenny’s abuse causes her to become a “slut.” I understand that it is a loaded term, but it’s a label that the viewer must choose to apply to her. The movie doesn’t demand it. And its not like it isn’t well known that promiscuity is a fairly common way for people who were abused as kids (especially sexually) to act out later in life. Other than that, I pretty much agree with RickJay’s interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-forrest-gump-make-fun-of-dumb-people/695022/46 "2014-08-09T04:09:11Z")
Forrest is not smart but he is wise. He has a zen like peacefulness that Lt. Dan lacks. Abuse does not cause someone to become a slut. That is a myth. It may happen, it may not. There are plenty of sluts who were not abused as children. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-forrest-gump-make-fun-of-dumb-people/695022.md?page=2)