Are you sure about that score?
I mean, an IQ of 100 is average (by definition), so I’d think that someone in the low 90s would not generally stand out as being that far from average.
Are you sure about those numbers? An IQ of below 34 would be more than four standard deviations out, which puts us in literal “one in a million” territory (actually, about 4 in a million, but close enough). By that point, you really need to be asking yourself if there is any test you can administer that will give meaningful results down that low.
*chuckle.
What do ya mean Ah got burgers in mah ass? You’re kiddin’ me, ain’t ya? Who goes around with their ass full o’ burgers? Why, who even put 'em there?
Yes, scores from 90-109 on most tests are considered average, since they comprise 50% of the population.
Evidently Gump obtained an IQ score of 75, and he needed one higher in order to get into a regular public school. Enter the opportunistic and ethically challenged educator: “Your Momma must really care 'bout your education, son.”
I don’t think he had features of Autism. He established very strong and affectionate relationships with his mother, lieutenant Dan, and Jenny.
You know, probably not. I was told this as a teenager by my uncle who may have been fudging the truth, come to think about it.
Anyway, when I saw FG I was like “You know, Jim is a lot like this.”
I got the IQ numbers from Wikipedia just now, but they chime with what I’ve seen in the book itself. What’s “severe” to a layperson is generally mild or moderate to someone in the field who uses official definitions. The person you see in a restaurant who is being helped to read a menu and remember what they had last time, who is unable to read the bill and is unable to count the money in their wallet, that person probably doesn’t have a severe learning disability*.
A severe learning disability is more likely to be someone unable to communicate verbally, incontinent, possibly unable to walk or feed themselves. I don’t know the details of testing IQ for such people, but psychologists do it all the time and are fully aware of difficulties such as you mention.
Regarding the statistics, I think the IQ bell curve may be worked out on a sample that excludes people with learning disabilities (someone will explain it better than I can). Therefore there are far more people with an IQ of 34 or so (and constantly increasing with advances in medicine) than you would deduce just from standard deviations.
*“learning disability” in the UK is the same as what’s called “mental retardation” in the USA. It doesn’t include learning difficulties such as dyslexia.
I always had the theory that Forrest had mental issues because of something like birth complications. Sometimes babies get their oxygen supply cut off for a few minutes during labor because of something like the umbilical cord getting wrapped around them and it can cause permanent mental disability but it isn’t genetic and doesn’t affect appearance or physical traits that much. I have known a couple of men affected by that and they look fairly normal but they are just slow in some ways mentally just like Forrest. That explanation would help explain why Little Forrest didn’t inherit any of the problems.
It was so bad he was unable to master a Southern accent.
It was my understanding that IQ is defined in terms of the bell curve, and that test results were calibrated to match that. Though there were older standards like the ratio of mental age to biological age, which aren’t used much any more because they can lead to absurd results like Marilyn vos Savant.
I recognize that this might be the one point where the the confusion may arise – let me try to help you out…
It’s a joke. A pretty broad joke. A very old and tired joke, so may not fit the rest of the movies quality, but …
You can try to rationalize it that Forrest’s deficiency allows him to follow orders without distractions so he excels in that department. But the basic joke is … warfare, and by logical extension, the military, is stupid. Only a deficient person resorts to violence, and all warfare is a stupid pursuit. Surely you’ve met people who espouse that point of view – all warfare is wrong and unnecessary, all warmongers are simply too stupid to be capable of anything else. Just like Forrest was a college football star – his retardation made him stupid enough to excel in that stereotypical “dumb” pursuit – football. Yes, I know, in the real world, college football players don’t have to be dumb, but that’s the joke.
Its easy to miss the joke, because its not in character with the rest of film. Which is kinda the point, in addition to turning the theme of mental retardation on its head, the old jokes have to be suborned as well.
He’s not a smart man, but he knows what love is.
I’m unaware of any modern test that yields an IQ below 40. The scores are pretty meaningless in the range below 50 or so. Not very much at all is being “measured”.
Ok. The scene where he speaks at the National Mall is one of the best examples of how Forrest Gump couldn’t understand concepts that most people can understand. He couldn’t understand the concept of War. He couldn’t understand the concept of a protest. All Forrest Gump knew was that he ended up in a line and was pushed up to microphones, and that this man “wearing an American flag for a shirt” asked him to “tell us a little about the war, man”.
And what does Forrest say? Watch the film again, and pay attention to the scenes when Forrest is in Vietnam to get an idea.
Probably something like this:
“We was always taking long walks, and we was always looking for a guy named Charlie.”
I think that’s where the movie is inconsistent. Diving down a VC rat hole, Gump had to have had a very clear idea of who Charlie was and what to do if he encountered him.
Do you think Forrest ever killed anybody? Given his position I think he almost had to have done so, unless (again) he was very lucky.
Watch the scene where the lieutenant commands, “Gump! Check out that hole!” and how Forrest snaps out of his fugue and dives in with his sidearm ready for use.
Well, you know what they say… stupid is as stupid does!
The reaction of the people around him suggests he said something meaningful.
Remember that at that point was AFTER Forrest had seen combat and watched his best friend die in his arms. The idea of the scene was as I interpret it, that he says something simple, probably about Bubba, and probably poingnant and memorable.
In a more general sense you have to remember that “Forrest Gump” isn’t about a guy from Alabama; it’s about the history of America during the time of the Boomers. Forrest Gump’s just the vehicle by which the events of the time are told. The decision to have his speech on the Mall drowned out was, I think, the filmmaker’s way of expressing how America ended up feeling about the war; that, really, there isn’t a whole lot to say. There’s nothing you could say in thirty seconds about Vietnam, about the awful, terrible, wasting sadness of it, that Americans don’t already know. Insert your own words, the scene is saying; we’re probably more or less in agreement, but spend the next few seconds* thinking for yourself* about Vietnam.
There’s no possible way Forrest Gump’s mental problems can be classified because they vary from scene to scene; his apparent IQ jumps up and down depending on the needs of the narrative. But that’s okay, because that’s his purpose. He’s just there to carry you from one event in American history to the next.
Actually it Ala**BAMA!
**
This is sooo not even remotely true.
An IQ of 75, in and of itself, won’t even get you a disability check from Social Security. It’s not GREAT to have an IQ of 75, of course, but it is certainly not disabling nor is it “severe” retardation. Provided you’re taught how to do things (as in, you have parents that are actually involved), you can live a pretty normal life.
Hell I’ve seen people with IQs in the 60s that managed to keep a job (granted, unskilled) and raise kids. I’ve even seen men with IQ’s in that range make GOOD money … provided a man is able-bodied, he can be mildly retarded and still make a good living because many construction jobs pay quite well and are unskilled. (Women are kinda fucked as far as that goes.) And there are people out there with IQ’s even in the 50s that have driver’s licenses – they may have taken the oral test to get it, but they’re still allowed to get behind the wheel. (This is also true of illiterate people – I’ve never understood WHY we let people who can’t read get on the roads, but that’s another discussion.)
The more IQ points the better, of course, but it really doesn’t take a whole hell of a lot of 'em to actually survive. It’s kind of amazing, really, and humbling - for me, anyway. At work I’ve ran across people in the mild MR range that have, comparatively, done much more with what they have to work with than I have (I don’t have a high IQ or anything but it’s certainly a little bit above average). It makes me wonder how much of our potential we “normal” people waste.
So true. The Wendy’s near my apartment employed a kid with Down Syndrome who had the job of keeping the dining room clean. He was the only competent employee in the place.
Exactly right. Well said.