Really, I didn’t think Jenny lived her life the way she wanted to at all (ex. the near suicide attempt).
Am I the only one who vaguely remembers Jenny telling Forrest that she had a “virus”? Or maybe she just said she was sick…
I remember her telling Forrest that she was very sick with some disease, and that the doctors didn’t know what it was.
I, too, remember her specifically saying it was a virus, and I saw it a good while after it came out after people had been talking about it, so I was specifically looking for an indication that it was or was not AIDS.
Chronic, deadly virus, in the early 80s, in a promiscuous drug user… I think that AIDS is probably a safe bet.
Yeah, she did say “virus”, and this was the real anachronism of the movie. At the time she told Forrest, AIDS was around, but the vector hadn’t been identified yet. So her doctors wouldn’t have been able to tell her it was a virus. I believe they tossed in the “virus” line to specifically identify the disease as AIDS.
Sua
Along these lines, I always wondered what Tiny Tim from “A Chrismas Carol” et al. had. What would have been wrong with his leg, that he was going to die from by (presumably) next Christmas, that a good diet and improved conditions would improve? That really drives me crazy. Also, do you think that the boys who play him get beat up at school?
Of course, it is possible to have unsafe sex with an HIV positive person and not develop HIV yourself. I’m sure there are some stastics somewhere, but I’m to busy to go look for them.
I think it’s highly likely that she died of AIDS related complications (pneumonia or some other opportunistic infection) since this is the early 80s before they even had a name for the virus let alone a treatment. Many people are saying she couldn’t have gotten the virus and died from it in only 4 years. Yes she could have if her immune system was weak enough. Some are even saying that she couldn’t have gotten HIV since it didn’t exist at that time. The first confirmed AIDS death us in fact a boy from 1969. So in fact she could easily have had the virus long before she had sex with Forrest.
Thanks and welcome to the boards but the post previous to yours was made thirteen years ago.
Scarily, if you go back in time from the OP by the same length of time as has elapsed since it was posted, you end up in… 1988 :eek:
Wow.
This must be some kind of record.
A thirteen year old thread, and no banned posters!
She died from a rare brain-eating disease.
I KNOW this is a zombie, but I’ve heard several good arguments for him having rickets and TB.
Neither are pleasant, and both could be mostly remedied by throwing lots of money at them for the “cures” of the time: good food, rest, and lots of fresh air and sunlight.
Ricketsis really severe vitamin D deficiency, and TB is .. well, TB.
What’s really funny is that with the rise of helicopter parenting, all-indoor activities, the focus on skin-cancer, and spf everything, rich kids are starting to get it again in record numbers. Supplements usually fix that easily.
What’s less funny is that TB is starting to be a killer plague again, because so many strains are drug resistant now. So Tim might start being a bit more timely than he knows.
IIRC wasn’t AIDS brught to the public attention about the early 80’s? According to Wiki it was first mentioned in 1981 and the term was in use by 1982. Of course, this was due to an unusual number of young gay men getting sick and dying (Frisco and NYC?). Presumably, the epidemic had been building and spreading for years before that; it was the distinctive means of transmission that made it epidemic and obvious in the gay community. IV drug users sickening and dying probably would not have been as noticeable.
I agree, the whole premise of the movie was that everything historic and notable of the era involved Forrest - so Jenny dying of AIDS would be an obvious piece of the story.
Also, IIRC, the disease was more rampant and destructive than today, and there were no treatments. So it was not unusual for people to kick off a year or two later, if I recall from stories of the time. It was not expected that people who tested positive would survive for decades (It’s Magic?).
I believe all they all died from AIDS.
Jenny dies in the 1980s, so it is quite certainly the case that AIDS was a going concern at some point before she dies. It wasn’t well understood - as in fact she says in the movie.
Jenny pretty much HAS to be dying of AIDS; it is the only thematically consistent possibility. The entire point of the movie is to tell the story of post-war America with the characters representing the personifications of parts of America’s character.
ETA: to msmith537.
What’s funny is that nowadays, you can live for decades with it…