# Why do some people dislike Forrest Gump so much? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775 "2011-02-27T04:32:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/121 "2011-03-01T01:30:50Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Besides, if your reason to hate a movie is mainly the “interpretation” …well thats just all kinds of Gump level sillyness right there. In this context, “interpretation” is basically short hand for, “how the movie made me feel, and how I am able to intellectualize that emotional response.” As it is being used in this conversation, it’s pretty all-encompassing term for any reaction one has to the film, negative or positive. The only reasons for liking or disliking the film that would not fall under the umbrella of “interpretation” would be something wholly external to the film itself. Like, if you hated it because Tom Hanks once kicked your dog, that would be a non-interpretive reason for hating the film. What you’ve written here is a tautology. You could rewrite it as “if your reason to hate a movie is mainly the reason you hated the movie…” while still perfectly preserving the meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/122 "2011-03-01T01:31:35Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > On the other hand, I’m pretty sure I have you figured out. > And your schtick is _really_ tired. I apologize for my failure to entertain. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/123 "2011-03-01T01:33:13Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > This conversation is ri-goddamn-diculous. Nobody cares if you don’t like Forrest Gump; the issue is people not liking it for bogus interpretations. Sorry, **Mills** , but we’re going to have to agree to disagree that there’s no such thing as an objectively wrong interpretation of a piece. Yes there is. If you’re going to tell me that _Jane Eyre_ is a metaphor for the futility of the Cold War, you’re wrong. If I’m trying to claim that interpretation as an objective truth, yes, I’m certainly wrong. But interpretation is not about objective truth, it’s about subjective response. If I read _Jane Eyre_, and all I can think about as I read it is how much it reminds me of the Berlin Wall, missiles in Cuba, and proxy wars in Southeast Asia… well, that’s admittedly a highly idiosyncratic reaction, but if that’s how I honestly respond to the work, in what way is that _wrong_? It’s my genuine emotional/intellectual reaction. This is the essence of reader response theory. It’s the idea of art, not as message, but as a mirror. That what we see in a work of art is not the artist, but a reflection of ourselves. That’s what makes art the most amazing, uniquely human thing in the world: that you can take a single object, with precisely measurable properties, show it to a million people, and receive a million different ideas about what it means. I find that the most astonishing thing imaginable. As a stone cold atheist, I find that damned close to miraculous. And that’s big reason why I respond very strongly when someone says, “You’re objectively wrong,” or (even worse), “You’re only saying that because you’re bitter/don’t get it/a fanboy,” and so forth, because I find that sort of sentiment profoundly disrespectful, not just to the other person, but to entire concept of art as a human endeavor itself. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/124 "2011-03-01T02:10:29Z")
I disliked _Forrest Gump_ because it was boring. Admittedly it’s been years since I watched it, but I have absolutely no desire to see it again. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/125 "2011-03-01T02:31:44Z")
Bahhh Lets say there is a movie. The people that love it claim this the story is as follows. Girl in trouble. Girl meets boy. Boy rescues girl. They live happily ever after. This is the general interpretation and the reason why folks that love it love it. Now, someone comes along and exclaims they hate that kinda of movie. Fine, thats all well and good and makes perfect sense and you like what you like and you hate what you hate. Now, instead, lets say the haters have some interpretation that has little to nothing to do with the general/folks that love it interpretation. They claim the story is some kind of metaphor about why shopping at yard sales leads to the distruction of democracy. Lets also say their arguements as to why THEIR interpretation is the ONLY correct one is rather weak when it comes to their logic/analysis of the movie. In the later case, I would argue that the haters are more the problem moreso than the movie itself. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/126 "2011-03-01T02:34:40Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > If I’m trying to claim that interpretation as an objective truth, yes, I’m certainly wrong. But interpretation is not about objective truth, it’s about subjective response. If I read _Jane Eyre_, and all I can think about as I read it is how much it reminds me of the Berlin Wall, missiles in Cuba, and proxy wars in Southeast Asia… well, that’s admittedly a highly idiosyncratic reaction, but if that’s how I honestly respond to the work, in what way is that _wrong_? It’s my genuine emotional/intellectual reaction. This is the essence of reader response theory. It’s the idea of art, not as message, but as a mirror. That what we see in a work of art is not the artist, but a reflection of ourselves. That’s what makes art the most amazing, uniquely human thing in the world Yes, yes, we liberal arts majors spend a lot of time talking about this, I get it. There is, I hope you see, a difference between a) saying you didn’t like because it reminds you of something, or makes you feel a way, that may (not) have been the creator’s intent, and b) not liking a work because its theme or underlying premise is [abc], when it objectively is _not_ [abc]. Anyway, I’ve grown tired of defending a film that I said in my first post to this thread that I think is over-rated. But really, I’m not defending the film here, I’m – ahh, if we don’t get what I’m driving at by now, we won’t ever. Btw, that edit was _way_ outside of the five minute window. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/127 "2011-03-01T02:42:29Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Yes, yes, we liberal arts majors spend a lot of time talking about this, I get it. There is, I hope you see, a difference between a) saying you didn’t like because it reminds you of something, or makes you feel a way, that may (not) have been the creator’s intent, and b) not liking a work because its theme or underlying premise is [abc], when it objectively is _not_ [abc]. I don’t think a theme or underlying premise can be objectively determined. I think those are ultimately subjective criteria. > [@](#): > > Anyway, I’ve grown tired of defending a film that I said in my first post to this thread that I think is over-rated. But really, I’m not defending the film here, I’m – ahh, if we don’t get what I’m driving at by now, we won’t ever. And I’m not attacking a film I said in my first post I don’t recall well enough to discuss intelligently. I’m more interested in discussing process than results, anyway. > [@](#): > > Btw, that edit was _way_ outside of the five minute window. What can I say? I’m a mod. I cheat. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/128 "2011-03-01T02:48:22Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] Jen-nay. I found their on/off relationship tiresome and creepy after awhile. Him obssessing over her, her constantly using and leaving him. I had more pity for Jenny than I did for Forrest sometimes, and yet there was no good luck in her life like there was for him. Yes, she had a chance to stay with Forrest and be his loving wife forever and forever, but even then she saw it as something too good to be true. Maybe she knew her love for Forrest wasn’t real…or she was just so wrecked inside that she didn’t think she deserved the “good” life he was offering her. [/QUOTE] Also a more practical consideration: regardless of how good a person he was or how much he loved you, could _you_ be happy long term with somebody who was borderline retarded? In one of the [After Hours shorts](http://www.cracked.com/video_18203_why-back-to-future-secretly-horrifying.html) one of the characters mentions that a reverse sex Forrest Gump would be horrifying: a guy of normal intelligence brings a borderline retarded female childhood friend to orgasm in his dorm room and later returns and impregnates her- he’d be considered a total villain. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/129 "2011-03-01T02:54:59Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > In one of the [After Hours shorts](http://www.cracked.com/video_18203_why-back-to-future-secretly-horrifying.html) one of the characters mentions that a reverse sex Forrest Gump would be horrifying: a guy of normal intelligence brings a borderline retarded female childhood friend to orgasm in his dorm room and later returns and impregnates her- he’d be considered a total villain. Very interesting and probably correct observation there. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/130 "2011-03-01T02:59:47Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I don’t think a theme or underlying premise can be objectively determined. I think those are ultimately subjective criteria. You’re right. I’ll say what I was afraid to say in section all this time: _Jane Eyre_ was a treatise on war, and ultimately a commentary whose premise was built on the futility of dissent. That’s why I didn’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/131 "2011-03-01T03:05:19Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Also a more practical consideration: regardless of how good a person he was or how much he loved you, could _you_ be happy long term with somebody who was borderline retarded? > > In one of the [After Hours shorts](http://www.cracked.com/video_18203_why-back-to-future-secretly-horrifying.html) one of the characters mentions that a reverse sex Forrest Gump would be horrifying: a guy of normal intelligence brings a borderline retarded female childhood friend to orgasm in his dorm room and later returns and impregnates her- he’d be considered a total villain. True but Jenny wasn’t an evil person at all. She grew up under really hard circumstances herself. Her mother was gone and her father was molesting alcoholic. It isn’t any wonder that she got screwed up so much for so long. She was more like a sister to Forrest but they weren’t biologically related. She realized that he could probably never have a normal girl on his own so she filled in for it one night just to give him the experience. She was lucky that his mental condition wasn’t genetic for Little Forrest’s sake. Jenny was mostly straightened out when she found out she was dying of AIDS because she had a son to take care of. The question remains open if she would have told Big Forrest about Little Forrest at all if she wasn’t dying. I find it really odd when people say the movie doesn’t have a plot or the characters are one-dimensional. All of them grew through circumstances and it all came together at the end for both good and bad. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/132 "2011-03-01T03:05:50Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > You’re right. I’ll say what I was afraid to say in section all this time: _Jane Eyre_ was a treatise on war, and ultimately a commentary whose premise was built on the futility of dissent. That’s why I didn’t like it. Like I said back in post 106, this approach to critical theory relies on the supposition that the person offering up his opinion is doing so honestly. If you’re trying to demonstrate its flaws by presenting an interpretation you don’t actually support, you aren’t really understanding the point of the approach. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/133 "2011-03-01T03:10:24Z")
The most chilling scene in the movie to me was when Jenny was outside the strip club and was obviously contemplating jumping, then got in the truck with a stranger instead as the only way out. It also defined most of her life choices- acting impulsively was her coping mechanism. I remember wondering when I watched it what became of her sisters. The movie never says, and the character’s completely different in the book. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/134 "2011-03-01T03:13:13Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > The Princess Bride is simply trying to entertain - you can decide you don’t like its silly/Yiddish/self-aware take on a standard fairy tale - your call. However, **Forrest Gump was trying to make a Big Statement about America**. So it is playing for higher stakes, and, clearly IMHO, it failed miserably. I don’t think it was trying to do that, at all. Happenstance. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/135 "2011-03-01T03:31:11Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > A huge contributing factor to the backlash against _Gump_ was that a lot of people pretended that Forrest Gump represented a plausible role model, and that audiences could actually _learn something about life_ from the movie - and further that they frequently invoked _Pulp Fiction_ as a counter example of crass, debased, an amoral filmmaking. > > This rankled on a lot of levels. The movie was exceedingly trite and any who feels they can take anything practical away from it probably has an I.Q. of ~75. Second, calling _Pulp Fiction_ amoral is idiotic, as it was a by-the-numbers morality play - the only principal characters who walk away unpunished are those who made the correct choices when presented with a difficult moral choice, and the entire thing is framed around Jules’ crisis of conscience and how that ultimately leads him to dissuade a random pair from starting down the wrong path. Of course, that doesn’t make _Pulp Fiction_ an edifying and uplifting movie, but it could much more plausibly be argued that it is than _Forrest Gump_ is, as the fates of the various characters were more concretely linked to their decisions, where the “message” (if there is one) of _Forrest Gump_ is more along the lines of “If you can hold onto a plucky and optimistic outlook, maybe an Act of God will wipe out all of your competitors and leave you in the pink.” > > I was finally able to get something out of _Forest Gump_ by sitting down to it as a bit of mindless entertainment. For sure it has some merit in that department, and there is some technical work that is simply spectacular. And that’s fine - this is how you’re supposed to watch a movie, generally. > > But imagine if before you watched _Pulp Fiction_, you were subjected to a couple of months of vapid morons going on at length about how watching it was going to make you a better person. How would this affect your experience of it? After working through this thought experiment, the bulk of the antipathy to _Forrest Gump_ you come across should be pretty easy to understand. To me the best plausibility of the role model in FG was that he was just an inherently good person. It had nothing to do with “Hey, even a retard can get rich in America by letting things fall into his lap” or any other cynical viewpoint of the film. The message to me was “hey…sometimes even good things befall those that are in some way less intellectually prepared for life than others”. And failing that, Forrest _was_ a good person, always having loyal and good intentions. I fail to see anything wrong with celebrating that in a movie where suspension of disbelief is paramount, although I hear the protestations of those that think it was undeserving of its rewards based on the other films it was up against. But its still a really good movie on its own merits, IMO. Obviously, MMV. Its a well polished feel-good story that came out at a proper time. That cannot be emphasized enough. _When_ a movie comes out can often dictate its reception. I’m certainly not going to anoint the film with laureate-worthy accolades or anything, but I too share the puzzlement of the OP WRT to hatred for the film. Its a really well-done film, in fact, and I still stand by the cynicism comment. Because it might make you cry. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/136 "2011-03-01T03:46:04Z")
I saw it with two Eurobabes and didn’t get laid by either of them. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/137 "2011-03-01T03:56:30Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I’m certainly not going to anoint the film with laureate-worthy accolades or anything, but I too share the puzzlement of the OP WRT to hatred for the film. Its a really well-done film, in fact, and I still stand by the cynicism comment. Because it might make you cry. Forrest is ultimately left with a son that he didn’t know for the first few years of his life, no other family, a job mowing a high school football field and 2/3rds of Lieutenant Dan. I am not sure where the criticisms about it being a confectionery piece of Americana are coming from. I had no idea some people thought that until I started this thread. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/138 "2011-03-01T04:03:53Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Forrest is ultimately left with a son that he didn’t know for the first few years of his life, no other family, a job mowing a high school football field and 2/3rds of Lieutenant Dan. Some people see the Lieutenant 2/3 full. Others see it 1/3 empty I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/139 "2011-03-01T04:16:15Z")
Hey, wth is going on. This thread is to list reasons for why people who hate FG hate FG. This is not supposed to be a thread for people who like FG to convince those who hate FG why they are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775/140 "2011-03-01T04:17:19Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Forrest is ultimately left with a son that he didn’t know for the first few years of his life, no other family, a job mowing a high school football field and 2/3rds of Lieutenant Dan. I am not sure where the criticisms about it being a confectionery piece of Americana are coming from. I had no idea some people thought that until I started this thread. Dude, he’s loaded. Lt. Dan invested their shrimp money in Apple. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-dislike-forrest-gump-so-much/572775.md?page=8)