The Strange Conservatism of Forrest Gump

Comments · 2.7K

• BR

  @BroeyDeschanel · 2 years ago · pinned

  RIP Fredric Jameson!

  646

• MU

  @mushroomjellytitle · 1 year ago

  Adapting a novel written by a Vietnam War veteran that is critical of the war into a patriotic celebration feels so messed up

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• BL

  @BlancheDP · 1 year ago

  Fun Fact: Forrest actually does have lines for his Vietnam speech, which according to IMDB were: "Sometimes when people go to Vietnam, they go home to their mommas without any legs. Sometimes they don't go home at all. That's a bad thing. That's all I have to say about that." Would have been better if they actually kept it.

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• NE

  @NekoJesusPie · 2 years ago

  Maybe this is because I’m not American and younger than this film, but I always saw him as a metaphor for American culture? A mindless drone at the center of multiple incredible events, going through them with near 0 contemplation, calm to horrors everybody else suffers through. A parody of an American film protagonist, surrounded by hell.

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• AR

  @arempy5836 · 2 years ago

  It's ridiculous to imagine that you could make an apolitical film that is nothing but a best hits collection of post-war 20th century American history.

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• CY

  @CybrosisEvolved · 1 year ago

  Movie Forrest Gump is the perfect baby boomer. Completely ignorant, golden hearted, rich, and unbelievably lucky.

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• MO

  @mohhie · 2 years ago

  oh how good it is not to be american and seeing that forest gump is not liberal or conservative, its just very american (so yeah, conservative)

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• TR

  @trinaq · 2 years ago

  I could always related to Jenny, as I too went on a period of self loathing. I love that Forrest simply lets Jenny unleash her pain by throwing rocks at her abusive father's house, and doesn't judge or condemn her for it.

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• BE

  @Beatinit · 2 years ago

  I&apos;m very protective of Jenny because she was an incredibly important character to me as a survivor. (I understand aspects of this movie are absolutely a product of the 90s, i agree on that overall)<br>Jenny showed a character that often wasn&apos;t shown in media at the time. She was a severely traumatized young woman who spent her life trying to avoid her pain. She was objectified and further abused by the various paths she took to avoid that pain but we watch her begin to stand up for herself. She told Forrest to run, and she took her own advice to try to run as well. She eventually realized she needed to stop running and come to peace with herself. While it&apos;s bullshit she was killed as so many women are in media, her life meant something and she reached peace by the end. Throughout her various traumas she was always kind to others, she never continued the cycle of abuse onto others and therefore her deep resilience was always present on screen.

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• BE

  @Believe_in_Linus · 2 years ago

  I would argue that the film version of Forest&apos;s Vietnam speech is actually more pointent because, by having the military officer cut off the mic, it&apos;s actually showcasing the government&apos;s propaganda efforts and parodying that &quot;pro-war&quot; agenda. &nbsp;They can&apos;t let Forest speak the truth because they know the criticism is valid.

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• PE

  @perrisavallon5170 · 1 year ago

  As a kid I loved running, but had to stop because I was diagnosed with scoliosis. This resulted in P.E. teachers yelling at me and calling me lazy (and one literally finding my mom&apos;s phone number and leaving her an angry and kind of incoherent voice mail because I had the audacity to give him a doctor&apos;s note). It sucked, especially since running was a big stress reliever for me. So it always bothered the shit out of me that he just... character arcs his way out of his physical disability. Like having fucked up bones isn&apos;t society trying to hold you back, it&apos;s just having fucked up bones!! It doesn&apos;t matter how much you believe in yourself! Why did they give him a real disability if they were going to treat it with this magical realism?? The movie&apos;s already pretty removed from reality, they could have just made something up instead of talking about a real condition like this!<br><br>I literally haven&apos;t watched this video at all yet I&apos;m just contractually obligated to bitch about this plot point every time this movie is brought up

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• SP

  @spectatorsatori1197 · 2 years ago

  As an autistic (disabled) person, it especially stings that people just overcome their disabilities in the movie and are reintegrated into &quot;normalcy&quot;. Society as it was back then, and as it is now is hostile to disabled people, we pay a huge price for successful integration into it. Either literally (certain disability aids) or by needing to spend immense energy to work/socialize and then being bedbound for days afterwards from pain and/or exhaustion. If we can at all.

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