Forrest Gump (1994)
Forrest Gump (1994)
I haven't seen this film in about 20 years I don't think, I chose it for Maine Movie Mondays, after visiting the lighthouse here in Maine that was used in the filming of this movie. Most people don't think of Maine when they think of Forrest Gump, usually it conjures thoughts of south, where the bulk of the film was set, however there was a part where Forrest decides to run, and he runs from coast to coast until one day he decides that he is done running. There is one shot in the film that took place in Maine, and that shot was where he ran on a footbridge to a small lighthouse tower on the coast of Maine. The lighthouse where that was filmed was the Marshall Point Lighthouse near Port Clyde Maine, in the township of Saint George. Marshall Point Lighthouse has become a popular tourist location where tourists will take pictures of themselves reenacting the scene from the film. Being that the location of this lighthouse is on the midcoast of Maine, where I spend a lot of time, my roommate and I decided to take a drive out there and shoot some photos, also my dumbass was wearing my Doc Martin boots because it was a rainy day, and they have no traction, and I slipt on a rock and fell into a tidal pool, as we were there at low tide, I could only laugh at myself as I lay in the cold salt water on a rainy day in March. That afternoon we also hung out in one of my favourite towns, Belfast Maine, and we visited Owls Head Lighthouse near Rockland Maine. If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend spending some time on the midcoast of Maine, there are so many beautiful sights to see. Since I took some pictures while we were there I will share them with you, I love it when I get a chance to scout out the filming location of a film before writing a review of it.
Forrest Gump tells the story of a dimwitted man named Forrest Gump from Greenbow Alabama who through random dumb luck leads an amazing life. Though throughout the entire film he has this unrequited love for his best friend Jenny, who just doesn't love him in the same way that he loves her. Along the way he makes friends with a man named Bubba that he meets in basic training in the army, and he makes friends with Lt. Dan who was his commanding officer in Vietnam, whose life Forrest saves. The film spans a segment of Forrest Gump's life from the 1950s-1980s and he finds himself a part of many of the major events that shaped those decades. This is a film that embodies the Baby Boomer generation's "American Dream", where anyone can succeed in the United States, no matter what their circumstances. And because of that the film has been embraced by American conservatives, who see Forrest as the poster boy of the Baby Boomer generation and their "American Dream" because of his success even though he is "slow" because he believes in god, country, and mama; whereas Jenny who gets caught up in the hippie movement and gets into drugs and her life falls apart and hits rock bottom, she symbolises the failures of the liberals and how their vision of America is a path to self-destruction. Now keep in mind that not everyone views this film through that lense, but that view of the film is one of the reasons that the American conservatives have loved this film. Others see Forrest as not following any specific political ideology and see him as politically neutral, so I guess think for yourself and have your own thoughts on the politic of Forrest Gump. I want to talk more about the Forrest/Jenny love story in the film, but first some of the technical information about the film.
Forrest Gump was directed by Robert Zemeckis, with a screenplay by Eric Roth. The film is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures in 1994, and was critically acclaimed, receiving mostly rave reviews. The film was also a huge box office success grossing $683.1 million on a budget of $55 million. Now if you want to get into an interesting financial topic, of Hollywood accounting, then you can learn how this film, even though it was a wicked major success that it actually lost money. Hollywood accounting is a type of creative accounting, that in the case of Forrest Gump was used to screw the author of the book out of his share of the film's profits. I will not even pretend that it makes sense, because to me it doesn't, but I am sure there are some math nerds out there that would find this subject absolutely fascinating.
Forrest Gump stars Tom Hanks as the titular character (Michael Conner Humphreys plays young Forrest), Sally Fields plays Forrest's mother Mrs Gump, Robin Wright plays Jenny Curran (Hanna R Hall plays young Jenny), Gary Sinise plays Lt. Dan Taylor, Mykelti Williamson plays Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue, and Haley Joel Osment plays Forrest Gump Jr in his first role in a feature film. The film has an amazing cast of characters, and even includes footage of famous events in the past, using special effects to insert Tom Hanks into the old footage. The cast of the film really is about as perfect as a film's cast can be. It is nice to see Robin Wright in this role, I have always known her best as Princess Buttercup in The Princess Bride, and to see her in this film as the victim of trauma from the hands of an abusive father, and how she plays the character so well, as she navigates her life, without the necessary mental health treatment to handle her trauma, leading her to a life of drugs and ultimately leading to her dying of a virus (which the author describes as being Hepatitis C, but in the film the name of the virus is never given, leading many to assume that she had HIV). Tom Hanks also shows his amazing talent as an actor, playing the character of Forrest Gump, who has a very low IQ, and a strong southern accent.
What I really wanted to talk about in this film is the love story of Forrest Gump and Jenny. I have some complicated feelings about this subject. For years many people saw Jenny as a bad person for the way that she treats Forrest, but I wanted to talk about this in detail. Most films show the main character ending up with their love interest, and I think that maybe that has contributed to the entitlement of men in America, where they seem to think that just because they are in love with a girl, that she owes him a relationship. I empathize with Jenny, she never asked for Forrest's love, and multiple times tells him that she can't love him the way that he loves her, he is her best friend, and she does love him very much as a friend, but Jenny is a complicated character, there is a lot going on with her. Jenny was molested and physically abused by her father, and Forrest as her best friend was always there for her. It wasn't really fair of him to always try to push a relationship on her, I get that he is simple, and lacks in the intelligence and reasoning to understand that, but Jenny owes him nothing, no one owes anyone anything. I understand Jenny, and I feel for her character, and I because of the trauma I experienced as a kid, I find myself really identifying with her. Now, that being said, I also can identify with Forrest, and his struggle with his unrequited love. I have found myself in a similar position, and over the years I have learned and grown as a better person, though I still struggle with this. So I have fallen in love with a few of my best friends. My best friend, I asked her out several years ago, because I felt strong feelings for her, and still do, but what she told me was that she loved me too much to date me, because she was scared that it would ruin our friendship. I was sad and I was hurt, as one is when they are turned down, and we talked about it, and after a period of sadness that I felt we have remained best friends for nearly ten years now. I think that that is the mature and adult way to handle that situation. Matter of fact I am in a very similar situation right now, and I hope that ultimately handle it the same way, however last year when I fell in love with someone, I didn't handle it as well, and I hope that I learned from that. So I can relate to how Forrest feels as he struggles with his unrequited love, just like in college I was in a situation that put me in a place to identify with the character of Ethan Frome from Edith Wharton's novel Ethan Frome. So I think as a young girl in middle school and in high school when I watched this film, I found myself really identifying with the character of Forrest, and with his struggle with unrequited love, and I think I really wanted to see Forrest and Jenny end up together. But as I have grown older I am bothered by the fact that Forrest has this entitlement attitude to him that, just because he loves her, just because he is always there for her, doesn't mean that he is entitled to be with her. I think that an important message to remember is that no one owes you anything, no matter what you feel, no matter what you think, no matter what you do for someone else, they have the right to their own feelings, thoughts, and emotions. It is okay to be sad about that, it is okay to feel heartache, and it is okay to cry, hell it is even okay to politely plead your case, as long as you understand that no means no, no never means maybe, no always means no. Sure feelings can change in time, and maybe that person who just wants to be friends might someday change their mind, but don't expect it, just be happy to be that person's friend, be happy to be in their life. I think that Forrest pushes his love on Jenny too much, and that really bothers me, because it gives off this male entitlement message, which is a message that needs to stop being pushed, people have the right to say no, and to continue to push them for years and years until they breakdown and give in is never okay. Sorry to make this review so personal, but I have always had complicated emotions about this element of this film.
If you haven't yet seen Forrest Gump, I highly recommend checking it out, this is definitely a must-see film, and should be a part of every film collector's library. The film has some great writing, it looks beautiful, has an amazing cast, features some wonderfully written complex characters, and is a thought provoking and emotional film, that also has some great comedic elements as well. The film also has an amazing soundtrack that really captures the feel of the eras that the film takes place in. I feel like this is a great film with some complex issues going on, and I definitely feel that different people can watch this film and get different messages from it. Of course the reason that I reviewed this film tonight is because of the Maine connection with the Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde Maine, and I hoped that you all enjoyed the photos that I took last time I was there.
Forrest Gump stars Tom Hanks as the titular character (Michael Conner Humphreys plays young Forrest), Sally Fields plays Forrest's mother Mrs Gump, Robin Wright plays Jenny Curran (Hanna R Hall plays young Jenny), Gary Sinise plays Lt. Dan Taylor, Mykelti Williamson plays Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue, and Haley Joel Osment plays Forrest Gump Jr in his first role in a feature film. The film has an amazing cast of characters, and even includes footage of famous events in the past, using special effects to insert Tom Hanks into the old footage. The cast of the film really is about as perfect as a film's cast can be. It is nice to see Robin Wright in this role, I have always known her best as Princess Buttercup in The Princess Bride, and to see her in this film as the victim of trauma from the hands of an abusive father, and how she plays the character so well, as she navigates her life, without the necessary mental health treatment to handle her trauma, leading her to a life of drugs and ultimately leading to her dying of a virus (which the author describes as being Hepatitis C, but in the film the name of the virus is never given, leading many to assume that she had HIV). Tom Hanks also shows his amazing talent as an actor, playing the character of Forrest Gump, who has a very low IQ, and a strong southern accent.
What I really wanted to talk about in this film is the love story of Forrest Gump and Jenny. I have some complicated feelings about this subject. For years many people saw Jenny as a bad person for the way that she treats Forrest, but I wanted to talk about this in detail. Most films show the main character ending up with their love interest, and I think that maybe that has contributed to the entitlement of men in America, where they seem to think that just because they are in love with a girl, that she owes him a relationship. I empathize with Jenny, she never asked for Forrest's love, and multiple times tells him that she can't love him the way that he loves her, he is her best friend, and she does love him very much as a friend, but Jenny is a complicated character, there is a lot going on with her. Jenny was molested and physically abused by her father, and Forrest as her best friend was always there for her. It wasn't really fair of him to always try to push a relationship on her, I get that he is simple, and lacks in the intelligence and reasoning to understand that, but Jenny owes him nothing, no one owes anyone anything. I understand Jenny, and I feel for her character, and I because of the trauma I experienced as a kid, I find myself really identifying with her. Now, that being said, I also can identify with Forrest, and his struggle with his unrequited love. I have found myself in a similar position, and over the years I have learned and grown as a better person, though I still struggle with this. So I have fallen in love with a few of my best friends. My best friend, I asked her out several years ago, because I felt strong feelings for her, and still do, but what she told me was that she loved me too much to date me, because she was scared that it would ruin our friendship. I was sad and I was hurt, as one is when they are turned down, and we talked about it, and after a period of sadness that I felt we have remained best friends for nearly ten years now. I think that that is the mature and adult way to handle that situation. Matter of fact I am in a very similar situation right now, and I hope that ultimately handle it the same way, however last year when I fell in love with someone, I didn't handle it as well, and I hope that I learned from that. So I can relate to how Forrest feels as he struggles with his unrequited love, just like in college I was in a situation that put me in a place to identify with the character of Ethan Frome from Edith Wharton's novel Ethan Frome. So I think as a young girl in middle school and in high school when I watched this film, I found myself really identifying with the character of Forrest, and with his struggle with unrequited love, and I think I really wanted to see Forrest and Jenny end up together. But as I have grown older I am bothered by the fact that Forrest has this entitlement attitude to him that, just because he loves her, just because he is always there for her, doesn't mean that he is entitled to be with her. I think that an important message to remember is that no one owes you anything, no matter what you feel, no matter what you think, no matter what you do for someone else, they have the right to their own feelings, thoughts, and emotions. It is okay to be sad about that, it is okay to feel heartache, and it is okay to cry, hell it is even okay to politely plead your case, as long as you understand that no means no, no never means maybe, no always means no. Sure feelings can change in time, and maybe that person who just wants to be friends might someday change their mind, but don't expect it, just be happy to be that person's friend, be happy to be in their life. I think that Forrest pushes his love on Jenny too much, and that really bothers me, because it gives off this male entitlement message, which is a message that needs to stop being pushed, people have the right to say no, and to continue to push them for years and years until they breakdown and give in is never okay. Sorry to make this review so personal, but I have always had complicated emotions about this element of this film.
If you haven't yet seen Forrest Gump, I highly recommend checking it out, this is definitely a must-see film, and should be a part of every film collector's library. The film has some great writing, it looks beautiful, has an amazing cast, features some wonderfully written complex characters, and is a thought provoking and emotional film, that also has some great comedic elements as well. The film also has an amazing soundtrack that really captures the feel of the eras that the film takes place in. I feel like this is a great film with some complex issues going on, and I definitely feel that different people can watch this film and get different messages from it. Of course the reason that I reviewed this film tonight is because of the Maine connection with the Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde Maine, and I hoped that you all enjoyed the photos that I took last time I was there.
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