Why Forrest Gump Sucks

Este post sé que va a ser controversial.

La película es increíblemente popular, y por eso quizás mi corazón por naturaleza negro y cínico hace que no me guste, pero en realidad, después de verla recientemente de nuevo, me la encuentro peor todavía - Más ñoña, más preachy y más obvia. Detesto las cosas obvias. No tengo ningún problema con películas que wear their hearts out on their sleeves como dicen los gringos, pero aquí es insorportable.

Esto lo escribí hace ya un buen tiempo, más de 5 años creo, y decidí ver la película de nuevo para comprobar si mi opinión era la misma.

Aquí va:

Forrest Gump:

The Cynical "Masterpiece"

A girl I know once complained to me about how dumb she was. She claimed to have no practical knowledge and even less common sense. I was at a loss of words. Mostly because I didn't want to be mean, but I really couldn't think of any way to disagree.

Despite my almost crippling initial shyness, I can actually think quite well on my feet when feeling comfortable. So, without too much of a pause, I managed to reply with: "Don't worry, intelligence doesn't get you anywhere. When it comes to being happy in this life, the two prime movers are blissful ignorance and dumb luck."

That might not be too happy of an outlook, but it occurred to me that a very popular mid-90s film centered on that very philosophy: Forrest Gump.

The movie that proudly told us all that our lives will be given meaning through straight-up, dumb-as-shit luck.

But it's more than that. Gump doesn't candy-coat history. It tells it like it is: a series of completely random occurrences in which intelligence or order play no part. Our world is shaped by bumbling idiocy.

Those who voted for Bush won't wake up tomorrow and see the light. Truth won't prevail. This concept of "Enlightenment" is completely and utterly socially irrelevant.

Everything is just a crapshoot. Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get – Maybe the most pessimistic quote in motion picture history.

Blissful Ignorance and Dumb Luck. They are all that matter. This is what Mr. Gump has taught me. Yet some people call it an inspirational story.

Why?

I remember arguing with a friend about how fucked up Forrest Gump is, in the sense that if its message was taken literally by people, we’re doomed. It's played off as inspiration where it should have been played off as a satire on American culture. Some people described him as inspirational, and proof that you can do anything in America, but that's debatable. If only Gump represented some sort of "ignorance is bliss" satire on America, or Western culture in general, but I’ve always thought it took itself way too seriously.

Take the tagline for instance: "See the world through the eyes of Forest Gump.” Could sound innocent. Could be a subtext for how society wants to perceive history and life. That all these things will happen to you if you are like Forest Gump - never question the system, etc.

It rained a lot in Vietnam, sometimes it rained upside down, and Gump did whatever the army told him to do. He went for a long run, and had a load of followers and then got quoted a lot [I always saw that as a stab at religion].

What I can remember that bothered me the most about it is how the "good" aspects are implicitly, heavy-handedly defined: Football, military heroism, capitalism, friendship, and family values, while the "bad" aspects are sex, drugs, rock and roll, and social activism. It strongly implies that both Jenny and Forrest deserve what they get because of their life choices – Jenny deserves to die of AIDS because she was a promiscuous, anti-war activist whore, while in Forrest's case, his gentle passivity, his conformism leads him to a nice, peaceful life. Don’t forget he ended up being rich too.

Republicanism vs Liberalism, maybe?

It's been a while since I've seen the movie, but if it was less sentimental and more satirical, it could very well have been brilliant. But I really do think Zemeckis thought of this film as inspirational and made it so.

Pulp Fiction was robbed.

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