I think the most unforgivable aspect of the movie is the contempt with which it treats its audience. There's nothing wrong with a simple plots or characters - films like "Babe" or "The Straight Story" are wonderful, with rich stories crafted around what are essentially one-sentence synopses.
"Gump", however, by trying to recreate itself as some sort of touchstone for all of recent history (as opposed to Groom's novel, which was genuinely funny - sort of like an alternate-universe "World According to Garp"), comes across as a sort of emperor with no clothes. Its epic feel and length beg for serious consideration, but the reactionary, stupid and moralistic steamrolling of what are truly dynamic and complex social events into digestible bits of nostalgic confections is infuriating. The movie's message isn't "Dumb is Good", it's "You're too stupid to figure this out on your own, so we'll make it easy for you." What's even stranger is the principles behind the movie - Tom Hanks, Robert Zemeckis, Gary Sinise - are extraordinarily talented, yet managed to not only make this movie with a straight face, but convince the AMPAS that it was somehow more deserving of the Best Picture Oscar than either "Pulp Fiction" or "Shawshank Redemption", which is just amazing. - Jim Raymond Camden wrote: >I find it interesting you call Forrest Gump anti-intellectual, as I've >heard others say that as well. I often wondered why though. The main >character isn't intelligent, isn't even average, but I never saw the >film as saying 'dumb is good'. > >-rc > > > >>-----Original Message----- >>From: Jim Campbell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 3:30 PM >>To: CF-Community >>Subject: Re: Bad choice of movies this weekend >> >> >>Actually, there is no film that I despise more than "Forrest >>Gump", and >>I'm not even sure exactly why I hate it so much. Maybe >>because it feels >>disingenuous and anti-intellectual, and it's not in the same >>league as >>groaning at incredibly bad MST3K-fare movies like "Space >>Mutiny" or "The >>Head That Wouldn't Die" - this is an active hatred along the lines of >>Roger Ebert's opinion of "North", my favorite review of his >>of all time: >> >> >> >http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1994/07/931635.html > >- Jim > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm?link=t:5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm?link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Signup for the Fusion Authority news alert and keep up with the latest news in ColdFusion and related topics. http://www.fusionauthority.com/signup.cfm
