Wow, I thought the premise had nothing to do with stupidity. I got the feeling that it was more about living life righteously and ending up with just rewards.
- Matt Small ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Campbell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "CF-Community" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 10:57 AM Subject: Re: Bad choice of movies this weekend > 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
