"Forrest Gump" Says Life is Like a Box of Chocolates
A Movie That Reminds us That Anything is Possible
I accidentally watched this movie twice over the weekend while I was playing a video game (it was Inscryption, which is a rogue lite and surprisingly good and is currently 40% off for Steam’s Summer Sale!) and I was pleasantly reminded by how sweet and endearing Forrest Gump (1994) is.
My mom vehemently dislikes it for how sweet and endearing it is, but I beg to differ. I like the optimism.
An older lady friend of mine (alas, not a Sugar Mama) was asking me how old I am and my response had her covering her mouth like an older southern woman baffled by the desegregation of the 1960s (she’s Asian and very very kind. That’s just what she looked like, like if she had a petticoat and a fan going “Dear me”— I wouldn’t bat an eye).
All that just to say that she was shook at how defeatist and existential my worldview is. Not to say I’m a negative Nancy, but it jarred me to my own biases and how I’ve stopped seeing the world with as many rainbows and butterflies as I used to, fresh out of college.
I’ve had a few years to ferment and suffer in the streets of LA and rewatching this goofy ass movie with a silly plot and an even sillier main character (I aspire to be Forrest mind you) made me grateful.
Grateful to be alive with my wits about me.
Grateful to have family and friends I love dearly.
Grateful to have the opportunities and the good will to enjoy it.
Forrest is just that good a guy. Loving and hard working and just downright someone you want in your corner.
No matter what hardships befall him or where his Nike’d feet take him, he keeps on keeping on.
He flies through college, the military, the Vietnam War, Bubba Gump Shrimp company, and Jenny. Gawd. Jenny. The antithesis to Forrest. His light and shining beacon of love. Someone so broken, only unconditional and unrelenting love could save her.
Because at the end of the day, this is a love story. Not so much as it is a comedy and a parody of a historical drama, but it is a facet of Forrest Gump’s life story and that is as varied and as miscellaneous, but just as sweet, as a proverbial box of chocolates.
Running & Perseverance
This entire movie is about running. For Forrest, Jenny’s iconic “Run, Forrest, run!” is the catalyst to his life. He goes out like a screaming bullet and he manages to outrun his bullies, outrun football players, outrun the bombs in the Vietnam War. And when Jenny leaves his life one too many times, Forrest runs and runs and runs across America.
I love that he doesn’t stop. He keeps going. He keeps running, fighting, living life in the only way he knows how: forward.
Forrest is a natural runner and he takes the world by storm with his natural athleticism but also a crazy amount of luck that can only be bestowed upon the most golden-retriever-energy-of-people.
Forrest runs ahead and takes every blow life has to offer on the cheek and he keeps going. Even when he doesn’t know where he is going. Even when he’s being yelled at and abused. Forrest barrels on through.
Jenny is also running. She was the first one to tell Forrest to run. Always cheering for him, wanting to make sure he was okay.
Nobody ever told her to run. Nobody ever supported her the way Forrest’s mom did for him or she did for Forrest. She was backed into a corner, and when her fight-or-flight sense activated, she chose to run.
But the difference between her and Forrest is that he always ran towards something. The next big thing. His next big adventure.
Jenny always ran away. From her abusive father. From ugly, toxic relationships. From the drug addled and violent life she precariously built around herself.
Jenny’s life was built on matchsticks, and she was one strong gust from falling apart or lighting herself ablaze.
Leitmotif
I will always listen to Forrest’s “Feather Theme” and tear up. I played this in an orchestra years ago so it’s deeply nostalgic, but it’s so light. It’s beautiful and uplifting and hopeful.
I love when movie scores have unique sounds and musical phrases that build depth into an already built out story. Modern day movies have soaring, explosive, vibrant scores that, in the moment, make you feel all the emotions.
But after the movie? Nothing. No staying power to make you hum its theme or any desire to play its score in the car and relive the emotion of the intro piece and its reprisal.
It lacks depth.
Now, not every movie needs to have that, and for what it’s worth, most movie scores do alright for themselves. We get sucked into the scene. We vibe with the characters. The music simply adds to the scene.
I want the music to whisper to me at emotional moments. I want the music to yell out obscenities in action packed sequences. I want it to have its own main-character-moment because it isn’t just adding to the scene, it elevates it to something memorable.
Forrest’s theme is literally him personified through the musical notes. Bright, simple. It feels like happiness.
Success is Defined by You
No one ever thought Forrest would be as successful as he was. We often get film cuts back to the barbers in his small town of Greenbow, Alabama and they are slack-jawed at seeing that weird country lad making national news headlines every few years or so.
Forrest isn’t chasing success, as much as he runs throughout this movie. It finds him because he is open, he is kind, he is honest.
To say he manifested it is a disservice to how much hard work he did put in.
But by the gods was this the man lucky to the point of silliness.
And honestly? That is such the nature of existing. To be rewarded for not wanting. To have everything in the world, except that which you want the most. To suffer but to be better for it.
Forrest was written off from the get. His mother’s love kept him strong and kind. His unapologetic and amazingly unaware perseverance led to his many successes, in every aspect of his life.
He was happy to get into college, much less graduate. Happy to have found a friend in Bubba. Happy to have a shrimping company that became successful, that Lieutenant Dan is alive and well, that his mama is alive, that he made it out of Vietnam.
And…was it even happiness? Or was it nodding acceptance to just go with the flow, wherever it took him?
Because I’ll be damned if someone told me that Forrest Gump, as a character, was unsuccessful.
He had everything going for him, but he also started behind the starting line, back by the stables, and tangled in his own halter.
Forrest could have been happy at any moment in his life. It would have been satisfactory for him.
He got an education. He developed his wealth. He, by all definitions, was a success.
Save for Jenny.
But think of all the little victories he had on the way to winning over his lady.
What a hero’s journey to say that love is the greatest prize of all.
Forrest Gump is one of the best movies out there. In particular because of its more hopeful view of the world. So much of how we look at the world these days is negative or dystopian. But Forrest Gump isn't, largely thanks to Forrest's view.