The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and the villains are…
Hollywood stories are not known for their narrative complexity when it comes to their characters. Maybe Forrest Gump’s girlfriend could be the exception, but…
It’s so well-known that even cartoons lack color, like Deadpool. Creating morally ambiguous characters, with whom the audience doesn’t feel completely comfortable, either loving or hating them, would be a rarity.
In the case of women, as I’ve always discussed, they don’t have such prominent roles within the Hollywood film industry. However, their characters tend to be more interesting when they are in the position of the victimizer rather than the victim.
We don’t write articles about “Top 10 men who beat their partners,” but we flood the internet with discussions about Samantha in Her, Clementine in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Summer in 500 Days of Summer, and Jenny in Forrest Gump. Misunderstood, misinterpreted, undervalued, and harshly criticized women.
Forrest Gump is a fantastical, noble, and childlike character. He is written to be loved by his audience, and who wouldn’t? Despite all his on-screen achievements, in the end, it’s what matters least to him.
I’ve seen the president twice.
Forrest Gump
Forrest is “perfect,” but not for Jenny. He might be simple, but he understood that he was the love she never wanted.
I’m not here to speak ill of Jenny; on the contrary, she experienced sex—from the abuse by her beloved “father,” which traumatized her and shaped her behavior in mature relationships, to the enjoyment and discovery of her own sexual identity, and living it out in a way frowned upon by the society of that time. And these offensive criticisms are still heard in many places around the world, like hallways, schools, universities, workplaces, and many more.
Her self-destructive behaviors, toxic relationships, and substance abuse, coupled with “wandering” the country in search of that idealized and unrealistic freedom, made Jenny appear as the bad girl in the story. Even though she always had that beautiful love that everyone desires, she didn’t want it, and that’s okay. Just because it’s good doesn’t mean you have to settle for it.
Forrest saw life simply. Even something as horrible as war was simple for Forrest: “You pull the trigger and someone dies.” But it was never simple for her, and how difficult it is to see this when our concern is centered on Forrest, leading us to think Jenny acted wrongly.
But She Was Never Bad She never did anything to hurt Forrest, quite the opposite. Jenny wanted to protect Forrest from herself. She knew she wasn’t good for him, and that’s why she always kept him away. But Forrest didn’t understand, and therefore, everyone who has seen the movie, about 99%, judges her.
Jenny is not a “good” person. She is not a strong person. She is complex and deep. And she is hurt. She never does anything bad to anyone but herself. That’s why Jenny is so misunderstood. What she was really doing for Forrest was a favor, and if we could at least see her from this perspective, we would surely find a brilliant woman, full of nuances not suitable for that era, and even less for this one.
They would stop calling her a “bitch,” a woman whose greatest sin was not being able to love the only man who ever loved her. I understand Jenny, but maybe some or many people still dream of Disney stories with happy endings. But life is not rosy, and there lies the charm of a woman who did what she wanted and tried to be happy, even making mortal mistakes, but ones that ultimately made everything make sense for a moment.
There Was an Idea for a Sequel But…
He was sitting on the bench waiting for her for lunch, and suddenly, the building behind exploded (...) When 9/11 happened… everything seemed senseless.
—Eric Roth, Screenwriter of Forrest Gump
