Julie Walker

I have read various opinions about the film and over the past few years. It seems many have begun to rip the film to shreds based on the subject matter in the film and what it 'really means'.

I let those views slide and then I read The Deer Hunter review and remembered those views. It has been edited since being put up. But originally a few reader comments were put up after the review durring the 'footnotes' portion.

One reader agreed with the Deer Hunter analysis and then brought up Forrest Gump. He rambled on about how it was 'anti-liberal' and 'bashes' hippies,civil rights,the 60's in general,and Forrests love is 'punished' with AIDS for 'going against the grain' and following the 'peace/love movement' intstead of the 'status quo'.

That and more seems to be the general consensus for the Gump haters. They go so far as to call him the 'angel of death' since bad things happen to people he comes in contact with. And that it has a 'conform' or 'die' 'message'.



Most likely they are looking too deeply into things. But I find this interesting would would like others to discuss the pros and cons of the film and its 'real' meaning if any.

The Antipodean

I remember a lot of this debate when the movie came out too. Like most movies when they reach a certain fever pitch of popularity suddenly the microscopes come out (like the reviewers claiming Episode III was an indictment of the Bush administration). I don't really see it, myself. It's a fable, but I don't see the conservatism some do.

wm lopez

I can understand how the free sprit girl who goes about and does things her way and ends up paying for it would upset liberals.
It's like the you have MTV & the Hollywood entertainers who do many AIDS benefits and yet don't want to hear that it's their art that contributes to the carefree lifestyle among the young in America.
Liberals don't want to be judged.
They even go as far to say that Jesus saying "let he that is without sin cast the 1st stone".
But you will never hear a liberal finish what Jesus said right after he said that.
Which is "Go and sin no more."

Jon2

A lot of things considered, there might be something to such interpretations.

Except for one thing. Well...actually several things.

Those involved in making the movie. A bunch you wouldn't exactly call the hardcore of Hollywood conservatives.

zombiezilla

I can understand how you conservatives like to twist anything to fit your agenda. But realize this: people have been fooled by the right's BS rhetoric for a while, but now it's beginning to swing the other way. With crackpots like Pat Robertson and Oral Roberts (who names their fucking kid "Oral" anyway, for chrissakes!?! Does he have sister named "Anal"? Well, maybe...) on your side, you can bet that, unless grade point averages drop drastically in this country, your party members are on the downslope.



If anyone can prove he ever truly existed and was what/who he claimed to be (Jesus, not Forrest Gump), I'll be the quickest and greatest instant convert you'll ever see. 'Til then, I'll continue to exercize my freedom in this country under no one's terms but my own.

Just Lurking

How about Rev. Ellis M. Roberts.

Artman

Lopez that was great - preach it brother!



Been awhile since I watched ol Forrest... I remember not liking the montage of him running into and discovering all of the catch-phrases, it's like they took what came before it and upped it to the nth degree - it was funny but underminded itself imo.

digidoh

It's been a couple years since I read the novel. Forrest came off as less naive and certainly not as likable as in the movie. He used the n-word to describe other college football players. He protested the Vietnam war by throwing his medal at the Capitol steps. In the Army, as a cook, he caused an explosion preparing a meal. Nixon was a shady character, selling cheap (stolen?) watches, displaying his inventory on his arm. Forrest is reluctantly run for president, with his followers chanting his campaign slogan, "I hata pee!"

Cameron

Robert Z is far from conservative republican...

however this won over pulp fiction....thats the real debate

PopcornTreeCt

That would be called reality.

This is why the left will never understand the right.

Michael Ballack

I like the feather theory myself in that we're all like a feather that has no control with what destiny our path's take us, but we can make the best out of it. Jenny didn't choose to grow up with an abusive father, who was probablly resposible for her taking drugs later in life and her picking of loser men. Forrest was lucky in that he had a loving momma, who would do anything for him(screwing the principal so Forrest could stay at a normal school).

Matthew Chmiel

Yeah, not only is Zemeckis a liberal, but he's been a hack the past 15 years. He's not a hack because he's a liberal. No, it's because after Back to the Future: Part III, all his films have been pretty much shit.

Except Contact, I liked it.

However everything else? Pure shit.

And he should burn in hell for co-creating Dark Castle Productions for churning out shitty horror films year after year.

Cameron

yah but he can direct the hell out of a volley ball

Groucho

This thread is an instant classic thanks to some of the hilarious rants. Keep it up, all!

Matthew Chmiel

Yeah, I didn't like Tom Hanks and Helen Hunt in that movie, but goddamn, that volleyball did a fantastic job. However, I didn't like Wilson's fate at the end of the film.




Reflecting upon that sentence, I've come to the realization that I don't think anyone has liked Helen Hunt in anything. Except in that After School Special where she took some angel dust and jumped out of a window.

Doughboy

His only weak film IMO since BTTF III was What Lies Beneath. I even enjoyed Death Becomes Her. Hey, I just realized that flick ends with Bruce Willis(whose character is described as a Republican) emerging victorious. Maybe there is something to this conservative propaganda theory.

Groucho

Come on...Wilson finally escaped that whiny jerk he was with and set off on his own. I'd like to think he found a whole volleyball island, where he retired in style with his own people.

Jericho

Shit happens...

grunter

It's just a bad movie, period.

zombiezilla

Grunter, I gotta disagree with your assertion of Castaway; I thought it was pretty decent (not own-worthy, but good).

BUUUUT, I gotta say that your signature is fucking awsome.

And for everyone else: I still say Oral Roberts' sister is prob'ly named anal. Or at least it's her nickname. Would be if I knew where she lived, anyways...

Filmmaker

Is it pro-Conservative agenda to posit your hero as mildly retarded?

Frankly, I think every character in the film takes their fair share of lumps, regardless of their perceived conservatism or liberalism...

Fielding Mellish

Evil conservative propaganda?

Is there any other kind of conservative propaganda?

Numanoid

Sure, it makes him easier for the average Conservative to relate to.

Filmmaker

LOL, Numanoid...kinda where I was headed with it, but it begs the question as to whether the average Conservative can discern wit and/or irony...

Dead

Given that instead of actual discussion of the movie, this thread is mostly political bashing, I'm going to have to close it.