Post on 16-Jan-2023
The Feminism Reflected in the Forrest Gump
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Abstract
Forrest Gump is a very classical American movie.
In this paper, the first chapter is introduction. It
mainly introduces an overview about the movie and the
main characters.
The second chapter describes the development of
feminism combining with the content of the movie. The
background of the story mainly occurs in America from
1960s to 1980s. This historical period is known as the
upsurge of the period of “the second feminist
movement”. The deep influence of feminism on Americans
of that generation is shown in the movie. The author
of the novel also experienced that period, and
Zeitgeist had deep influence on his creation.
Based on the main characters, the third chapter makes
an analysis of the feminism which reflected from the
movie. This chapter is the main part of this paper.
Forrest Gump’s mother and Jenny are important roles
who can reflect the women’s life of that era in the
movie. They have different personalities and different
understanding of feminism, which lead to their
different experiences and fates.
The fourth chapter is the conclusion part. Through the
above analysis, it summarizes the film director’s
dialectical perspectives of feminism.
Key words: Forrest Gump; feminism; Gump’s mother; Jenny
1.Introduction
Forrest Gump is a movie that won the Oscar Best Film
award in 1994, and it is also a very significant film
which helps audiences know the turbulent events in
America from the late 1950s to the 1980s, reflects the
themes of love, career and friendship and indeed
deserves the six Academy award including best picture,
best director and best actor.
The movie is mainly about the life of an
intellectually retarded person, Forrest Gump, who
becomes representative of the baby boomer generation
having walked through life blindly. In this film,
various social issues of America in the last half part
of last century are explored, and one issue among them
is Feminism. There are lots of women characters
depicted in the movie. The two most impressive ones
being Gump’s mother and Jenny, the girl Gump loved
deeply. They represented different levels of feminism.
In face of the dominant culture, the man is the
mainstay who is superior to the woman . However, the
images of the two female characters express their own
attitudes towards the society, and the ideology of
feminism can be reflected vividly through their ideas
and behaviors in the movie.
Doubtless to say, whenever we hear the name Forrest
Gump the first thing that comes into our mind is the
movie that can rightfully be called a blockbuster.
However, released in 1994 the movie has a prototype—a
novel with the same name—on which the movie was based.
The original plot has been in the movie rearranged to
be more Hollywood-like; the ending in the movie is
more closed. But the novel is extraordinary in its own
right. It is a vivid retelling of the society of
America during that turbulent age from 1960s to 1980s.
In the paper, the experience of the author of the
novel is a key factor in the presentations of feminism
in the novel. Together with the perception of
director, a vision of feminism is presented in the
movie.
2. An Exploration of the Development of Feminism
According to the Background of the Movie
Feminist movements originally emerged in the US and
Europe. In the movements, Feminist activists strive
for women’s rights in contract law, property, voting
and so on. The whole work of Forrest Gump fully reflects
the women’s desire for freedom and equality, which
really prompts us to think about the meaning of the
history and the future. This chapter is to discuss the
development of feminism according to the background of
the movie.
2.1 The development of Feminism
The movement of feminism began in the western world
in the late 18th century and has gone through three
waves. The first wave was centered in the UK and US
during the nineteenth century and early twentieth
century among middle-class and upper-class white
women, aiming at promoting equal contract, marriage,
parenting, and property rights for women and focusing
mainly on women’s suffrage (Watkins, 115). The second
wave feminism began in the early 1960s and lasted
through the late 1980s. Feminism during this period
mainly focused on gender inequality in laws and
culture. Women were encouraged to understand the
politicized sides of their personal lives. The third-
wave feminism began in the early 1990s in the United
States. It arose in response to the perceived failures
of the second feminism. Compared with the second wave
feminism, the third wave is less reactive. During this
wave, disputes on differences between the sexes arose.
Beginning in the early 1960s and through the late
1980s, just the two decades in which the main part of
the movie is set, is the activity called second-wave
feminism—a radical feminist movement which almost
affected a whole generation of American. Before that
period, women have attained juridical equality in some
Western countries. But the second wave of feminism is
concentrated on the social and economical equalities
of women. Until the 1960s, contraception and birth
control are limited on all sides, and these are what
feminists struggle to change. Feminists wished that
contraceptive pill can be universalized. Lots of
people believe that it can remove the burden on women
who do not wish to have baby. They also believe that
women should be able to have control of their
reproductive function if they wish to be independent
financially of men. Right to abortion is also a major
appeal. But because of the intense controversy
revolving this issue, this target is difficult to
appeal. Abortion continues to be a topic of
controversy in many parts of the world.
2.2 An introduction to the movie and author of the
novel
Forrest Gump is based upon the novel by Winston groom
and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Winston Groom, the
author of the novel Forrest Gump, plays an inextricable
role in the fundamental arrangement of the movie which
is an adoption from his novel. As a result, it is
meaningful and necessary for us to explore the life
experience of Winston Groom to understand the feminism
reflected in the movie.
2.2.1 An introduction to Winston Groom
As a result of feminist movements, women gain
suffrage, have greater access to education, are more
nearly equal pay with men, gain the right to initiate
divorce proceedings and to own property and so on. In
a word, women’s status in society has improved a lot.
However, the difficulties women faced before they
reach such achievements should not be ignored. From
the 18th century when women began their fight to now,
more than two hundred years have passed, yet treatment
between women and men is still not realized. It can be
seen that traditional restrictions on women are too
deeply rooted. It is no wonder that critics and
literary writers have expressed a lot about feminist
movements, as well as their ideas. Similarly, the idea
of feminism can also be reflected from Forrest Gump.
Apparently the author of the novel Forrest Gump
interwove his experience with the story of Forrest
Gump. By meticulous comparison we can find
similarities: The author, though born in Washington,
D.C., was raised in Mobile, Alabama. Forrest Gump also
grew up and spent most of his time in Alabama—the
Heart of Dixie. Winston graduated from college in 1965
and then served in the Army, including a duty in
Vietnam. Likewise Forrest also served in the Vietnam
War and even became a war hero. Winston attended
Alabama College, so was Forrest. Winston grew up in
the Deep South where civil rights movement took place,
so he spent most of him young age witnessing the great
changes and turmoil of America during the period from
the 1960s to the 1980s. It is inevitable that he was
exposed to the liberal thoughts in that age, among
which feminism is one major trend. Forrest Gump was a
simple-minded innocent whose life intersected the
critical historical moments that occurred during the
tumultuous period of American history that includes
also the civil rights movement and the feminist
movement.
It is tempting to think that Winston Groom meant to
represent his opinion towards feminism in his novel.
After all, he took his novel as a kaleidoscope through
which people can get a glimpse of the age he was in.
Some reviewers said that the novel lacked depth in
both character and plot. Although that remark might be
reasonable, the novel is undoubtedly comprehensive.
Feminism, as one of the major trends of thought that
shaped the age, is inevitably given an expression in
his novel.
2.2.2 An introduction to Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is an American epic romantic comedy-
drama film based on the novel of the same name by
Winston Groom. However, the film differs substantially
from Winston Groom’s novel on which it is based,
including Gump’s personality and several events that
were depicted. Extensive visual effects were used to
incorporate the protagonist into archived footage and
to develop other scenes. The film was directed by
Robert Zemeckis and starred by Tom Hanks, Robin
Wright, Gary Sinise and Sally Field. Its commercial
release made it a top-selling soundtrack, selling over
twelve million copies worldwide. Released in the
United States in 1994, Forrest Gump is a huge triumph
that won the Oscar for Best Picture and gained over
$677 million dollars of box office throughout the
world. It had got six grand prizes, such as Academy
Awards for Best Picture, Best Director for Robert
Zemeckis, Best Actor for Tom Hanks, Best Adapted
Screenplay, Best Visual Effects and Best Film Editing.
The film was passed to an intellectual disturbance
person creates in the description of life which has
reflected every aspect of American life, important
incidents of social political life, representing these
decades from one unique angle.
Forrest Gump portrays the leading role Forrest Gump,
who is a normal American guy, with an IQ of 75 so
called as idiot, but successfully getting through his
bittersweet childhood, brilliant football career at
collage, and brave performance in the army as well as
a fortune in his shrimp business. The story, based on
real events, depicts several decades in the life of
Forrest Gump, a naive and slow-witted yet athletically
prodigious native of Alabama who witnesses, and in
some cases influences, some of the defining events of
the latter half of the 20th century in the United
States; more specifically, the period between
Forrest’s birth in 1944 and 1982. Forrest’s story
truly inspires the entire American with his
significant achievements and positive attitudes
towards life. In addition, the film reveals a history
of America over the past decades in which take
numerous historic events, representing the eventual
American dream in a land of opportunity.
The movie is wholly masculine film and Forrest Gump
is no doubt the protagonist, two important females,
his mother - Mrs. Gump and his best girl friend ever -
Jenny, however do present their thoughtful images in
the film, making a great impact on Forrest’s interior
world and life.
3. An analysis of Feminism in the movie based on
Gump’s mother and Jenny
One major theme of the movie Forrest Gump, though not
explicit, tells about the rebellion and return of
contemporary American women. The two main female
characters in the movie were: Gump’s mother, who loved
Gump most, and Jenny, for whom Gump was willing to
have a fight.
These two females are tremendously different. But
they all display the different aspects of feminist
conception at that time. How are the values of females
from the end of world war two to the last decade of
20th century embodied in these two women? And what is
the implied meaning of the director in presenting
these two characters? These questions will be explored
in the analysis of the two women’s experience from the
perspective of feminism.
3.1 Feminism in Gump’s Mother
This part mainly discusses the feminism in Gump’s
mother from two aspects: her strong and independent
personality, and her wisdom in male-dominant society.
3.1.1 A strong and independent female
Forrest’s mother - Mrs. Gump makes great
contribution to Forrest’s life. Mrs. Gump appears to
be a single mother of Forrest. According to how
Forrest values his mum in the movie, we can know Mrs.
Gump is a very smart lady. She is responsible, brave,
and independent. She is good at managing her property
inherited from her family, renting all the empty rooms
to make a living. Regardless Forrest’s low IQ, Mrs.
Gump still insists on her son’s attending public
school rather than a special school as she says that
“my boy Forrest is going to get the same opportunities
as everyone else”. She tells Forrest that “stupid is
as stupid does”, encouraging Forrest growing up to a
normal and confident person. On the other hand, she
really understands that life is full of ups and downs,
giving Forrest lessons such as “life was like a box of
chocolates. You never know what you’re gone get”.
To Forrest, Momma is always an excellent model he
learns from. Even though she is dying, Mrs. Gump
calmly says to her son “it’s just my time ... Don’t be
afraid, death is just a part of life. It’s something
we’re all destined to do. I didn’t know it, but I was
destined to be your momma. I did best I could”.
Generally, the character of Mrs. Gump is a strong and
independent female presence. However, her existence is
more than for herself; viewing all the way through
Forrest's story, Mrs. Gump becomes a signifier of
independence which can be seen as answering to male
desires and anxieties.
Whatever Forrest recalls his mother, for example, he
always starts with words like “Momma always said” this
or “Momma always said” that, which emphasis his
mother’s huge influence on him. The mother’s amazing
characteristics of perseverance, independence and
kindness are taken by Forrest who can overcome any
difficulties through his life. It proves a system of
exchange in classical films that the representation of
women as the ideological meaning is for men rather
than women.
3.1.2 A wise mother in the male-dominant society
After beginning the narration of Gump’s story, the
director showed us the oppression that a great woman
suffered in a patriarchy society through the incident
of Gump’s seeking education. When the schoolmaster
refused to take in Gump, Gump’s mother dealt it with
tact. This oppression is not only physical, but also
spiritual. But Gump’s mother received it with
calmness. She did not utter any complaint or showed
any sign of suffering. She is willing to make any
sacrifice for her son. This greatness of maternity can
help her to conquer anything. The school master, who
was compared to a monster by Gump’s mocking sound,
represented the whole American male-dominant society.
In the 1950s, the greatest professional pursuit of
an American woman is to become a “housewife”. Gump’s
mother is a housewife living on rental. The society
then was an absolute male-dominant society. Male can
do anything they want in that world in which they were
dominant. The director showed us the great qualities
of Gump’s mother in that society in which women were
still being oppressed.
And what’s more, Gump’s mother was also very
profound and charismatic. This was manifested in
Gump’s memorization of his mother’s saying: “My momma
always said life was like a box of chocolates. You
never know what you are going to get”, “Stupid is as
stupid does”, “we do not need very much riches in
life, for the rest is just for showing” or “ death is
part of life”. These wisdoms showing the reflection of
a woman had a big influence throughout the life of
Gump. These are the exact reflections of mother’s
greatness. Maternity is the most valuable thing in the
world.
3.2 Feminism in Jenny
There are two important females are depicted in the
movie, one is Forrest’s mother, the other is Jenny, as
Forrest considers her as his most special friend and
only friend. Jenny presents her distinct aspect of the
representation of women in Forrest Gump, who is depicted
as an extremely confused character. She spends most of
her life finding herself and she if full of rebellion.
When she is young, she is abused by her drunken daddy
and stays with Forrest just because she is scared of
loneliness. After high school, they go to different
colleges. In Forrest’s eyes, Jenny and he are just
like peas and carrots since she friendly offers a seat
on his first bus to school. However, the film mostly
presents the dark, lonely and weak side of Jenny whom
is totally unlike strong and independent Gump’s
mother. Jenny makes wrong decisions of being naked
model for magazine, singing at a strip club and taking
drugs when Forrest sets off his successful life, and
particularly, a couple of times she wants to suicide.
No matter when and where, Forrest always attempts to
rescue Jenny out of trouble through her journeys but
ends up Jenny’s running away every time. Forrest loves
Jenny very much no matter what Jenny has done, and she
is Forrest’s only love. Forrest really does care about
Jenny, trying his best to protect her. Finally, they
go together as what Forrest hopes when Jenny decides
to settle down and marry Forrest. They also have a
child. The ending is relatively good, unless Jenny
gets ill and dead in the end of the story.
3.2.1 Jenny’s spirit of rebellion
If we say that Gump’s mother is the symbol of
maternity, then Jenny is the expression of rebellion
against society. She undoubtedly is the representative
of the “Beat Generation”. She has a mother that
deceased early, and an abusive father who not only
drinks a lot but also was salacious. Jenny used to
pray: “Dear God, make me a bird so I can fly far, far,
far away from here”. This childhood oppression on the
one hand injects her with the dream of freedom, and on
the other hand pushes her to the extremes. She has got
dreams but is stopped in the face of reality. At the
time when the Vietnam War was being fought, Counter
Culture Movement arises and Jenny became a typical
specimen of it.
Through Jenny, the director tries to express his
concern about the side-effects of rebellion and
extreme feminism. No doubt the oppressive male-
dominant circumstance should be reformed, but is
rebellion an answer to it? Aren’t we going from one
adversity to another? The experience of Jenny in the
movie is an example of the director’s critical
thinking towards feminism and its effect.
In Forrest Gump, Jenny Curran is an extremely
confused character. She spends the entire life trying
to find herself, while Forrest makes numerable
unsuccessful attempts to deliver her from hazards.
Instead of joining Forrest and have happiness, Jenny
runs away from him over and over again. She has
thoughts of suicide and often mixes herself in with
the wrong folks.
Jenny was raised by her obscene dad since she was a
little girl. She and Forrest became close friend, and
they remained so throughout high school. Jenny asked
Forrest to spend a lot of time with her because she
didn’t want to be alone. They spent so much time
together that they were “like peas and carrots”.
Later, they both went off to college. Jenny went to
an all girls’ college while Forrest went on to play
football in college. Forrest’s fortune began, so was
Jenny’s rebellion. While Forrest was becoming a
football star, Jenny was at college messing around
with boys and beginning to get in trouble. Forrest
rescued Jenny before she made the mistake of having
sex with a man who did not even care for her, but
Jenny was not willing to be together with Forrest.
Jenny got into another trouble because of her sexual
photos. She wanted to become a famous singer, but the
cruelty of live forced her to become a naked singer at
a strip club. Forrest found out about this and
delivered her from the club. At this time, Forrest was
about to leave and become a Vietnam War hero. When
Forrest told Jenny that he loved her, she impatiently
responded that he did not know what love was. This was
also the first time in the movie that Jenny mentioned
committing suicide. She asked Forrest if he thought
she could fly off the bridge. In his inadvertent way,
Forrest again helped Jenny make a right decision.
However, she took off again, leaving the one person
who cared about her behind. From the words she said
when bidding Forrest farewell, it can be felt that she
cared for him. But some impetus inside spurred her to
pursue a lifestyle whose implication she did not know
of. This in some sense indicated the blindness and
limitation of women’s liberation.
After Forrest went back from Vietnam, he and Jenny
met again accidentally in the capital. At this time,
Jenny had joined an anti-war organization called Black
Panther but was treated badly. Forrest tried to get
Jenny out of trouble with these people, while she left
Forrest again.
In the next few years, they did not hear from each
other. Jenny was in a club living a corrupted life.
She became an addict, and tried to commit suicide in
the middle of a night. But some instinct stopped her.
At this time, Forrest is becoming more and more
fortunate and wealthy.
Then one day Jenny came back to Forrest’s house.
They finally got together the way Forrest had wanted,
and just as we thought they were going to be together
forever, Jenny ran away again. This left Forrest
devastated. Once again we saw Jenny was confused and
running from her true happiness.
By the end of the movie, Jenny finally found
herself. Forrest spent “3 years, 2 months, 14 days,
and 16 hours” running throughout America; finally he
received a letter from Jenny that said she wanted to
see him. It turns out that Jenny gave birth to a baby
whose father was Forrest; the boy had become a little
boy and was named Forrest by her. She had decided to
be together with Forrest.
It took Jenny a very long time to decide to settle
down. She battled an abusive dad, dead-beat jobs,
drugs, and thoughts of suicide. When Jenny found out
she was ill, she called Forrest, and decided to
actually settle down and marry him. This left viewer
wondering, however, if Jenny hadn’t gotten sick, would
she have left Forrest again just like every other time
before?
We can figure something out from Jenny’s experience.
What is the director trying to tell us? Apparently he
is not encouraging Jenny’s perception of life. We even
doubt whether she had one.
3.2.2 Implication from Jenny’s rebellion
There have been scholars who consider a change of
women’s roles is a destructive force that endangers
the family. For example, Paul Gottfried describes this
antifeminist position: “Serious conservative scholars
like Allan Carlson and F. Carolyn Graglia have
maintained that the change of women’s role, from being
primarily mothers to self-defined professionals, has
been a social disaster that continues to take its toll
on the family. Rather than being the culminating point
of Western Christian gentility, the movement of women
into commerce and politics may be seen as exactly the
opposite, the descent by increasingly disconnected
individuals into social chaos”. The director must have
noticed those setbacks of extreme feminism and
rebellion from society. He depicted Jenny as a female
who may fall victim to the “Zeitgeist”. She followed
the trend indiscriminately, causing a disaster for
herself as well pain for people who care about her.
This is obviously contrary to what feminists’ ideal.
Women that stray from the beaten path are hurt more.
It is laudable that women should stand independently
with dignity; among those women that have this
character of iron-will, Forrest’s mother is the
paradigm. However, extreme rebellion against
traditional role of women can only bring about hazard
for women themselves. Antifeminists sometimes point to
an increase in divorce and family breakdown and
attribute as its cause is the influence of feminism.
They also cite that crime, teenage pregnancy, and drug
abuse are higher among children of fatherless homes,
considering that 66-80% (depending on the source) of
divorces is initiated by women and that single mothers
are accountable for 49% of all child abuse cases.
(Joan Ditson and Sharon Shay, 1984: 72)
Another implication of Jenny’s experience is the
oversight or flaw in the implementation of feminism.
As we know, feminism is always related with freedom,
and feminists tried hard to propaganda the conception
of being “free”, “independence”, and “equality of
opportunities” and so on. But when women actually turn
away from family and husband, how many freedoms or
opportunities are waiting for them. This dilemma is
boldly represented by the experience of Jenny: she
wanted to be a singer, but ends up being in a club
singing naked; she wanted to join activities but only
sexually exploited by the leader; she wished to make
some extra money but was kicked out of college.
We cannot but raise the questions: what can she live
on except her body? Has the society provided any means
for women to live a dignified life without relying on
men?
By presenting the unfortunate Jenny suffering from
trials and hardships from society, the director also
questioned the immaturity of feminism. It is reckless
to encourage women to rebel against their traditional
role in spite of their existing physical differences.
Some women who lived through the age can tell us the
truth: “The ‘sexual revolution’ turned out to be a
new, hip variation on the time-honored male ploy to
get women to spread their legs, and we’re still paying
for it”. [3]
Exploration of the social and historical background
Jenny was in can tell us more about her reasons for
choosing a rebellious path. Examples of strong women
are just reflections of the influence of high-rise
feminist activities.
In 1966, National Organization for Women was
founded. Betty Friedan, the leading figure of the
“second wave”, became the president of this
organization. Her book, The Feminine Mystique, was
published in 1963, questioned the role of housewives
in industrial countries. The “Problem That Has No
Name” was described by Friedan in the beginning of the
book: “The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many
years in the minds of American women. It was a strange
stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning, that
is, a longing, that women suffered in the middle of
the 20th century in the United States. Each suburban
wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds,
shopped for groceries … she was afraid to ask even of
herself the silent question — “Is this all?”
(Gottfried, Paul, 2001)
In 1965, America passed an act that gave women the
right to abortion. National Women’s conference was
held in Huston in1977, there were 180 representatives
from 36states took part in. These marked the high-rise
of feminism. The United Nations announced the year
1975 as “International Women’s Year”.
Against this historical background, Jenny is certain
to be greatly influenced. She accepted the conception
of the age, took part in those activities, and even
one of Jenny’s boy friend is the president of American
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) of a school.
She has a spirit of rebellion, and a horrifying
childhood. Based on these elements, she had chosen the
path of radical feminism.
Towards the ending of the movie, Jenny had a baby,
and finally came back to be with Forrest Gump. She
discarded her old lifestyle, and come back to be the
wife of the man who loved her. Late though it was, she
settled down, and found peace in herself. It is
reasonable to assume that her last days were spent in
slight regret. As testified in her remark after
Forrest told her his experience of life without her,
she said: “I wish I could’ve been there with you”.
Perhaps, if given another chance, she would choose her
life path differently. As a result, if we say that the
mother of Forrest Gump is the model of glorious
maternity, then Jenny’s last few days on earth can be
called the great return to motherhood from rebellion.
4. Conclusion
All in all, the movie is the distillation of a
generation’ story of apprehension and struggle. The
life experience of the author of the novel based on
which the movie was developed plays an important role
in the depiction of feminism in the movie.
The feminism reflected in the movie is dialectic. On
the one hand, the movie glorified Forrest’s mother’s
struggle for the development of her son; she made many
sacrifices and took lots of burden and
responsibilities alone with a strong character; on the
other hand, the director criticized the limitation of
radical feminism. Because of the historic conditions
and the factuality of physical difference between men
and women, those radical conceptions of feminism are
to some level castles in the air.
In general, the two important females Gump’s mother
and Jenny can be identified as stereotypical
representations of women with their social, cultural
and sexual definition, extremely influencing Forrest
into another representation of men in a patriarchal
society as Hollows, Hutchings and Jancovich states
that “It is a historical fact that women have formed
an important part - of the audience for commercial
entertainment films”. (Hollows, J., Hutchings P. and
Jancovich, M., 2000: 230)
To sum up, Mrs. Gump and Jenny, the two females who
relate to the protagonist Forrest Gump, have been
mostly examined with the mechanism of feminist
discourse in this paper. Both of them play important
roles with respect to Forrest but in completely
different ways, and they work as a signifier of
ideology of feminism. By going through the feminism
analysis with their representation, we can conclude
that as a result of being a material product of the
system, Forrest Gump is also an ideological product of
the system which reflects the feminism of that time.
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