re: Why did Jenny wait so many years

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Jenny is one of my most hated characters in movie history.

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I dont believe that is true, and if it is true then that is just sad and shows no one really understands her character or story or role in that movie

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Or how about we don't subscribe to your particular interpretation, jerkoff?

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Calm down, dude. I wasn't insulting you.

But is she really considered one of the most hated characters?

She represents child molestation, home abuse, drug abuse, the hippie generation, free love, freedom from commitment, and all of its consequences and struggles to show that despite everything that can go wrong in a person's life, she is still striving to be a good person. Every time she gets close to commitment or reality or indeed happiness; she gets scared and turns to another form of coping. Its a tragic sad story, but I don't hate her. Once she has the kid, she gets a job, settles down, puts him in school (where he excels), takes care of him, and when she finds out she is dying she makes sure he is set for the rest of his life.

In the last scene, where she is dieing, she looks more happy and healthy than any other point in the movie. Because maybe she finally grew up. She finally realized that some things are more important in life than material possessions and pleasures. She realized that family and commitment can make you more happy than drugs and sex and music and everything else.

Or maybe im just a hopeless bleeding heart romantic and she is a dumb count.

Either way, Forrest Gump is the GOAT

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She represents child molestation, home abuse, drug abuse, the hippie generation, free love, freedom from commitment, and all of its consequences and struggles to show that despite everything that can go wrong in a person's life, she is still striving to be a good person. Every time she gets close to commitment or reality or indeed happiness; she gets scared and turns to another form of coping. Its a tragic sad story, but I don't hate her. Once she has the kid, she gets a job, settles down, puts him in school (where he excels), takes care of him, and when she finds out she is dying she makes sure he is set for the rest of his life.

In the last scene, where she is dieing, she looks more happy and healthy than any other point in the movie. Because maybe she finally grew up. She finally realized that some things are more important in life than material possessions and pleasures. She realized that family and commitment can make you more happy than drugs and sex and music and everything else.

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Well said. I agree with everything you said. A person molested as a child is going to have issues more than likely.

I'm confident that was Forrest's son in the end.

thanks

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Because she's a count. Jenny is one of my most hated characters in movie history.

frick YOU JENNY

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I guess you think Princess Buttercup was wrong for agreeing to marry Humperdink too hunh?

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How did Jenny have a son and make the beast with two backs with Forrest and not pass on AIDS to either of them?

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well it's still rare for a woman with AIDS to pass it onto a male. i forget the rates but with unprotected sex it's still only like 1.0-1.55

the kid? it's not a 100% thing. nowadays it's real low, but back then? yeah it was better than 50/50 i think

Yep, this thread again.

Rewatching Forrest Gump as an adult, it seems to me that Forrest and Jenny were like two sides of the same coin, in that they were both impressionable beyond that of a reasonable person. Nearly everything Forrest does in the movie comes directly from someone telling him to do it. For example, Jenny tells Forrest if he ever gets in trouble, just run. He runs in Vietnam, and he runs for three years when she leaves. Even the ridiculousness where the Alabama crowd and band has to yell STOP! when he gets in the end zone, and he was so good at ping pong because he was told to keep his eye on the ball. Forrest's exception to this rule is when he believes he is doing right. He continues to beat the crap out of the frat jerk in the car and the goofball at the Black Panther meeting while Jenny tells him to stop. He disobeys Lt. Dan telling him to leave him, saving his life and several other members of his platoon.

Jenny's impressionability comes from Popular America. As a child in the 40s and 50s, she still prays to God (no inkling of religion at any other time). She is right at home with hippies in the 60s and disco in the 70s. Had she been born later, she would have been a Motley Crue groupie, followed by a grunge girl in Seattle, then tripping to Moby. Jenny was shown dropping acid and later shooting heroin. If the film was based on today, she might be working on meth.

I think American pop culture had a rough time finding an identity, starting with McCarthyism, and moving right through the Vietnam war. It became popular to hate aspects of America (Jenny hates herself quite often), free love was seen as the best way to be happy. Disco, and later hair bands, was a way to overcompensate and rebel against what your parents stood for. Jenny ran because she was confused about her feelings. She was afraid of what settling down would turn her into. I think we finally grew out of that in the late 80s and 90s. Parts of society will always be anti-good, but it became more popular to work hard in school, get a good job and pay off your mortgage instead of buying a more exotic car.

Jenny's son was born right around the time it became much more common to see a single mother raising children. The strength was applauded, and less blame was placed for failed relationships. Her diagnosis made her take a deep breath and reflect on her life. The last step of the grief process is acceptance. Just as America was accepting our faults caused by the baby boomers and external forces, Jenny accepted her past (why the scene of her throwing rocks at her childhood home is so vital).

Since she loved her son so much, she was finally able to love herself, opening the door to allowing someone else's love into her life. It wasn't the money, she left Forrest after he was already rich. She put an end to ulterior motives and wanted happiness for herself, her son and the man who loved her his whole life. They were star-crossed lovers, and in the end, nothing could keep them apart, not even the AIDS. Thanks for reading!