Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Why Forrest Gump Sucks

Este post sé que va a ser controversial.

La película es increíblemente popular, y por eso quizás mi corazón por naturaleza negro y cínico hace que no me guste, pero en realidad, después de verla recientemente de nuevo, me la encuentro peor todavía - Más ñoña, más preachy y más obvia. Detesto las cosas obvias. No tengo ningún problema con películas que wear their hearts out on their sleeves como dicen los gringos, pero aquí es insorportable.

Esto lo escribí hace ya un buen tiempo, más de 5 años creo, y decidí ver la película de nuevo para comprobar si mi opinión era la misma.

Aquí va:

Forrest Gump:

The Cynical "Masterpiece"

image A girl I know once complained to me about how dumb she was. She claimed to have no practical knowledge and even less common sense. I was at a loss of words. Mostly because I didn't want to be mean, but I really couldn't think of any way to disagree.

Despite my almost crippling initial shyness, I can actually think quite well on my feet when feeling comfortable. So, without too much of a pause, I managed to reply with: "Don't worry, intelligence doesn't get you anywhere. When it comes to being happy in this life, the two prime movers are blissful ignorance and dumb luck."

That might not be too happy of an outlook, but it occurred to me that a very popular mid-90s film centered on that very philosophy: Forrest Gump.

The movie that proudly told us all that our lives will be given meaning through straight-up, dumb-as-shit luck.

But it's more than that. Gump doesn't candy-coat history. It tells it like it is: a series of completely random occurrences in which intelligence or order play no part. Our world is shaped by bumbling idiocy.

Those who voted for Bush won't wake up tomorrow and see the light. Truth won't prevail. This concept of "Enlightenment" is completely and utterly socially irrelevant.

Everything is just a crapshoot. Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get – Maybe the most pessimistic quote in motion picture history.

Blissful Ignorance and Dumb Luck. They are all that matter. This is what Mr. Gump has taught me. Yet some people call it an inspirational story.

Why?

I remember arguing with a friend about how fucked up Forrest Gump is, in the sense that if its message was taken literally by people, we’re doomed. It's played off as inspiration where it should have been played off as a satire on American culture. Some people described him as inspirational, and proof that you can do anything in America, but that's debatable. If only Gump represented some sort of "ignorance is bliss" satire on America, or Western culture in general, but I’ve always thought it took itself way too seriously.

Take the tagline for instance: "See the world through the eyes of Forest Gump.” Could sound innocent. Could be a subtext for how society wants to perceive history and life. That all these things will happen to you if you are like Forest Gump - never question the system, etc.

It rained a lot in Vietnam, sometimes it rained upside down, and Gump did whatever the army told him to do. He went for a long run, and had a load of followers and then got quoted a lot [I always saw that as a stab at religion].

What I can remember that bothered me the most about it is how the "good" aspects are implicitly, heavy-handedly defined: Football, military heroism, capitalism, friendship, and family values, while the "bad" aspects are sex, drugs, rock and roll, and social activism. It strongly implies that both Jenny and Forrest deserve what they get because of their life choices – Jenny deserves to die of AIDS because she was a promiscuous, anti-war activist whore, while in Forrest's case, his gentle passivity, his conformism leads him to a nice, peaceful life. Don’t forget he ended up being rich too.

Republicanism vs Liberalism, maybe?

It's been a while since I've seen the movie, but if it was less sentimental and more satirical, it could very well have been brilliant. But I really do think Zemeckis thought of this film as inspirational and made it so.

Pulp Fiction was robbed.

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7 comments:

alfonso said...

viejo, me pase por tu blog, casi lo leo entero..mierda..ta muy apero......opino lo mismo que tu sobre piratas y el hombre araña, un desperdicio, no he visto la del monstruo verde, pero debo llevar a alfonsito....

Iana said...

Yo vi esa pelicula el otro dia y me parecio buena (por lo menos en la consistencia). No me habia percatado de ninguno de los aspectos que mencionas, aunque por momentos me sentia inmersa en un film con bastantes dosis de Moralina (simplistic reviews on the wrong and rite doing. Al leer este review me asaltaron los elementos obvios y no pude evitar sentirme avergonzada por no haberlos notado antes...me pregunto ahora cuantas peliculas he pasado como buenas por distraccion? :S

Great review

Guido said...

"me pregunto ahora cuantas peliculas he pasado como buenas por distraccion? :S"

Worry not, que aquí me encargaré de remediar eso, heh.

Gracias por visitar, Alfonso! A tu hijo dile que se espere hasta Ratatouille o ponle Finding Nemo o The Incredibles antes que ponerlo a sufrir con Shrek 3. Créeme que ni los niños se estaban riendo cuando la ví.

alfonso said...

bueno tiguere, el problema es que ya se lo dije, y el me ha llamado varias veces desde la capital para decirme que el sabado vamos a ver a cherrrr...chreerrrr como es papi??
-Shrek...
-ahh si, esa, esa me gusta

Guido said...

Y como uno le dice que no a algo asi?

Olvidate de to lo que dije.

Sarrouche said...

Bueno, me convenciste con esto de Forest Gump a pesar de que a mi me habia gustado. Y a pesar de tu comentario y para ser controversial, voy a ponerme del lado del hedonismo: es cierto que las peliculas buenas son buenas porque puedes extraer un mensaje practico para tu vida diaria, pero tambien, a veces, se siente bien cuando simplemente vez peliculas (o cualquier otra practica artistica), por el "feel good" factor. Como las comedias romanticas por ejemplo. Son ridiculas, exageradas y estan llenas de falsas ilusiones, pero hacen sentir bien a uno. Y ya. :)

Gracias por tu comentario en mi blog. Me gusta mucho como manejas tu blog...Somos mellizos de layout!

Guido said...

Totalmente de acuerdo contigo. No tengo nada en contra del cine escapista, todo lo contrario. Si me pusiera a hacer una lista de todos los disparates que me gustan y puedo ver over and over again...

Mucha gente se vuelve super snob y pierde la perspectiva de que el cine se creó para entretener, lo de que el cine es AHt vino mucho despues.

Cuando se haya el balance de las dos cosas es grandioso. Por eso los directores que mas admiro son Billy Wilder y Alfred Hitchcock.

Gracias por visitarme!

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