The Case for the Antidote for Forest Gump

Few people in America haven't seen Forest Gump for themselves as of yet. Fewer still don't know the general storyline. For that very few, Forest Gump, the movie, is the story of a mentally retarded man who wanders aimlessly and blamelessly through American History in the latter half of the 20th century.

Forest grows up in the south during segregation and stands outside his school, confused why everybody else is standing outside, as well. Somebody mentions some racial slur with regards to desegregation and Forest reacts with no recognition that racism is even a thing. The racial slur, rather than getting any recognition as a reference to race, is taken as literally a reference to an animal of the family rodentia.

Because Forest has no awareness that racism is a thing or the importance of the moment of desegregation, when a young black lady drops her books, he politely picks those books up and hands them to her.

This is meant to be heartwarming and speak positively about Forest Gump. "Awe," we're meant to think, "he's so innocent that he doesn't know what a good person he is."

That level of innocence cannot be explained with arrested mental development. His mother ran a boarding house. He went to school. He ran everywhere and had ample opportunity to interact with people. Any child ranging from three and up would either pick up racism or have some awareness of racism as something other people believed.

The only way he could lack that awareness even of the existence of racism is if he was so uninterested in those around him, with the potential exception of his mother and Jenny, that he simply never acknowledged anything they said unless it was directly to him... and then not most of that.

That level of disinterest in other people, in their thoughts and in their rights and in their emotions, would be a characteristic of clinical narcissism.

That's one view of the movie and it's an important view to keep in mind. This clinical narcissism shows up at multiple points. His remorse over losing his friend Bubba lasts only until he gets access to ice-cream. His love of Jenny never extends to the level of learning her interests or values or who she has become in the time since he first became infatuated with her. In fact, his love of Jenny never extends to the point of acknowledging that she might be the victim of any kind of abuse from her father.

Keep that in mind while I add on another view.

Again, I'm referring to the movie. I have not read the book.

Forest Gump is the story of how conservative white America views itself in light of the latter half of the 20th century.

Forest Gump is measured against worse people, the bullies that assaulted him, the classmate who used the racial slur, and against his own namesake. The movie sets up a baseline of judgment against which Forest seems innocent and nice. Look at how he doesn't use racial slurs and doesn't wish black people ill.

In the same sense, this tends to be the conservative view of history. Yes, there was slavery, but that was in the past. Yes, there was segregation, but those people are gone and/or completely lacking in credibility now. All of that either wasn't really conservative or it was but it has nothing to do with today's conservatism.

Both of these views are important in Forest's relationship with Jenny. As previously stated, Forest's affection for Jenny never seems to translate to interest in her interests, values, or desires. The only thing he really knows about her is that she was the girl who was nice to him when he was young. His affection includes naming his boat after her, but not learning who it is that corresponds to that name.

With that in mind, he gives her the small speech of that ends with "I do know what love is." Do you? I see that you know what it means to feel an attachment to someone, but is that what love is?

The clinical narcissist view expects this. Forest wants Jenny. That's all he needs to know about her. Forest has a set of expectations on how men are expected to relate to women. That's all he needs to know about how to approach her. That his approach involves less violence and anger than others is only a sign that his set of expectations don't allow for violence.

The conservative white America self-image view also expects this. There's a consistent narrative of being loving and sticking to simple values as the only thing one really needs to do in order to be a good husband/father.

Jenny could also be a stand-in for America as a whole. Note that she finds herself with various abusive liberal boyfriends, at least one of which Forest has to save her from, only to have her defend said boyfriend.

Also note that Forest's love of Jenny is expressed not in getting to know her and appreciate her, but in the same styles that one uses to express nationalism. He names boats after her. That's not acting out of love, that's acting out of an expectation of what love should look like.

Finally, note that, when she dies, it's from AIDS, a disease that has often been called the result of a liberal lifestyle. No, her death, in this view, is not the end of America. She has a child, one that isn't like Forest, but is smart. But, Forest must raise this child, armed only with his simple values and innocence and a love for idealized Jenny.

Now, I would call this blameless walk through history while incidentally and effortlessly taking up participation credit for progress a harmless fantasy. But, we just can't avoid that clinical narcissist view. The former just can't operate without the latter hiding in there. The fantasy is narcissistic and that is warping people's views of both past and present.

So, I propose an antidote and, for that antidote, I see no need to limit ourselves to the mid-to-late 20th century. If we're going to walk through American history, let's walk through the whole thing.

We can either start with the settlers or we can start with the prelude to the Revolution. We will have one main character and two primary side characters, all three of which will be immortal. Some form of magic will keep them all from fame. It will be a similar form to that which allowed Forest to meet three presidents, on film, be a national Ping-Pong champion, and publicly inspire John Lenin while on a talk show without becoming famous).

Of course, there will be a multitude of side characters and touches with history. Since we'll deal with immortals, we can open this up not just with slavery and the start of the KKK having been something that happened but also look at it directly.

The main character will be, much like Forest, blameless and directionless. Immortality would be seen as enforcing directionlessness. He would be unable to stay in any place for too long. Whatever magic keeps him from being famous wouldn't keep close relations from noticing a lack of aging. So, he would have to keep on wandering, incapable of really establishing any long, personal life goals.

The two primary side characters would have a similar limitation, but not be absent direction. Neither could make long term plans with regards to personal ambition. They would still each have a vision for America. In fact, being incapable of establishing long-term family or career, they would be free to give their full focus to their respective visions.

One of the two visionary characters would be not unlike Jenny, getting involved in the movements that make progress. Abolition, suffrage, anti-war protesting, sexual revolution, along with the free love and drug use would be that character's pattern.

The other would be like those people against whom Forest was originally judged better. This one's vision would fight to keep slavery, fight to keep segregation, fight against suffrage, fight for "old fashioned values".

Note: Avoid making that character evil. And, as time goes by, allow him to admit that slavery was a "mistake", but not until decades after the fact. Let him be charming and a true believer in his vision, even as he has to sometimes make apologies for that vision.

The main character would wander through history, learning more about history as he goes. As he learns more, what looked like being blameless will become being a part of holding things back. It's not enough to be relatively blameless, considering the times. You have to try to do better.

What do you think?