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* Life is not like a box of chocolates. You always know what is inside a box of chocolates: Chocolates. So where does the analogy come from?
** Broadly, yes, it's chocolates. But the point is you don't know ''what kind'' of chocolates when you pick one up. Is it filled with cream? Coconut? Toffee? Caramel? That's where the analogy comes from.
** ...seriously?
*** Yes? If you want to pick it apart, if you're alive, you know life is ahead of you. Got a box of chocolates and you know that chocolate is in there. Most boxes come with all kinds. You can pick out your chocolate, know it's chocolate, but you don't know exactly what it is yet, or if you'll like it. Hell, maybe you're deathly allergic.
*** Two more possibilities, not necessarily mutually exclusive: (1) Forrest doesn't seem the type to give folksy sayings like that a lot of thought, especially if they come from his mother. Remember that, as far as he's concerned, Momma's a fount of wisdom. (2) Even if you know what's in the box after you open it, what about ''before?'' Sure, you can argue that all Whitman's Samplers are the same; but imagine if you only got one of them to last you the rest of your life. Would you know what was in it before you opened it? It's sort of the same idea. It doesn't hold up under close scrutiny, but again, Forrest doesn't seem the type to worry about it too much.
*** "It doesn't hold up under close scrutiny, but again, Forrest doesn't seem the type to worry about it too much."
** I think it's important to remember that once upon a time those boxes of chocolates didn't come with handy little charts to tell you which chocolates had what in them. He was saying Life is Life, but every experience is different. Chocolate is chocolate, but you don't know what flavor is inside when the box won't tell you.
** Plus, usually the charts are inside the box or on the other side of the lid, so you wouldn't be able to see it and know which is which until you opened the box.
* If Jenny indeed has AIDS, as the movie seems to be strongly implying, what does that mean for Forrest, or for Forrest Jr. for that matter? [[FridgeHorror Yikes...]]
** The author said it was Hepatitis, but even if it was HIV, there's only an app. 1 in 2000 chance of a man to catch it from unprotected vaginal sex. I doubt Forrest hit it enough for transmission to be likely, or that Forrest had riskier forms of sex like anal.
** It doesn't necessarily mean anything. If Jenny has AIDS we don't know for sure when she contracted it. It's unlikely she had it when she and Forrest had sex (and they only had sex the one time IIRC) so Forrest is probably okay. And it's unlikely her son has it because she probably caught it during her days of wild sex and drug parties, which came ''after'' her son would have been born.
*** Did you even watch the movie? Jenny's wild days were not while she was in college. She was ''kicked out'' of college for appearing in a porno magazine, and then ''later'' in the movie she was involved with people who practiced casual sex and drug use. As for whether she had sex with Forrest after marrying him, setting aside the above speculation about condom use, yes, I am saying Forrest and Jenny may have chosen not to have sex again. Many STD sufferers voluntarily choose not to have sex again to avoid any possibility of transmitting their illness to others, and instead find other ways to have intimate relations.
*** But remember that the doctors don't even know what the virus is - meaning that Jenny and Forrest might not even know that they are at risk while having sex...
** There's no sure thing with [=STDs=]. Even having unprotected sex with someone who has AIDS will not guarantee that you get it.
*** The risk for an uninfected man contracting HIV from an infected woman in a single sexual encounter is actually ''less than one percent''. (And in fact probably much less than that). Though it is of course still possible to get infected from a single exposure, most of the time people get infected as a result of multiple exposures from a continuing pattern of high risk behavior. Like... Jenny.
** Timeframe. AIDS barely had a foothold in the US (and only then in the homosexual community) until 1981. And this [[Headscratchers/HomePage Just Bugs Me]]: Jenny dies in 1982. AIDS wasn't recognized as being caused by a virus until a year later.
*** Not officially, but by the end of 1981, some people were beginning to realize that it was communicable, and therefore possibly a virus; Jenny could have used "virus" as a catch-all term. Also, HIV was ''not'' just present in the homosexual community. By the end of 1981, [[http://www.avert.org/aids-history-86.htm symptoms were being reported in IV drug users]].
*** Jenny specifically said she had some kind of virus and that the Doctors ''didn't know what it was.'' That's important. They could see she had a virus, but didn't know it was AIDS or what have you. But it's moot because the sequel novel confirmed it was Hep-C.
** In addition to the above comment's entirely correct information about female-to-male transmission rates, Forrest Jr.'s chances for contraction, while much higher, do not guarantee that he has the virus. According to the CDC, [[http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/perinatal/resources/factsheets/perinatal.htm his chances of contraction are one in four]].
** There's always the chance that she caught it while working for the diner. Little known fact at the time, well known fact today, HIV is a [[FridgeBrilliance BLOOD BORNE pathogen.]] She could have had an open sore on her hand, and tried to help someone with a cut, that was infected, or tried to clean up the mess.
** There's also the possibility that she relapsed and started using drugs again after Forrest Jr. was born. It's not difficult to imagine that a single mother, trying to eke out a living as a waitress during an economic recession, would occasionally turn to drugs to help her cope. (Especially given that, as far as we know, Jenny never went through proper rehab after her "wild" days; old habits die hard.)
** WordOfGod from the author states that Jenny actually had Hepatitis C.
** there's also the common misconception that AIDS sufferers actually die from AIDS - they die from the greatly increased vulnerability to all sorts of things, which it causes. Hep C was not diagnosed until 1989, although it was suspected much earlier and unlike AIDS is specifically blood-borne - which fits the various plot points much better, because it IS terminal in most cases, means she most likely contracted it through sharing a needle, didn't transmit it to Forrest during sex and had a very low chance of transmitting it to Forest Jr.
* Why does Forrest cry for Jenny, but not his mother? It seems sort of unfair that he mourns more for the woman who spent most of her life walking all over him than for the woman who sacrificed everything for him. Hell, he cries more for fucking ''Bubba'' than he does for his own mother. [[WhatTheHellHero Seriously?]]
** Bubba died young, very suddenly and in great pain - and Forrest might have followed him, soon after. Ever hear of Survivors Guilt or PTSD? Jenny ultimately died young and in pain, of the accumulated effects of her own bad decisions over time - and Forrest offered her a way out on more than one occasion. "I could have prevented that" was literally true for him, to some extent.
** Well, she ''was'' quite old when she died. Generally speaking, it's a lot easier to get over the loss of a friend or a loved one if they lived a full life before dying. Mrs Gump was also religious, and probably reconciled herself to death that way, which Forrest would probably also have found consoling.
*** Besides, he may have cried offscreen.
*** Many people generally find it easier to cope with the loss of somebody when you've known they're going to die for a long period of time. Even though Mrs Gump was obviously in the final stages of cancer, Forrest would at least have had some time to prepare for the death of his mother. Most people find it a relief when their loved ones pass away after a long illness, since the pain ends for both parties and they can start to move on. Of course Forrest would have still been torn apart when she finally died, but maybe less extremely so if she'd died suddenly. Besides, you don't see him cry when Jenny dies, either, so why don't we all just assume the poor guy's heart broke each time someone died and they just didn't film it?
** Forrest isn't shown crying for his mother, but even many years later he's still shown to be deeply hurt by her death. Pay attention to how his voice shakes when he says "And that's all I have to say about that." when he finishes talking about when she died, and keep in mind that it's probably a ''decade'' later. He was probably absolutely inconsolable for some time after her death, which would help explain why he never goes back to shrimping and just stays home... he can't really bear to be away from where she lived and died.
* Why was Forrest not all that famous? He was awarded the Medal of Honor, spoke in a rally, ping pong made him a "national celebrity", and he was a tycoon who established hospitals, churches, and so forth; why were the news programs reporting his HeroicBSOD run merely referring to him as 'a gardener from Greenbow, Alabama'? Why not 'former tycoon', ''70s ping pong sensation', or, heck, 'Vietnam war veteran', which would surely make his running act more dramatic and politicized?
** That's a good point. By some point in the film, the news media should have caught on, considering he was also a star football player and also met several presidents.
** This is a crucial difference between the book, and the film. "Book Gump's" various misadventures are more-or-less well documented, or so bizarre (like the "astronaut" sequence), or both that they HAVE to be taken at face value, because who the Devil would make such things up? "Film Gump" is treated at times, as though he is simply a half-wit recounting fantasies to strangers at a bus stop, unable to tell truth from delusion; and with the notable exception of Jenny's failed suicide attempt, which Forrest plays no role in, there is virtually no supporting evidence.
** Forrest Gump is pretty much a private guy, he's not an active celebrity like Charlie Sheen, you know. Still a wiki search in that universe could give out an impressive results - but the film appeared in 1994, and dealt with events taking place sometime in the 60s, 70s and 80s...
** Noel Murray offers a good explanation in the Website/AVClub review: "Zemeckis also slyly introduces a recurring motif of people and objects getting hit at the end of shots, illustrating the idea of a generation getting pummelled by one life-changing event after another. (The same idea is evoked by Roth's recurring motif of having nobody remember Forrest Gump, in spite of the many times he’s been on TV over the years; some see that as a continuity flaw, but it's more reflective of the collective amnesia that seems to hit society in the wake of lurching change.) "
** Perhaps they call him a gardener because that's what he told them. He does respond to the interviewers in that one scene- perhaps in his first interview they asked him who he was, etc., and when they asked him what his job was he said "I take care of the grass" or something.
** You'd think someone would remember him, say "Hey, weren't you the guy who X?"
*** Not only that, in real life Forrest Gump would be a celebrity recognizable pretty much anywhere in Alabama, just like any other Crimson Tide All-American. (Hell, even IN real life one term amongst Alabama fans for the most extreme segment of their fanbase is "Gumps".)
** What I found confusing is that for his whole running escapade he was wearing a "Bubba-Gump Shrimp" hat. Knowing his name, how did nobody make that connection?
*** Who expects an All-American football player and veteran turned millionaire to be sitting on a bench next to you waiting for a bus?
** “Ping-pong star” and “guy who founded a business years ago that he then left” are not really things that the general public would care much about. Perhaps some corners would refer to him as “War-Hero Forrest Gump,” but we may have just not seen those. However, Gump would likely be a local celebrity in Alabama, and my guess is that most of his followers would have been from there.
* Why is Forrest always labeled as "simple-minded"? I mean, yeah, I get it when he's called that in the film, it's the 50s and he comes from the Deep South. But every single synopsis or review or discussion of this film ends up just referring to Forrest as stupid over and over. I mean, it's pretty goddam apparent that the character has a genuine mental disability- developmental, autism, whatever. Not to mention the fact that he had a physical one during his childhood as well (mental and physical disabilities don't always go hand in hand, but it's still not uncommon). Is anybody going to acknowledge this? An actual disability is very different from being a foolish person.
** I think the "simple-minded" is referring ''to'' the disability. Because they're never clear on just what disability it might be, they borrow the same euphemism that was used at the time.
** Well, as Creator/TerryPratchett said about [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Constable Carrot]], there's a difference between being simple and being stupid. Forrest isn't stupid; he's just simple. He also wouldn't qualify as disabled, since his low IQ doesn't substantially limit his ability to function in school, serve in the military, run a business, drive a boat or operate a lawn mower.
** His mental slowness hasn't kept him from accomplishing things and interacting well with other people. He is aware of the fact that he isn't smart, but is smart enough to know when someone is mocking him for it. Therefore, Forrest himself would probably be comfortable with being referred to as simple minded.
** His IQ is said to be 75, which is slightly above what would be considered mental retardation, so that might help explain why they simply call him slow or stupid.
* How is Dorothy Harris still driving the bus, unaged, over 30 years later?
** She could be Dorothy Harris Jr, or otherwise Dorothy Harris's daughter.
*** This is most likely true, as notice that the Dorothy Harris that picks up Forrest Jr. actually looks ''younger'' than the original.
*** Robert Zemeckis really seems to like the IdenticalGrandson trope, as it's on display in the ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' sequels and at various points in this film.
** Considering the smile that she gives Forrest Jr. when he introduces himself, this probably is the case. The bigger headscratcher is in the Cosmic Coincidence that she has the same bus route as her mother.
*** It's not that big of a town, it might only ''have'' one bus route.
** I always assumed RuleOfFunny.
* Why is Lt. Dan shocked and confused that Forrest was awarded a Medal of Honor? As both Forrest's commanding officer and one of the people he pulled out of the jungle, Lt. Dan would certainly have been part of the process in determining if Forrest has earned the medal.
** He's not shocked and confused, he's aggravated. Partly because he's pissed off at Forrest, partly because he's pissed off at everything. He probably was involved, in that they likely interviewed him about Forrest's actions and his character, and despite being pissed off Lt. Dan no doubt gave entirely truthful answers to every question. "Yes sir, he did follow every order I ever gave him to the letter, save my order not to go back for the others. Yes sir, he did seem to be of good moral character. Yes sir, he did carry me and the rest of his platoon out of jungle while under threat of being napalmed." He probably said it through gritted teeth, but he no doubt said it.
*** Consider Lt. Dan. He was Gump's commanding officer, lost both his legs, and was pretty much left a hopeless cripple who was only barely getting by on government welfare. Did he get a medal? No. They gave the medal to "an imbecile, a moron who goes on television and makes a fool of himself in front of the whole damn country." Yes, this was mostly just him taking out his frustration of being denied an "honorable death in battle" on Forrest.
*** Even when he's drunk and schmoozing with prostitutes, Dan still defends Forrest and tells the prostitutes that Forrest isn't stupid.
*** Well, he ''was'' very drunk at the time. In vino veritas. He may have resented Forrest deeply, but on some level, he recognized that he was a good, decent man.
* How did Bubba Gump Shrimp Company wind up failing per Gump and Co.?
** It didn't. One of the people talking to Gump expresses surprise that he's talking to the owner of the Bubba-Gump Shrimp Corporation, and Gump says "We got more money than Davey Crockett."
*** In the movie continuity that is. I was referring to the sequel to the original novel.
*** The company didn't fail by the time of the second book, Lt. Dan sold his share, and Forrest couldn't fill the increasing demands for shrimp and deal with various labour disputes, so the company ended up closing shop.
* Why did the cop bust the mike when ''Forrest'' started speaking, as opposed to Abbie Hoffmann or just at the beginning of the rally?
** Most likely he simply wasn't in a position to start yanking out the wires until Forrest took the stage. Probably wanted to be inconspicuous in making his way over.
** Also a returning soldier who was just awarded a Medal of Honor speaking out against the war would be more damaging than Hoffman
* Forrest ran for three years straight and didn't wear out his shoes?
** When he was tired, he slept. When he was hungry, he ate. When his shoes wore out, he bought a new pair.
* An awkward question, but what is up with the scene where Jenny takes off her bra in front of Forrest and he ends up apologizing for her "room mate's bathrobe". Did he climax from simply ''touching'' her breast?
** It's probably fair to assume Forrest had never had sex before.
** So male virgins will climax from simply putting their hands on a breast for a few seconds? Now that I think of it, something similar did happen in ''Film/AmericanPie''...
*** Happens frequently during puberty (mostly while asleep) without having to touch anything.
** Well, no. But Forrest was likely aroused from the moment Jenny started undressing to the point where just touching her brought him to climax.
* What happened to Jenny's sisters? When the authorities arrest Mr. Curran for molesting Jenny, Jenny is sent to live with her grandmother, but what became of her sisters? It seems as if they vanished into thin air…
** Presumably, they went to live with their grandmother too. Forest just doesn't pay them no mind.
* Why did Jenny think that posing for a porn magazine wearing her college sweater was a good idea to begin with? Did she think that the college was going to say "Well done, Jenny! Wearing our sweater for that magazine's photo will make for good publicity for the institution!"?
** Jenny being who she is (she's certainly got a rebellious streak), it might well have been a deliberate decision on her part.
* Where's Forrest's Medal of Honor? If you look closely at the ribbon bar on Forrest's uniform, you'll notice that the Medal of Honor ribbon is conspicuously absent. Even though it ''should'' be the very fist ribbon on that bar, the highest award he ever displays (after he gives Jenny the actual medal, itself) is his Purple Heart. What's the deal?
** Continuity error, probably.
* About the famous scene where young Forrest's leg braces come apart and he discovers he is a very fast runner...was this intended to be perceived as some kind of miracle by the audience.. or did Forrest's doctor just misdiagnose him in the first place?
* Why did Lieutenant Dan bother to protect Forrest's honor against the hookers? He's still plenty mad at Forrest and had at that time no reason to do so.
** There is a clear difference between holding a grudge and actively wanting to see someone come to malicious harm. Plus, its a part of Dan's current state of JerkWithAHeartOfGold mentality. He's still coming to terms with who he is.
** Not only that, but Lt. Dan is pretty clearly AFatherToHisMen, and no matter how mad he might be at Forrest, you don't fuck with one of his men in front of him. They have a very complicated relationship at this point, and while Dan believes Forrest ruined his life, he also knows that Forrest ''saved'' his life and the lives of several members of his unit in a profoundly heroic act; earning himself a Purple Heart and the Medal of Honor in the process. Lt. Taylor is a soldier descended from an extremely long line of soldiers. He might hate Forrest right now, but there's no doubt that Lt. Dan respects the hell out of him.
* How does Forrest Gump gain national news coverage for running? He just started doing it on a whim and never went to the media or did anything to draw attention to himself. Did some reporter just see him running and think "Hey that guy looks interesting! I think I'll get his story!"
** It's been a while since I've seen the movie but from what I remember, he does. He gets people following him and everything.
** He runs to both sides of the country multiple times. He likely passed through at least one location multiple times and / or stopped and had a chat with at least one other person, which would be enough for word to spread that hey, some guy's doing his own personal cross-national run here.
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