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Author Topic: 1990s US Bracket: Verdicts  (Read 712307 times)

skjerva

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Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #710 on: July 13, 2008, 10:40:42 AM »
skjerva, that's a wonderful writeup and while I am pleased that AHX gets to move on to the next round, I am now tempted to give Forrest Gump a second viewing.

thanks :)  i think it probably is worth another look
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sdedalus

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Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #711 on: July 13, 2008, 10:50:17 AM »
Forrest and Jenny as two halves of the baby boomer spectrum:

Jenny: hippie, feminist, drug-using liberal.

Gump: square, military, businessman, compassionate conservative.

Thinking about it now, our current president ran his initial campaign on the Gump platform, didn't he?
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skjerva

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Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #712 on: July 13, 2008, 11:03:46 AM »
Forrest and Jenny as two halves of the baby boomer spectrum:

Jenny: hippie, feminist, drug-using liberal.

Gump: square, military, businessman, compassionate conservative.

Thinking about it now, our current president ran his initial campaign on the Gump platform, didn't he?

exactly
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

secondcitywolverine

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Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #713 on: July 13, 2008, 11:54:01 AM »
Do you think Jenny's death may be an attempt at making a point of the death of liberalism? As we moved out of the 1970s into the 80s, the drug using, love and peace generation dwindled away and the new technology of the 80s was arriving (the letter from Apple at the end).

maņana

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Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #714 on: July 13, 2008, 12:02:26 PM »
Do you think Jenny's death may be an attempt at making a point of the death of liberalism? As we moved out of the 1970s into the 80s, the drug using, love and peace generation dwindled away and the new technology of the 80s was arriving (the letter from Apple at the end).

I don't think it symbolizes the death of 60s idealism/liberalism (hippies becoming yuppies) as much as it was retribution for a lifestyle. Jenny was punished for her participation in the counterculture.   
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skjerva

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Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #715 on: July 13, 2008, 12:10:35 PM »
Do you think Jenny's death may be an attempt at making a point of the death of liberalism? As we moved out of the 1970s into the 80s, the drug using, love and peace generation dwindled away and the new technology of the 80s was arriving (the letter from Apple at the end).

i'm not sure what you mean by liberalism, i take that word to mean very much the same thing that many contemporary conservatives would champion - individual liberty, the free exchange of ideas (the "free market").  my sense is that you are using it in the sense of liberal values.  that being the case, i don't think the film is making a point about the death of liberal values, but is a part of the problem causing the death of liberal values.  i think sean's clarifying the opposed social values represented in Forrest and Jenny is more what the film is about - that even though the hawks and doves, the blacks and whites, name your dichotomy, seemingly don't get along, they really do/should because they/we are all americans.  i think Zemeckis/Gump wants to make this case that we should be uniters not dividers, while really advancing a highly conservative cultural/political agenda.

[and while i was writing:]

Do you think Jenny's death may be an attempt at making a point of the death of liberalism? As we moved out of the 1970s into the 80s, the drug using, love and peace generation dwindled away and the new technology of the 80s was arriving (the letter from Apple at the end).

I don't think it symbolizes the death of 60s idealism/liberalism (hippies becoming yuppies) as much as it was retribution for a lifestyle. Jenny was punished for her participation in the counterculture.   

yep :)
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

maņana

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Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #716 on: July 13, 2008, 12:26:03 PM »
i'm not sure what you mean by liberalism, i take that word to mean very much the same thing that many contemporary conservatives would champion

Liberalism is a tricky term. You're right in that as far as classical economic theory goes liberalism is actually a free-market ideology that most would understand as conservative. However in the popular press liberal is typically synonymous with left (which really isn't accurate) and this is the use of the term I think secondcitywolverine was using. In Canada, where I live, the term becomes more confusing because we have the Liberal Party of Canada.   

Leaving the liberal semantics aside, to my mind Forrest Gump is very much a conservative film. It was co-opted by conservatives like Newt Gingrich for good reason. It is a simplistic rewrite of post-war American history that marginalizes and punishes rebellion.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2008, 12:34:29 PM by matt the movie watcher »
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pixote

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Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #717 on: July 13, 2008, 12:45:03 PM »
I wish I remembered Forrest Gump better so I could chime in here.  (Then again, the movie pissed me off, so there's a virute to my forgetting.)  Anyway, I'm curious how Lieutenant Dan's character ties into these themes.  Can the loss of his legs punishment for something, or is that just an example of the film appropriating from other genres/films?  And what leads to his finding peace later on (I assume that happens; I can't actually remember)?

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Tequila

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Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #718 on: July 13, 2008, 12:59:29 PM »
He changes his lifestyle and redemption comes in the form of restored legs and his wife?
My recollection of this is a bit sketchy, but didn't the film suggest early on that Jenny's childhood was one of poverty, broken homes and child abuse? If so, is that merely a way to let Jenny as a character off the hook or yet another way to condemn counterculture?
« Last Edit: July 13, 2008, 01:15:29 PM by Tequila »
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philip918

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Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #719 on: July 13, 2008, 01:16:13 PM »
Forrest and Jenny as two halves of the baby boomer spectrum:

Jenny: hippie, feminist, drug-using liberal.

Gump: square, military, businessman, compassionate conservative.

Thinking about it now, our current president ran his initial campaign on the Gump platform, didn't he?

exactly

I think you can step back another step and without getting political say that Jenny is someone very much of the times - she's a hippie, a disco queen, etc.  She changes with every passing movement or fad (which is what most of us do), and she serves to highlight Forrest's odd timelessness - his hair, fashion sense and attitudes never change.
I wouldn't go so far as to say she was killed off for her "liberal" (political/social views/actions) sins.  AIDs had a huge impact in the early 80s and I felt the filmmakers thought it was important to include it in the film.
All that said, I don't think this is an especially great film and I'm happy to see AHX move on.