Jenny was sexually abused as a child and believed she was sexually abusing Forrest. This is why at the end Forrest tells her “I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is.” He’s telling her that their relationship was consensual and that she was not taking advantage of him.
It’s fine if you still believe she’s an asshole to Forrest, but most folks don’t understand this context.
- downpunxx ( @downpunxx@kbin.social ) 33•1 year ago
Is that why she didn’t tell Forrest that he was a father, and allow him to be part of the baby’s life? Your overly charitable reading of the character doesn’t hold water, JackbyDev
But she did!
…once she was literally dying and had no other choice.
I’m not making an argument as to why folks should not view her as an asshole, I’m pointing out an aspect of the character many people overlook. If anything I’m only saying she’s less of an asshole. I haven’t watched the movie in a long time to definitively say if she truly is or isn’t an asshole. Like I said, it’s still fine with me if folks believe she is.
Yes, trama can cause people to not be truthful or give big news because the fear of retaliation
- downpunxx ( @downpunxx@kbin.social ) 5•1 year ago
I lied, and was afraid you’d be mad that lied, so I kept your baby from you and kept lying, yeah, shitty fucking human
Yeah well we can try to understand each other and our motivations and what makes us human or we can simply judge others and get angry and call people names. Jenny thought Forest was mentally retarded (to use an antiquated term). So no she’s not going to pursue a relationship and no she’s not gonna entrust her child to him even tho objectively she should have she simply did not have the perspective the audience does. So she made a lot of bad decisions because she never was shown the right ones. And at least she learned from her mistakes.
But but but woman bad
That’s pretty much what a lot of folks’ responses sound like.
It feels so weird to see her character compared to cartoonishly evil ones like Darth Vader and the Joker. When watching the movie she is clearly a very damaged person, her character is tragic. The way she treats Gump makes sense, her culture is intensely ableist which combined with her trauma provides context to her actions. The idea that she is somehow a bigger asshole than a domestic terrorist with no concrete backstory, a serial killer, or even evil space jesus, is ridiculous. Frankly it reeks of casual sexism whenever I see people smear her, it feels like folks are either parrotting the opinions they found online, or never tried to understand her character while watching the movie.
Listen, we all know Darth Vader may have used the threat of genocide to get Leia to talk… And he may have even lied and done it anyways… And just the general idea of genocide and destroying a planet is awful… But have you considered women bad?
There’s no debate. Jenny used forest and threw him away as soon as he didn’t have what she wanted. When she ran out of places to go, she comes to forest just to torment him, get pregnant, then run away again. Then, she appears out of nowhere to hand off forest’s kid that she had been hiding from him for years right before dying of the aids that she probably also gave to forest.
Wow. I haven’t seen the movie or read the book, and after reading your comment I know for sure this is not the kind of story or movie I would enjoy
That snippet isn’t what the movie is focused on. It’s just the actions of a side character, who has a big effect on the main character’s life sure, but it isn’t what the movie is about. That’s like saying LOTR is something you wouldn’t enjoy based off nothing but a description of Gollum’s role in the story and nothing else.
Um, professor umbridge from Harry Potter. She’s basically an asshole just to be one.
The other ones all have some sort of justification to their shittyness. Jenny was abused, Vader was a literal slave that was taken advantage of by both the Jedi and palpatine. The joker has literal mental issues.
Umbridge was straight up a child abuser with no remorse or tragic back story. She harmed kids while enjoying it and drinking tea.
Rewatching this once again a few months back, I changed my mind on this
Forest is really weird about sex. I used to think it was because his mom was always bringing men over and his nerodivergence, but his reaction to it is a trauma response - he dissociates whenever people make a move on him.
There’s a lot of hints that Jenny was sexually abused by her step dad, but in the beginning forests intro about him can be interpreted as him having done something to forest as well
In that context, think about their first kiss in her dorm - he gets weird and she freaks out. I assumed it was because she felt he wasn’t able to consent, but maybe she freaked out because she realized she was triggering a trauma response and felt sick to her stomach
Then when they have sex, it’s forced and uncomfortable for both of them. “I’ll show you what love is” He did it just to fulfill her needs so she’d stay - but obviously that’s not something she’s ok with
In that context, it’s not that Jenny doesn’t love him, it’s that he would be hurt to be sexual with her, and if she’s around he’d be hurt if she was with others
The people who hate Jenny over everyone else are the same people who Skylar over Walter from breaking bad. Edgy 14 year boys who will hate a child sexual assault victim over literal murderers, cannibals, and genocidal maniacs. Misogyny at it’s finest.
People hate Jenny the most because they probably have seen a Jenny in their lives. Joker, Hannibal and Vader are too removed from normal life to genuinely hate.
I wouldn’t put what Skylar did anywhere on Jenny’s level.
That said, Jenny’s trauma was a lot worse and affected her over her entire life.
Grandpa Joe. Fuck that guy.
The guy is so bad, he deserves his own list! Fuck grandpa Joe,!
The least among them killed a lot of children
Does killing a lot of children automatically make you an asshole? /s
For anyone wondering, Hannibal Lecter is not the same guy as Hannibal from Carthage in the Second Punic War. When I was a child I always found the idea of that historical character being a sociopathic cannibal a bit weird.
He’s also not the leader of the A-Team.
Uncle Joe
This is just because there is no It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia movie :D
What about Grace in the new Mission Impossible film? She just betrayed Ethan every time she had the chance.
“Other than Grandpa Joe…”
What about the asshole that eats people in “Butt Boy”?