再聊奥斯卡金奖影片《阿甘正传》-- To Melly

Thank you so much for the follow-up reply, Melly! The pleasure is always mine to exchange thoughts, opinions, ideas with friends. I have enjoyed reading your essay, the eloquence of your writing, the sparkling thoughts, etc. Have to thank you for the inspiration of more thinking. Sorry that I was not able to see your comments until now.

You seem to be a "thinking" person, constantly on a run searching for the meaning of life.......have to say that is one merit not everyone owns it, especially in an era characterized with information exploration, and people are tempted with all kinds of instant, pragmatist remedies of life philosophy, and yet oftentimes get lost when they are totally overwhelmed by routine life. Exactly in that sense is where the movie like Forrest Gump comes into play.

You can not be more right about Forrest Gump, as an epic of anti-hero, to say it’s kind of movie that compels people to contemplate, in seeking for the meaning underneath the surface. There are certain things in Forrest, naivete, persistence, sincereness, bravery, loyalty for both friendship & love, to name a few among many others, they are so pure, so pristine that they are almost utopian. These idealistic qualities, unattainable in a real world in their pure form, set up mirror, through which people see their own images on a higher level and herein are being inspired.

Just like you well put, Forrest’s mom is indeed one tough fighter for life, and she goes all-out trying to give the best she could to her son; and yet, on the other hand, she is sophisticated, witty, and knows how to make a compromise when she is being cornered  – Guess that is something Forrest did not inherit from her. In actuality, it is her sophistication that grants her all the life wisdom. What a wizard of life philosophy when she says,  "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."  It’s a teaching she passed onto her son summed up her own life experience.

Sympathetic as Forrest’s childhood, Jenny has to stand up to protect Forrest when he was bullied by other kids. "Run! Forrest, run!" It is really heart-wrenching to hear this little girl crying out loud at the top of her lungs, trying to help her boyfriend, chased by three menacing kids, to cast off that ominous predicament. For little Forrest, she is a guardian angle! I bet you every audience would feel relieved when Jenny's calling finally unleashed Forrest’s extraordinary aptitude to run. It was a magic, indeed. "Run! Forrest, run!", this line literally becomes a motto for Forrest throughout his life. It guides him to run in a football court to be a skillful player, to run saving lives of his comrades in a killing field in Vietnam, to run his shrimp business and succeeded, and to run across the country from coast to coast.

To me, the episode of running across the country is the most sentimental scene in the whole movie. Even he’s got everything with his life -- fame, wealth, friendship, success, and so forth; but none of these seems to be he wanted. What he really longs for is his true love, Jenny, that girl he loved ever since they were little. When Jenny, after being out of touch for so long, wandered back to Forrest, he was ecstatic because he thought he finally got what he wanted and he could hold onto it for lifetime. However, Jenny’s abrupt leaving, as impetuously as she came back, put him in the state of being lost. Forrest decided to run, first through the county, then the state, and then the whole country from coast to coast.........Even Forrest claims he is running for no reason, but he is really running for his lost love and trying to leave everything behind; he is running to protest his sad love story, in silence and in desperation. It’s bit ironic and sad that Forrest started running led by his guardian angle, and in the end he runs for the loss of the angle who is fallen........

Thank you for sharing the topic!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

thanks
		来源: melly 于 07-07-05 19:32:20 [档案] [博客] [旧帖] [转至博客] [给我悄悄话]

回答: Good writing! Have to agree with you but a couple of things might 由 edrifter 于 2007-07-05 16:54:58 Edrifter, I really appreciate your comments. Apparently, you have a huge vocabulary pool and you know how to use those words, which I truly admire. I am a beginner in terms of English writing, still very Chinglish. Because of my limited vocabulary and limited knowledge of word usage, I am not sure if dignity is an accurate word to describe her. However, I did think she didn’t lose her dignity deep in her heart even if she had to give in the unfair exchange. Besides, remember when some old guys mocked Forrest’s ill-developed legs, she fought for him and told him that he was no difference from others. In my opinion, here was another example to show her dignity. Jenny, in my opinion, was his friend in the first place. She was a dream girl, who liked trying everything new. She kept looking for her own love, and might be social position as well, for a long time. I do not think she had fell in love with Forrest until she eventually realized what love was or what kind of life she really wanted to lead. She was definitely an example of that era, when most of youth lost their minds and became rebellious to the society in behavior for some reasons. It was like a nightmare to her, I guess. When she finally woke up and needed family support, she found her comfort harbor Forrest. Jenny’s love was very obscure. What impressed me most was Forrest’s unchangeable love to her. I agree with you that “the movie is an advocate of traditional value” and “Forrest Gump makes people laugh with tears”. Forrest was a simple man, who was supposed to be transitional and just did whatever he was good at without overthinking other things. Thank you so very much. I enjoy reading it and I learn a lot of good words and expressions there. I can’t resist copying it into my blog as a record without your permission.