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!

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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.

　

[edrifter]

回复shoumain的评论:

谢谢你的电影分享！希望常来！;））

[shoumain]

Forest Gump是我最喜欢的电影之一。第一次看影片时还是单身，到现在结婚有孩子，每次看都会有不同的感受。也许同一颗巧克力在不同的时候吃会感觉味道不同。

我不知道因为什么你认为Forest的母亲sophisticated， 我同意她的母亲witty, 她给了forest很多哲理。她对forest的爱是pure, persistence and bravery,真因为这样她不让forest去特殊的学校，而不惜牺牲自己的身体也要让他和普通孩子一样上学。这是一种执卓的爱。Forest继承了这种性格，对Jenny执卓一生。

我以前也不认为Jenny爱Forest,直到有了孩子。我认为
Jenny离开是因为dignity和对爱的不信任。她叛逆了多年，经历了太多的背叛，而不能很快适应这种平静的爱。但她能够勇敢得生下孩子，提供给孩子一个干净简洁的家，还教育得孩子非常有礼貌。当妈妈的人才能相象这会是多么难。只有爱才能让她有如此巨大的改变。影片通过很简单的手法展现出这一切，可爱的小男孩会和人打招呼，会在看电视之前问妈妈可不可以。这个妈妈真的很称职，也很爱小孩。

影片最让我感动的就是爱，爱让先天不足的人取得成功，爱让放荡的人成为良母，爱让失去双腿而自暴自弃的人安逸于生活。所有人都空手来世，也会空手而去，我们能留下的只有爱。

[edrifter]

回复瘦尽灯花又一宵的评论:

再次谢谢又一宵朋友的感悟! 我同意你说的,世界真是很奇妙,距离可以把人们隔离,但却永远不能阻断人们的思想沟通!

谢谢!

[edrifter]

回复randymon的评论:

Hello, Randymon:

Thank you so much for the visiting! And I am delighted to know you like the essay. You made my day, too, my friend.

Take care!

[瘦尽灯花又一宵]

从欧坛看了画展追到了这里,才发现你就是写了这篇我读了一遍又一遍观后感的作者.

"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. "

太同意你对这个时代的总结了.好在我们还总是能够在周而复始的生活中找到知音,跨越千里也能感到的一思相通.

[randymon]

What a joy reading it with the music. It is the best article I have ever read in this forum. It made my day.

Thanks.