WMG / Forrest Gump

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Plot

The story was a fabrication of Forrest's to impress people at the bus stop.

He's just a good storyteller. He inserted himself into historical events to impress people. Jenny treating him like dirt is part of his Revenge Fic, even though he still loves her and wants to meet her. This explains how he tells the scenes he wasn't there for.

There was an article in Fortune, so he had to have done something. He uses this as the kernel of truth to make others believe everything else.

• Think about it. Here's a guy who won the Medal of Honor and an international ping pong championship, was a cross-country runner, multi-millionaire, etc, etc, etc., more things than most normal people will do in their lives, yet no one on the bench that he talks to recognizes him (or really believes him)? Also, once we're in the present time, he doesn't do anything extraordinary anymore, nor does he do anything to show his vast wealth! As for the pictures that Jenny shows him in magazines and newspapers, I'm thinking his friends and family printed those things out to support his imagination, or whatever that is, because they see that it brings him a lot of happiness to talk about.

Forrest Gump genuinely believed those memories were real, but his mental retardation distorted them.

It's obvious that Jenny treated him like dirt, so he may have altered his memories of Jenny to show her in a more positive light. She may have truly abused him.

He naturally exaggerated many of his other memories, making them seem more incredible than they really are: for instance, thinking he ran across the United States when he just ran around the county a couple of times, or meeting Elvis when he just met a drunk hillbilly.

There is some truth to his memories. He did become a very rich man; there was an article on him in Fortune, so there was no way he didn't. He really did meet Jenny, but the truth has been distorted by his unreliable memory.

Forrest is in a mental home; this is all just a dream.

A man like Forrest wouldn't have had the freedom a normal human being would have. Most people of his intellectual capacity would be in a mental home or under legal guardianship. Forrest isn't under legal guardianship. So this is probably just a series of dreams he's had.

Who'd expect a mentally handicapped man to be a war hero, table tennis champion, millionaire in the shrimp industry, and cross country runner?

Characters

Forrest had Aspergers or Savant Syndrome

Based on how he's smart enough to graduate high school as well as graduate college, build a gun in record time and be a champion at ping pong, he's a genius, but he lacks any social skills.

People with Asperger's or other high-level Autism disorders tend to have very high IQs, which doesn't apply to Forrest as his IQ is, reportedly, 75. However, he meets the basic level of intelligence and functionality(he didn't at the time due to the higher standard of 80), he's also just a simple man. It has been suggested he has a form of savant syndrome, which would account for both the apparent brilliance yet low IQ.

Mama Gump was a prostitute.

Forrest didn't know his father, she slept with the principal to get him into public school, and Forrest said that they got money from folks passing by. There's also a theory that men are attracted to women who remind them of their mothers. Jenny was easy, and this could be why Forrest subconsciously was in love with Jenny.

• In the background of a scene in Forrest's childhood, there is a sign on his front porch saying "Gump House, Rooms to Rent." Does this mean she was a land lady, used an Unusual Euphemism or both?

John Lennon divorced Yoko Ono in this film's universe

Because Forrest is using the talk show chair that, in real life, Yoko Ono used. In this universe, John and Yoko weren't as inseparable early on, which meant that their marriage didn't survive the Lost Weekend.

This changed greater history less than it should've. There are a few more Lennon albums, but nothing as memorable as Plastic Ono Band or Imagine ^note  John wasn't quoting Imagine during the interview, Forrest was giving him the idea for it.; and while John and Paul did work together more, there were no album-length collaborations. John still died "on schedule."

• Forrest recollects that John was killed "while going to see his kid." So maybe he was just in New York, doing who-knows-what (hell, he could've been in New York meeting the other Beatles, as they were in talks at the time about a possible reunion tour or two) and was returning to his apartment when some asshole gunned him down. John's death was referenced in the film. Even if it wasn't on schedule, it was before Forrest tells his story.

Forrest (Both of them) has AIDS (or at least HIV)

Jenny died of an incurable virus, presumably HIV or AIDS, which was most likely gained from her countercultural lifestyle. HIV is an STD, and can also be transmitted to unborn children. Thus, both Forrests could catch AIDS and its risk of dying. How's that for a Downer Ending?

• See the related WMG in Poison Oak Epileptic Trees...

Forrest is a Grim Reaper, but he is not aware of it

He brought death to the Kennedys, Elvis, Bubba, and John Lennon, and changed many other people's lives. He made Lt. Dan realize his hour had not come yet. He spent the better part of his life trying to convince Jenny to live in his house; she died right after she agreed to do so. The only person that realized this was his momma near the end of her life, hence her final words being that she didn't know she was destined to be his mom and that she had accepted death as a part of life.

• While normally depicted as a skeleton, the Grim Reaper is a fresh, sturdy set of bones, never aging. After maturing into a young man, Forest does not age either even though at least two decades pass.
• He tries to make people comfortable as they die. Thus, Don't Fear the Reaper.
  • I wonder if he thought that song needed More Cowbell when he hung out with Blue Öyster Cult? He may have helped them in his years running.

Forrest has some sort of Equivalent Exchange reverse-curse.

Think about it. All the people close to him, as well as all the famous people who crossed paths with him, died young and/or suffered some horrible set of mishaps, often in exchange for their good fortunes. Perhaps Forrest suspected this...

Forrest wasn't happy, either.

Even though Forrest paid a lot of attention to them, he never thought much of his accomplishments. He just went with them; it was clear he didn't exactly enjoy them.On top of that, he barely ever smiled. He was only happy when he was with his friends or his love.

This could give the movie a new message: while indulging in counter-cultural lifestyle brings no happiness, neither does a life like Forrest's. So the meaning could be that people need each other to be happy.

• Can I declare this canon?

Forrest Junior is not Forrest Senior's biological son.

Jenny slept around a lot. Every man she was with other than Forrest used, abused, and abandoned her. She knew that Forrest was the one guy who was gullible enough to believe her, and she knew that he had plenty of money. (There was an article on him in Fortune, so there was no way he didn't.) She didn't contact Forrest until her son was several years old and after she learned about her illness.

She may have been pregnant when she showed up at Forrest's house. We never see how long she stayed with him. The only reason she went back to him for that short time was to provide a plausible conception date. Since this is Forrest Gump we're talking about, that could be any time before she started showing.

Jenny even said that her son was "very smart" and did well in school. Intelligence is (somewhat) hereditary. It is improbable (but not impossible) that a man with an IQ of 75 could father a boy with above-average intellect.

• Forrest may have had a low IQ, but there's nothing to suggest Jenny did—Jenny grew up poor, and yet, somehow got into college, so she must have been fairly intelligent, just unfortunately prone to making bad choices.

Forrest Junior really is Forrest Senior's biological son.

The time period between Forrest and Jenny having sex and Forrest meeting his son matches up. The dates between the two events are fairly vague, so their son could have been conceived, and grown and developed, in that time frame.

Forrest's son also took to him quickly. Natural Father-Son instinct?

Besides, she had no reason to lie. Forrest would have taken them in gladly no matter who Forrest Jr's daddy was, and she almost certainly knew that. She grew up with him after all.

• Towards the "not Forrest's son" reasons, it could be true that Jenny was impregnated by lots of men but the only baby she kept/wanted was Forrest because he's the only guy she truly cared about.
  • Yep, agreed. Jenny does not come across as the type of person who would bother to raise a child if the father were anyone else besides Forrest. It's quite easy to imagine her getting an abortion or putting the child up for adoption if she was impregnated by some random stranger.

Forrest is an alien from space.

There was very little mentioned about Forrest's father, and Forrest's behavior is...strange.

This would explain his unusual strength (rushes several soldiers to safety under enemy fire), fast reflexes (Ping Pong), fast running (Football Team) and incredible endurance (runs the length of America for 3 years). As well as his very odd mannerisms.

Possible reasons:

• An alien impregnated his mother, causing for there to be a human/alien hybrid.
• Forrest was a humanoid alien baby given to Forrest's mother. Possibly the last of it's kind, as a refugee of a dying race.
• Forrest is an alien trapped in the form of a human baby, with it's memories wiped.

Forrest is a Ridiculously Human Robot, built by his "mother"

Everything said in the Alien WMG also fits here. Plus the fact he doesn't age once he ceases to be a child. That's because he never grew, there were two different Robot Forrests and Momma somehow managed to replace the first with the second without arising too much suspicions. The brackets were a temporary measure while Momma was working to fix the problem with Forrest-1's legs.

• Haley Joel Osment is v2. A.I. is the sequel to Forrest Gump.

A very distant ancestor of Forrest was an anserine bird.

All jokes about "bird brains" aside, check out a few imprinting behaviours. Also, geese and ducks are great distance flyers - what better trait for an athlete! As for his strength, he's just got the mutant gene working for him.

Maybe all the X-Men are descended from that same goose!

Forrest was a test subject for a secret Super-Soldier program.

Forrest would have been born right around the end of World War II, and happened to be used as a test subject for a top-secret program to engineer super-soldiers. His mom didn't like to talk about his father because there really wasn't one. While the project had some unfortunate side-effects (spine deformity, mental issues), it did manage to produce a soldier with beyond-Olympic-level speed and stamina, obedient, quick, competent at mechanical tasks, and unswervingly loyal to his comrades-in arms, displaying valor above and beyond excellence in the face of heavy enemy (and friendly) fire, as evidenced by said subject being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Lt. Dan's wife was a hooker during the war.

• Not only that, she tried to hook up with some other soldiers in the war.
  • And Lt. Dan was one of her "customers" before he was assigned to the jungle.

Forrest in-universe isn't actually mentally disabled - the whole movie is an elaboration of how the people he loves treat him like he is.

Forrest's dad died overseas during World War II.

His dad died in the war before his wife (or girlfriend) could tell him that he was gonna be a father. Notice the two times she speaks about Forrest's dad: the first is when she's speaking with the principal and Forrest is right outside the door. Another time is when she tucks him into bed. Both times, Forrest is in the immediate vicinity and hearing everything. It could be that she was simply trying to avoid the truth to avoid upsetting him.

• The Dates add up very well, too. Jenny's tombstone gave her birth as July of 1945, shortly before the war in the Pacific ended. Since they were in school and left for college at the same time, it's not unreasonable to say that they are close in age, at least close enough for Mr. Gump to have conceived before being shipped out.

The school bus driver, Dorothy Harris, is Lieutenant Dan's close relative

Nothing much to base this on, other than the fact that they both have reddish brown hair, initially seem like hardasses especially to Forrest, and have a habit of talking out of the sides of their mouths with a cigarette in their mouth.

Forrest's dad served under Lt. Dan's dad.

Meta

All of Tom Hanks' non Gump roles are one of Forrest's stories

See How Saving Private Ryan Should Have Ended.

• Oh no, Forrest is trapped on a island! Now he's in love with Meg Ryan! Now he's a toy in some kid's bedroom! Excellent!

The whole story is an adaptation of Candide

This says it all.

Crossovers

Forrest is Booster Gold

Forrest is responsible for a ton of important historical events and is generally assumed to be an idiot when he isn't leading the world. Booster Gold's job is to protect the timestream; to accomplish this, he has to pretend to be an idiot so that no-one will get suspicious.

• Both are star football players.

The missing Mr. Gump Sr. is an Illuminatus.

Forrest never meets his father, and conveniently happens to rub elbows with some very influential people and unwittingly influence things like the start of the rock genre and Watergate. Mr. Gump, Sr. (if that is indeed his real name) is subtly puppet-mastering events from behind the scenes and using his son as a pawn.When Forrest gets older, he goes to Europe and ends up helping unravel daddy's Ancient Conspiracy.

Lt. Dan has a nephew who is the head of the New York Crime Lab.

They both have the last name Taylor (common as it is, it has to be shared by family members) and they look a whole lot alike. One was in the Army and one was in the Marines. (Someone *needs* to write this fanfic, with Dan visiting Mac.)

Dorothy Harris is a Time Lord.

She hasn't aged at all when she picks up Forrest Junior. The bus is her TARDIS!

• The good old boys in the barbershop must be Time Lords too, they don't age one bit.
• Perhaps traveling in the school bus TARDIS explains why Forrest never seems to age once he hits high school.

Forrest Gump's father is Jimmy Dugan.

Forrest Gump's father is John Miller.

Forrest's platoon was interviewed by James T. "Joker" Davis.

Forrest met Chris Taylor during the war.

Forrest met Benjamin L. Willard during the war.

Forrest met Frank Castle during the war.

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