Many viewers come away with the Aesop of "Blind obedience is the path to success in life" because of how just about everything great that happens to Forrest does so after he follows advice he was given earlier in the story. However, it's not hard to notice that his good fortune is rarely the direct result of his following advice, but instead usually stems from Forrest's choice simply putting him in the right place at the right time when something beneficial to him fortuitously happens to come along (e.g. his shrimp boating venture was failing miserably until a hurricane just happened to blow in and destroy every other commercial shrimping trawler in the region except for his). With this in mind, it's easy to instead see the main lesson as the more realistic but far less practically applicable "Benefitting from dumb luck by being in the right place at the right time is really awesome."
Another take on the movie is that it's an argument against treating the past with nostalgia. The movie's treatment of the 1950s, in particular, is sharply at odds with how it was presented by conservative politicians and pundits when the movie came out in 1994.
Some viewers have pointed out that Forrest himself never thought much of his accomplishments. He just went with them, and it was clear that while they made him successful, he didn't derive much enjoyment from them. He was at his happiest when he was with the people he cared about. This could give the movie a new message: while indulging in a counter-cultural lifestyle brings no happiness, neither does a life like Forrest's. So, one could easily take away the message that people need each other to be truly happy.
Does Forrest really have that low an IQ or is he merely severely autistic? The book is notable in that it puts him as an Idiot Savant; what most would call a very high IQ, but extreme autism, explaining his seemingly folksy wisdom as sheer cunning.
Forrest definitely gets an alternative character interpretation from the book to the movie. The movie emphasizes Forrest's naivete and simplicity to make him a gentle, sweet soul that touches others' lives for the better. The Forrest from the book is an idiot savant, true enough, but is otherwise pretty much an angry, rather violent redneck bungling his way through history.
Is Forrest just Born Lucky or is he a full-on Sue? Your answer to that is probably based on whether you like the movie or not. A third option is that he is actually a deconstruction of a notion. On the one hand, he accomplishes many great things in life and achieves astounding successes through accident. On the other hand, all the fame and fortune in the world could not bring his mother or Bubba back to life or even keep Jenny alive. It's pretty evident what Forrest would prefer having in his life.
Jenny:
How much does Jenny hate herself due to her horrible childhood, and how much is she using Forrest? Does she only fall in love with Forrest at the end of her life, or is she in love with him the whole time but feels like she isn't good enough for him? Similarly, does she keep running away from home (and Forrest) for truly hedonistic reasons, or is she so terrified of hurting Forrest the same way her father hurt her that putting space between them is her way of trying to keep him safe?
Is Jenny just a Strawman for alternative lifestyles that embodied a lot of the 60s and beyond, getting unjustly punished for essentially not being a male, law-abiding square? Or is she a cautionary tale of how reckless, self-destructive hedonism can have adverse long-term consequences, even if one manages to avoid death for a time?
Was Forrest Jr. actually Forrest's biological son, or did Jenny simply claim she was because she knew she didn't have a lot of time left and wanted her child to be looked after by the person who had shown her the most kindness in her life when she was gone?
Lt. Dan:
Is he a Death Seeker prior or just unable to cope with his loss, and how much does he manipulate Forrest?
When Lt. Dan thanks Forrest for saving his life, is he referring to Forrest saving him from combat death in Vietnam, or from his suicidal depression afterward? Or both?
Some viewers think Mama Gump was a racist, due to her naming her son after Nathan Bedford Forrest, the original leader of The Klan. Others have disputed this, pointing out she got along very well with her black housekeeper Louise (who was genuinely upset at her death), and that her stated reason for giving Forrest his name was because "sometimes people did things that made no sense", implying that she thought racism was irrational.note For the record, Nathan went on to denounce the KKK's violence and advocate for black students to be admitted to law school.
Why did the Black Panther leader stop his subordinates from intervening in the fight between Forrest and one of Jenny's abusive boyfriends? Did he see the abuse too and believe the man deserved to be beaten up? Or did he see it as a problem between two white men that there was no need to get involved with? Possibly both?
The entire world gets this between the book and the movie. The movie obviously features Forrest moving through a world near-identical to ours save for his presence in it, while the book features a Crapsack World that's more fitting to The Simpsons than reality.
And You Thought It Would Fail: The script had bounced around Hollywood for the better part of a decade, and part of the concession for finally getting it produced was that Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis agreed to take a percentage of gross rather than a straight fee (a common practice if the producers think the movie is risky, so if it does poorly, revenues aren't eaten up by salaries). Reportedly Hanks made $65 million.
Award Snub: Despite the film doing excellently at the Academy Awards, both Robin Wright and Sally Field missed out on Supporting Actress nods. Given both made the cut at major precursors and it was a competitive year, it's not too unlikely that voters didn't have a favorite between them and they then cancelled each other out.
"Run, Forrest, Run" (the music that plays when Forrest runs for the first time) is still one of the most popular pieces to play during triumphant sections of awards ceremonies, and has been a staple of the Oscars pretty much since the movie came out.
Alan Silvestri's entire score (getting him his first Oscar nomination) qualifies. How much so? In spite of the movie's classic-radio friendly song soundtrack, it's Silvestri's "Suite From Forrest Gump" that gets played over the closing credits.
The melody of "Where Heaven Ends" has such a subtle, yet divine beauty to it you feel like just laying back and think how nothing in life matters but life itself. Yes, a soundtrack can really do that to you, and Silvestri made it possible.
Strangely enough, Forrest Gump himself. While some admire his determination and compassion throughout the movie and view him as an inspiration to those with mental problems, others view him as a one-note character with no real character flaws and someone who gets off way too easy with his often-thoughtless decisions, lack of mental faculties or no.
Jenny is likewise either seen as a Manipulative Bitch who strings Forrest along and hides his son for too long until she needs something from him, or else a trauma survivor who doesn't know how to fix her life until it's too late. One camp finds her impossible to sympathise with, while the other finds her behaviour extremely understandable.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The chapters in the book where Gump, a female astronaut and a orangutan get shot into space, crash land in the jungles of New Guinea and get put to work as cotton farmers for a Cannibal Tribe. For four years.
Common Knowledge: One common misconception, even among fans of the movie, is that Jenny dies of AIDS. In the movie, it's left deliberately ambiguous what the disease is. The sequel novel explicitly states it to be Hepatitis C, though the unproduced film sequel would have identified it as AIDS.
Crazy Is Cool: Lt. Dan. Never mind that he went to Vietnam fully expecting not to return alive, he gets caught in a violent storm and insults God, challenging Him to destroy him. With the completely maniacal laughter he lets out, you know this man is absolutely insane and you can only love him for it.
Critical Dissonance: Despite the film being seen as a masterpiece to many people today, it received some jarringly polarizing critical reviews when it was released, some of which were downright scathing. Even more shocking, while it maintains a 71% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience score is currently at a whopping 95%.
Crosses the Line Twice: While visiting Forrest in New York, Lt. Dan loses control of his wheelchair and starts slip slidin' away down an icy, hilly sidewalk, causing Forrest to have to chase after him.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Lt. Dan is perhaps the most beloved character in the film, for his dynamic character arc and complex friendship with Forrest.
Gratuitous Special Effects: The CGI removal of Lt. Dan's legs or inserting Forrest into live footage serve very practical purposes, but the feather Book Ends are examples of this trope.
Harsher in Hindsight: The scene where Forrest Gump retrieves a dropped book for one of the black college students (while remaining oblivious to the controversy that ensues) becomes a bit weird after the fiasco where Gump's actor, Tom Hanks, got a bit of negative publicity regarding an incident where a parent in Blackface came on stage during a fundraiser in a school fundraiser Hanks appeared at.
Heartwarming in Hindsight: In the film, Forrest is awarded the Medal of Honor, America's highest military decoration. 22 years later, Tom Hanks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Lieutenant Dan tells Forrest that the day Forrest works on a shrimp boat is the day he'd be an astronaut. While this is a reference to the book where Forrest does become an astronaut, Gary Sinise and Tom Hanks would star together as astronauts the very next year in Apollo 13.
It's also worth noting that during Forrest's and Jenny's wedding, Lt. Dan shows up with artificial legs he says were made from the same alloy they used in the space shuttle. In Apollo 13, Ken Mattingly, played by Sinise, is mentioned to have flown the space shuttle.
One of the historical figures Forrest encounters is Governor George Wallace at the University of Alabama. A few years later, Gary Sinise, who played Lt. Dan, starred as Wallace in a TV biopic.
As a young boy, Forrest inspires Elvis Presley's famous dance moves. In 2022, Tom Hanks starred as Colonel Tom Parker, his manager, in the biopic Elvis.
Jenny avoids Forrest's affections for two decades while destroying her own life, but it's hard not to feel sorry for her when you know she comes from a poor background with a sexually abusive alcoholic father, attracts mostly abusive boyfriends, starts experimenting with drugs, considers committing suicide at various points in her life and ends up dying from an unknown disease. At least her final years were somewhat happy, as she had a son and Forrest to take care of her.
Lieutenant Dan loses both his legs on the battlefield (and is denied dying in battle — a fate he assumed was his "great destiny"), and ends up as an alcoholic, disillusioned, bitter wreck in a wheelchair envying Forrest who gets all the attention and praise. Only when he and Forrest become successful as shrimping boat company executives does he finally start to become grateful he survived. Not only does he become wealthy, but he finds a wife — and even gets new legs, "Custom-made titanium alloy."
Memetic Mutation: The quotes of this movie were able to break even international borders.
The Long List of shrimp dishes, as well as "And that's about it."
Narm: Forrest accidentally inventing the iconic Smiley Face is a standout moment known for breaking the audience's Willing Suspension of Disbelief, for just how ridiculously clean and perfect the "face" pattern ends up appearing.
Forrest's time in Vietnam. Even with the funny moments seen there (Bubba's Long List of shrimp dishes, most of the interactions with Lt. Dan, etc.), the film doesn't skimp on the details (or the special effects) of the environment they're in. Upon saving fellow of his comrades, he sees the jungle littered with dead bodies and at one point it's displayed that even a "moron" like Forrest knows what the imminent danger of the air strike that's coming if the look in his eyes is any indication. Then there's the moment that Lt. Dan's legs are graphically blown off.
Periphery Demographic: The movie was made mainly to appeal to people who were young in the 60s, but after its release, grade-school children also started to watch it heavily (mainly because ABC had the broadcasting rights, and would show an edited version of it frequently). It worked because Forrest’s narration is simplistic enough for a kid to follow, and he himself is simple enough that a young viewer can relate to his motives. Meanwhile, parents could watch with their kids and explain the different historical allusions.
Gump interacts with dead celebrities, Lt. Dan's stumps, and the ping pong ball? All CG!
The floating feather that opens and closes the movie. You never realize that a feather was filmed in front of a blank screen while being pulled around on a string in front of a fan. It was then digitally manipulated to fly a certain way and inserted into the scene.
"The most successful films of recent months — Apollo 13, The Lion King, Forrest Gump — have been restrained in their use of sex and violence and appealed powerfully to traditional values."
However, watching the film & applying a little bit of Fridge Logic makes this film far more adult-themed than it looks. This includes sexual content, beginning with Mrs. Gump's efforts to have Forrest enrolled at school; Jenny is seen on-camera smoking marijuana and taking acid; the Vietnam ambush scene is full of violence and graphic injury; and Forrest's low IQ causing him to do stupid things, such as diving off a trawler he is currently steering down an estuary, that impressionable kids might try to copy.)
The Woobie: Forrest at Jenny's grave telling her how he's been doing following her death.
? Similarly, does she keep running away from home (and Forrest) for truly hedonistic reasons, or is she so terrified of hurting Forrest the same way her father hurt her that putting space between them is her way of trying to keep him safe?