I’ve seen the film Forrest Gump at this point about 3 or so times. In between viewings, my opinion on the film tends to drift. Jenny and Forrest are an extremely complicated, and, as some of my peers have already pointed out, even occasionally toxic couple. Forrest himself could possibly be viewed as an uncouth mockery of the mentally handicapped for his childlike behavior, and I’m sure more problems could be found.

I think all of these, however, are brought to bear with the film’s absolutely, stunningly epic scope. When I sat down to watch it again I was daunted by the running time, but I was quickly reminded how each second of the film justifies itself within the context of the narrative. Each event builds on the last. I’d be hard-pressed to think of a single scene that doesn’t contribute to our characterization of Forrest. But the film subverts a standard epic narrative in one important way. Forrest is somewhat antithetical to an epic character by nature of his childishness. If think the film intends us to understand him as “a child in a man’s body” (not the first time Tom Hanks has played such a character), and through this lens the epic narrative takes on a unique form. More or less we are given an understanding, a deep, thorough understanding of what life is from the perspective of someone with a child’s perspective. Life is big, complicated, and daunting. Forrest Gump more than demonstrates this – the flaws, toxicity, and even genuinely problematic moments of the film are necessitated by the sheer scope of the film’s project. Some might come down on either side of a debate and say that Gump is or is not better off for his disposition; this is not a question that I know can exist, and I believe the ultimate point of the film (beyond it’s critique and stark portrayal of 20th century America) is to show that life is a big, epic, but ultimately messy and unpredictable force, and that to the grand scheme of life we are but fathers floating on the wind, drifting in and out of others’ stories.