Agree! She wasn't a bad person, she was a broken person who never felt she deserved Forrest. He was her safe place, but she never felt worthy of having one. Her father was 100% the villain.
As far as I currently see it, Jenny never thought she was good enough for Forest's love because of her past with her father. He likely made her feel worthless, and gaslite her into thinking all of his actions were HER fault. It's why she was always drawn to doing nude things and getting involved with bad guys. So anytime she would get close to Forest, her mind would think it's a bad thing and she would stop herself and run away because wouldn't want herself to corrupt him. She gave him the advice to run because it's what she always did. In the end she conquered her fear of corrupting him when she got clean.
She would’ve been happy with him at their home in Alabama and would rest easy knowing their son was with his father, his money didn’t mean a whole lot at that long
She says she JUST heard about this debate a few minutes before this interview, so she hasn't had much time to think about it. Yes, on a surface level, Jenny was a horrible person and treated Forrest abominably. But the movie is detailed and nuanced enough that it is so much more than that. She was a lot kinder to Forrest than most people. And it took her going on a long complicated journey of healing herself from her childhood trauma to finally realize that Forrest was absolutely the best thing in her life. Similarly, Lieutenant Dan treated Forrest like crap for a LONG time after Forrest saved his life, and he also had to go on a journey of healing himself from war trauma to finally realize that Forrest was the best thing in HIS life. But no one considers Lieutenant Dan to be a villain.
So many people fail to see how damaged Jenny was and that's why she behaved like she did. It doesn't make it alright but it's her inner demons from the abusive past that made her do it.
Nothing made her do it. She chose to do it. Just because you have an abusive past doesn't make you be a piece of sh*t, somewhere along the line, you have a choice. That's a cop out.
@@Tullminator you have close to zero understanding of how humans work. Free choice is an illusion. This is a scientific fact. If you are a POS... that's because causality makes you a POS. I mean... look at you, for example. You're clearly a POS. You judge other people for having a hard time forming healthy relationships after surviving childhood sexual abuse. You didn't choose to be this way. You simply are this way... through a combination of genetics (maybe a low IQ or diminished capacity for empathy, both of which can be genetic), poor socialization (maybe you were taught at church or on reddit or elsewhere that people need to be punished for their inherent badness and that there's such a thing as "good" people and "bad" people), or poor education (you maybe never had the opportunity to take a freshman college level Psychology 101 class). Whatever it was... it could not have been any other way. You may imagine you had a choice, but... you didn't. You made the choices that were available for you to make that you were capable of making. And it led us here. In the case of Jenny, she wasn't even a bad person. She was sexually abused by her father, repeatedly, as a small child. Someone with different genes may have been able to struggle through that and come out the other end a perfectly well adjusted person without any maladaptive social disorders... but... that wasn't Jenny's good fortune. She ended up with what appears to be some kind of mild borderline personality disorder, and an obviously very poor self-image... she probably feels broken, dirty, and irreparably damaged because of what happened to her. She does love Forrest, and values him as a friend. But... she's also a normal person who doesn't usually try to have romantic relationships with the mentally handicapped. She sees Forrest as sweet, and innocent, which he is. He doesn't ever fully understand what happened to Jenny; perhaps can't understand, and she knows that. She sees herself as dirty and f'ed up and not worthy of the pure, innocent love that Forrest would offer her. She thinks that if Forrest feels like he loves her... it must just be because he is too simple minded to really understand how dirty and unworthy of love she is... so... she likes Forrest... but she can't accept his love because she feels unworthy of it and she doesn't want to damage or contaminate Forrest or ruin his innocence. Instead, she ends up in relationships, as many abuse victims do, with men who further abuse her. If they treat her like shit, beat her up, sexually exploit her, etc... she feels like she probably deserves it. And the more this happens, the lower her esteem gets, the more she feels she is dirty and broken and unworthy of love, the more she feels like it would be wrong for her to accept Forrest's love because he deserves better. She doesn't want to be with him and just disappoint him. Anyway, decades pass. Jenny goes through a lot of shit. So does Forrest. She has a kid and perhaps that is the push that finally gives her the energy and will to try and do better for herself, because now it's not just herself that she is hurting (and those around her, like Forrest, that she thinks she is protecting even while she hurts him)... but she has a baby who is depending on her, too. So she straightens her life out. Stops dating abusive asshole men who degrade and humiliate her. Gets off drugs. Gets a regular job. Cleans up. And... when she takes all of these steps... that's when she becomes clear headed enough to realize that she was messed up before, and maybe she was wrong to let her past of abuse define her, and she finally recognized what her illusory choices had done and how they had affected herself and the people who cared about her. This wasn't a choice... it was the result of biology (nature) and the culmination of life events that led to this eventuality (nurture). She did not become a better person in this instant... but her life circumstances had changed. This changed the physics of the neurochemistry of her brain and made it possible for her to see things a different way and act in a different way. When this happened, she reached out to Forrest. She apologized to him. She introduced him to his son. She assured him that he bore no responsibility toward her or the child and that he had done nothing wrong. And she asked if he would marry her... because she finally felt like she was good enough that she wouldn't be damaging him to accept his love. At no point in this story is Jenny as much a POS as the people who would judge her for her journey. She's just a human being... doing her best... struggling to overcome trauma and live life... just like everyone else.
Jenny, who died of hepatitis C in the book because she contracted years before doctors even knew of its existence, was sexually abused by her low-life drunk father. Back then, there were no real resources for sexually abused girls/women, and incest was not openly discussed. That's an awful lot of baggage to carry alone through life. Her actions and behavior, while not admirable, are certainly recognized by women of that era.
It still doesn't give her the right to more or less abuse Forest and manipulate him the whole movie and take advantage of his feelings. Love is putting someone else's needs in front of your own and she doesn't do that once in the movie. She uses him when it's convenient and takes off when she's had her fill. She's not a likable character regardless of her traumatic past, I don't think the movie does enough to make her sympathetic. I've never read the book but I consider her the villain of the movie. I think they are both better off without her, she's a very toxic self-destructive person.
@@Mntguy-nr9vl Could you please point out where I condoned her behavior? There is a difference between explanation and approval. I merely stated facts without an opinion.
@@Mntguy-nr9vl She didn't condone the behavior. Expecting someone without access to resources who grew up in dire circumstances to show up in healthy ways is very short-sighted.
I didn't know there was a book! Of course! I'm so excited! And the book is Always better!(Except, maybe, Princess Bride, ironically here.) Anyway, thank you for bringing this to light for folks like me who read your comment.. . . 🙏🏽
Did anyone realize that the song the band plays when Robin walks out is Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind", the song her character is singing on stage at the bar in "Forrest Gump"? That was a sweet nod.
The simplest way to put it is this, Jenny never brought any of her problems to Forrest. She pushed him away when she was a mess and didn’t want to affect his life. She returned to him when she was ready. Leaving him at that point is questionable but near the end, she introduced him to their son so he would be taken care of. She’d been through so much, she didn’t want Forrest to see what she had been through. Selfless till the end.
Honestly you can be a Villain and not be the antagonist. Also not all villains are intended villains. How your actions affect others is often what makes someone a villain. Jenny does selfish and villainous things whether or not she intends it. The way her actions consistently affected Forrest puts her more in line towards a villain that maybe has a redemption arc depending on whether you view her introducing Forrest to their child as caring or not. Points can be made for either side.
Cinema Therapy did an episode addressing the idea that Jenny was the villain. She was a horribly abused child who did her best, and over time lands in a good place and apologizes.
Robin was also AMAZING in Wonder Woman. Underrated role for her since she doesn't last long in the film. Also, she went to the high school near me. La Jolla
I never saw Jenny as the villain. I always see her as loving Forest Gump so deeply that she didn't want to saddle him with her hot mess self. That was an act of love. Secondly, the ONLY man she ever crated a child with was the only man she ever loved. Finally, she did marry him, and gave him a complete family, for the short time she had left. Painful, definitely. Villain definitely not.
IMO, Forrest Gump was a story of the contrast between Forrest and Jenny. Forrest was able to overcome adversity while Jenny's short life was defined by her suffering.
My US history teacher showed it to us and said “Forrest Gump is a movie made in the 90’s for people to make sense of what happened in the 70’s and 80’s”
The lack of empathy towards Jenny, who was a child sexual abuse survivor, sickens and saddens me. She was a mess, but they CLEARLY spell out WHY she was so messed up. Her dad used to r@pe her and her sister!!! And the culture of the 70s was definitely "protect the man, you don't want to ruin his life do you?"
I honestly cannot tell you how many times I’ve watched The Princess Bride. I saw it for the first time in a movie theater in Charlotte, NC, in 1987, with a friend from work.
If Jenny wasn’t as complex a character as she was… during an intense time in history of our country during the 60’s … the story would be different… and the movie wouldn’t be the Classic it is.
Thanks for pointing out the fact that there’s beautiful countryside and birds right here in our enormous country! Can’t believe people think they *have* to go abroad for that …
Never thought of Jenny being bad... It was such a well written and played character... You can't see some actions without seeing her soul, without seeing the entire story.
Theres a few different thesis on Jenny. One being that she was abused her whole life and knew her life was going to be destructive and wanted Forest to not have to see the depraved world she knew she would live.
@@davidhester6648 did you watch the interview? Robin agrees, Jenny was a total heel Get off colbert and quit defending abusers - that belongs on Fox news
Agree. Forest was the beneficiary of a profound expression of love, faith (in his/one's intrinsic ability to do good and overcome obstacle) tenderness and caring from his astonishing and devoted mother. Jenny is the product of the worst kind of abuse a child can experience, made even more grotesque that it is at the hands of her father. Jenny is drawn to Forest and his goodness, she has a deep affection and loves him; she's not capable of having any long term or meaningful relationship. The fact that Jenny makes it to her thirties. is able to conquer her drug abuse and has a healthy boy is a miracle. Anyone finding fault with Jenny not settling down with Forest is holding poor Jenny to a standard that myths and religious texts have never written about.
Colbert: We have birds over here too y'know, like robins. Wright: I thought you meant, like, British birds.. Colbert: Oh, you meant like ladies. We have ladies too, like Robins.
Jenny wasn't the villian. She was actually the protagonist in the movie. Even though it's called Forest Gump & Forest is in almost every scene, it's Jenny's movie. She's the one who has the character arc and comes to realize at the end of her journey that she belongs with Forest.
Jenny’s abuse made her want to fly far far away from her small town life and the abuse from her father. She wanted to sing on a stage and be heard and find fame. She was constantly running towards what she thought she wanted and life only got harder and she never achieved her dreams, therefor mentally she never escaped her father. Having a child made her realise how wrong all her choices were. Seeing Forrest, her only protector and friend, become famous, talk on a stage in front of thousands of people, become basically a national treasure. If she had stayed with him, she could have had the life she wanted, be protected, and be loved. She realised that by the end, and made choices that ended her life right where she began. In her small town, loved, resting underneath their tree. In no way is she the villain. If anything, she’s the protagonist. Forrest was always good, Jenny was the one who grew.
She as a person, is nothing like jenny, she has set such brilliant milestones in the industry on her own merit, adapting herself to this hell hole workplace of Hollywood for decades. That is why she (even if jokingly) bashed jenny, and ironically that makes her portrait of this bruised, vulnerable woman in the movie so magnificent.
as folks discuss Jenny as villain of Gump, 4 me immediate cinematic image in head/mind/memory is them sitting on school bus together & Jenny telling Forest to 'run, Forrest' to get away from bullies & his braces break off...ms Wright just beams joy & beauty in this interview...
I think, because of her father, Jenny didn’t believe she was good enough for Forrest. She told him, you don’t want to marry me. Yep, her father was the villain. I loved Robin in Toys with Robin Williams. It wasn’t a big success but I loved it. She’s great and a lot of fun.
She wasn't the villain per say, she was just projecting everything. Why she kept telling Forrest to just run away. That's all I have to say about that...
it's not that kind of a movie. having said that, yeah, not a role model character, obviously. also an abuse victim struggling with trauma and coping with various toxic behaviours.
@@nooneofconsequence1251 ah, I see that you doubled down, but now it's that you pity me because I perceive her behavior as negative Okay, that's reasonable You say I have no empathy - I think that you are projecting your own lack of emotional range onto others
Along with feeling fundamentally unworthy of love, especially from a pure and simple soul such as Forrest, due to her horrendous childhood trauma, the main reason Jenny was "horrible" to him by constantly running away despite their feelings for each other is because she was terrified that she would end up being even _worse_ to him by taking advantage of someone intellectually weaker than her, the same way her abusive father took advantage of her as a physically and socially weaker child. It's like where Forrest's story, even his service in Vietnam, is kind of a highlight reel of post-war 20th century America, Jenny's is the ugly, painful reality check that not enough people want to hear about or acknowledge, even today. To call her a villain shows a deep lack of compassion and willful ignorance of much of the social history of the era, especially from the female perspective. (No shade on Robin Wright intended here, since she had only_ just_ heard about the argument and probably didn't have enough time to fully process it.)
Litchfield county Connecticut has lots of nice birds, very few car horns or sirens, and very few women screaming on the sidewalks. the town of Salisbury is lovely.
Forrest Gump is the greatest movie of all time. Forrest actually saved Jenny. I don't see her as the villain. Her father was the abusive one. Even though he's never seen. Hard to believe it's 30 years old.
Fun fact: they never made a sequel because the author hated the movie adaptation, so he filled the sequel book with things like Forrest inventing New Coke (or maybe it was Crystal Pepsi?), and meeting Tom Hanks. Basically a bunch of stuff to try to make it unfilmable.
No! Come on, Robin, you’re supposed to empathize with and defend your characters! Jenny is the tragic foil to Forrest, not a villain. She could never be sure if she was abusing or taking advantage of Forrest because of his disability - she was never sure that Forrest’s love or understanding of the world was as real as that of someone who was not disabled - and so she didn’t want to repeat the cycle of abuse that her father inflicted on her. Every time he got close, all of these thoughts came rushing back and made her run away. She was ashamed that she might have sexually abused Forrest and didn’t want to make him responsible for raising a kid. She had to go on her own journey of self-discovery and healing to be able to accept and appreciate Forrest’s love and accept that he could be a loving father… just before she died. It’s so incredibly sad, but a lot of viewers just hate her without empathizing.
I completely agree. I don't think Robin (who I admire) really understands Jenny. And I think it's been too long since she's seen the film, as she got the timeline completely mixed up.
Robin was heartbreaking in FG. And the depiction of the broken path an abused person can go down... it's never been rendered better (besides maybe parts of David Lynch's "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me."
I really thought that she was going to defend Jenny. Jenny is one of my favorite female characters on film. She was damaged, abused, she was an escape artist of sorts because of her trauma and she didn't know how to be loved. Forrest Gump showed always showed her love until the very end and she accepted it but didn't know how to deal with it. It's such a relatable character to me, and I will never see her as the Villain. The real villain in the movie is Life's struggles in Forrest's life and he overcame those obstacles regardless of his own intellectual limitations. He was very smart in a non conventional way. ❤❤❤ I'll always love this film and it has inspired me to write a lot of poetry throughout the years. So, bravo to Tom Hanks and Robin Wright and I'm thankful for this film; again, one of my all time favorites.
I remember seeing a young Robin Wright as Robin Wright Penn at the Olympia film festival where she was presenting her film . Sean Penn sat on the edge of the stage and sullenly smoked before later beating a guy up at a local club. That was in the 90's. I look at her now and I feel old.
Jenny did function as an antagonist/tension machine, but is only the "villian" if every movie MUST have one. She was a victim, her being gave Forrest hope and purpose, and she ultimately gave him his destiny (being Forrest's dad).
I think it was heartbreaking to watch old Forrest Go through what he went through and be continuously rejected by Jenny. At best Forrest was bewildered by what was going on around him or he was genuinely suffering. Combat. Losing Bubba and his mother. That run across the US was Forrest trying to exorcise his demons that he couldn’t even identify.
Jenny’s character, as important as she is, does not represent the main theme of the movie, which is unconditional love and forgiveness. The movie is called “Forrest Gump” after all.
Tthe idea of a sequel where Forrest proves to be an incredible Father, parenting their son through coming of age during the turmoil of the early 21st century, being the kind and supportive boomer dad so many of us who were kids when the first Forrest Gump came out would die to have had... I would absolutely skip my Starbucks and avocado toast for like a whole week to pay for tickets to that. TAKE MY MILLENNIAL MONEY! PLEASE!
Life took a big dump on both characters, Forrest and Jenny. They both succeeded despite the hand they were dealt. I took my wife and four kids to the film shortly after it was released. Laughed and cried multiple times and still tear up when Forrest tells Jenny he knows what love is. Read the book and the sequel. Heavy satire.
Jenny might be perceived as a 'villain' if you look at things without taking context into things. Jenny was born into a dysfunctional household. Jenny never knew what love was. Jenny was looking for love in all the wrong places. Jenny was running everywhere because she was trying to find love in all the wrong places without realizing she had love in front of her eyes. Forrest is the perfect contrast where he had a loving household (at least a mother - not sure about the father), he knew what was right from wrong. He might've been 'stupid' in terms of IQ but not in terms of emotion. I'd argue Forrest had a very high EQ despite being below average in IQ. There's a line in the movie where Forrest says to Jenny something like "I might not be smart, but I know what love is".
I would never go so far to say that Jenny is the villain in Forrest Gump. No way. Jenny was taken advantage of by her sick, twisted father and was a broken soul that sadly developed a broken life that only really found peace in the pure love of Forrest Gump. She struggled throughout up to the point of her passing but in no way was she a villain. She was broken, misguided in love, and didn't value the true love in Forrest because of his outer appearance until it was too late.
❤ 💙 Republican here voting for Kamala!!! Country before party United we stand!! I encourage my fellow Republicans to stand up as well and vote for our freedom! ❤ 💙 Lets Go Kamala!
So many people just like Jenny, made poor decisions. Of course damaged as she was hurt people hurt. She was a deeply flawed girlfriend,. I admit I wanted her to love Forrest. But she got him "running" and boy did he accomplish so much. I don't remember wanting to shout at the screen for her to be steadfast for him. But I do think I identified with him, in a way that I suffered at how trusting and naive he was, and how she could not offer him what I felt he deserved In the end, in spite of not allowing herself to love or be loved, she spared him her own self-loathing and gave him a son, the bright part of his life. Many people of that era rebelled against society's norms, and her contributions to him, and a sort of loyalty, made me reluctantly accept her. There was a certain irony in the way Forrest's gullibility and naivite proved to be his greatest asset. He applied Jenny's few lessons. Running saved his life from baddies. It made him save the lieutenant. In the end in an era fraught with fighting authority, his literal almost savant like homilies and lessons internalized positioned him to be better off than a majority of his contemporaries. He managed to be in the frame, thanks to Zemeckis and a great script, as a witness to history. What a great fable that Forrest finds happiness (and wealth) in the end.
hell id go to say Forest is the real villain in the film, he simps all over her when she clearly was never interested in him, he lucked out in all he did in life, ruined Lt Dans life by saving him, didnt rescue Bubba in time, kept bothering people on the chair with his stories etc etc
That theory comes from a very patriarchal point of view, Jenny was abused as a child, which explains her emotionally unavailability and poor relationship choices. If you don’t get that, you didn’t get the movie
it's important to look upon jenny with sympathy for the sake of preventing future jennies. this is what happens when a girl is abused. don't let it happen.
Jenny wasn't the villain. She was the one who needed help, but never realizes the need. When she left, it wasn't meaness, it was to change to someone who could accept help. She loved Forrest but felt she was too broken and not worthy.
I always saw Jenny as a person who wasn't shown any love from her family as a kid and thus saw herself as an unlovable person, even with how Forrest treated her. I could see that she was angry that the only person who claimed to love her was the "half-wit" in the town and that just drove her even further down her spiral. And then it all came to a boil when they're walking down the road and spy her old homestead and she just loses it and starts throwing rocks at the run-down house in a fit of anger, and us hearing Forrest comment, "Sometimes there just ain't enough rocks in the world to throw." Had the roles been reversed, gender-wise, I could easily side with folks saying that Male-Jenny was totally the villain to Female-Forrest so I suppose we should feel the same for Jenny as well but it's just hard to look at her like that, knowing all the pain and suffering she went through as a child.
Canada developed its film industry by offering good tax breaks and incentives. Toronto and Vancouver have well established film boards. Now more producers are filming in the Maritimes in Canada.
I like her. Great actress! It's actually Jenny's FATHER who is the villain, there. Poor lil Jenny...😣💜
and virtually every other man in her life since
@@bryaneberly3588 Ah, womanhood.
Agree! She wasn't a bad person, she was a broken person who never felt she deserved Forrest. He was her safe place, but she never felt worthy of having one. Her father was 100% the villain.
💯
As far as I currently see it, Jenny never thought she was good enough for Forest's love because of her past with her father. He likely made her feel worthless, and gaslite her into thinking all of his actions were HER fault. It's why she was always drawn to doing nude things and getting involved with bad guys. So anytime she would get close to Forest, her mind would think it's a bad thing and she would stop herself and run away because wouldn't want herself to corrupt him. She gave him the advice to run because it's what she always did. In the end she conquered her fear of corrupting him when she got clean.
That and him becoming a multi millionaire
Nah, she was just a selfish asshole.
Thank you Doctor 😉
She would’ve been happy with him at their home in Alabama and would rest easy knowing their son was with his father, his money didn’t mean a whole lot at that long
She says she JUST heard about this debate a few minutes before this interview, so she hasn't had much time to think about it. Yes, on a surface level, Jenny was a horrible person and treated Forrest abominably. But the movie is detailed and nuanced enough that it is so much more than that. She was a lot kinder to Forrest than most people. And it took her going on a long complicated journey of healing herself from her childhood trauma to finally realize that Forrest was absolutely the best thing in her life. Similarly, Lieutenant Dan treated Forrest like crap for a LONG time after Forrest saved his life, and he also had to go on a journey of healing himself from war trauma to finally realize that Forrest was the best thing in HIS life. But no one considers Lieutenant Dan to be a villain.
Good points!
Lt Dan didn’t keep Forrest’s son a secret from him for years. It was only because she was dying that she fessed up.
So many people fail to see how damaged Jenny was and that's why she behaved like she did. It doesn't make it alright but it's her inner demons from the abusive past that made her do it.
Nothing made her do it. She chose to do it. Just because you have an abusive past doesn't make you be a piece of sh*t, somewhere along the line, you have a choice. That's a cop out.
@Tullminator ... sure bub.
@@Tullminatorit’s a fictional character, so no free choice, really.
@@Tullminator you have close to zero understanding of how humans work. Free choice is an illusion. This is a scientific fact. If you are a POS... that's because causality makes you a POS. I mean... look at you, for example. You're clearly a POS. You judge other people for having a hard time forming healthy relationships after surviving childhood sexual abuse. You didn't choose to be this way. You simply are this way... through a combination of genetics (maybe a low IQ or diminished capacity for empathy, both of which can be genetic), poor socialization (maybe you were taught at church or on reddit or elsewhere that people need to be punished for their inherent badness and that there's such a thing as "good" people and "bad" people), or poor education (you maybe never had the opportunity to take a freshman college level Psychology 101 class). Whatever it was... it could not have been any other way. You may imagine you had a choice, but... you didn't. You made the choices that were available for you to make that you were capable of making. And it led us here.
In the case of Jenny, she wasn't even a bad person. She was sexually abused by her father, repeatedly, as a small child. Someone with different genes may have been able to struggle through that and come out the other end a perfectly well adjusted person without any maladaptive social disorders... but... that wasn't Jenny's good fortune. She ended up with what appears to be some kind of mild borderline personality disorder, and an obviously very poor self-image... she probably feels broken, dirty, and irreparably damaged because of what happened to her. She does love Forrest, and values him as a friend. But... she's also a normal person who doesn't usually try to have romantic relationships with the mentally handicapped. She sees Forrest as sweet, and innocent, which he is. He doesn't ever fully understand what happened to Jenny; perhaps can't understand, and she knows that. She sees herself as dirty and f'ed up and not worthy of the pure, innocent love that Forrest would offer her. She thinks that if Forrest feels like he loves her... it must just be because he is too simple minded to really understand how dirty and unworthy of love she is... so... she likes Forrest... but she can't accept his love because she feels unworthy of it and she doesn't want to damage or contaminate Forrest or ruin his innocence. Instead, she ends up in relationships, as many abuse victims do, with men who further abuse her. If they treat her like shit, beat her up, sexually exploit her, etc... she feels like she probably deserves it. And the more this happens, the lower her esteem gets, the more she feels she is dirty and broken and unworthy of love, the more she feels like it would be wrong for her to accept Forrest's love because he deserves better. She doesn't want to be with him and just disappoint him.
Anyway, decades pass. Jenny goes through a lot of shit. So does Forrest. She has a kid and perhaps that is the push that finally gives her the energy and will to try and do better for herself, because now it's not just herself that she is hurting (and those around her, like Forrest, that she thinks she is protecting even while she hurts him)... but she has a baby who is depending on her, too. So she straightens her life out. Stops dating abusive asshole men who degrade and humiliate her. Gets off drugs. Gets a regular job. Cleans up. And... when she takes all of these steps... that's when she becomes clear headed enough to realize that she was messed up before, and maybe she was wrong to let her past of abuse define her, and she finally recognized what her illusory choices had done and how they had affected herself and the people who cared about her. This wasn't a choice... it was the result of biology (nature) and the culmination of life events that led to this eventuality (nurture). She did not become a better person in this instant... but her life circumstances had changed. This changed the physics of the neurochemistry of her brain and made it possible for her to see things a different way and act in a different way.
When this happened, she reached out to Forrest. She apologized to him. She introduced him to his son. She assured him that he bore no responsibility toward her or the child and that he had done nothing wrong. And she asked if he would marry her... because she finally felt like she was good enough that she wouldn't be damaging him to accept his love.
At no point in this story is Jenny as much a POS as the people who would judge her for her journey. She's just a human being... doing her best... struggling to overcome trauma and live life... just like everyone else.
@@Tullminator ugh...you just don't get it. That's patently obvious. And, fun fact, she did apologize.
Jenny, who died of hepatitis C in the book because she contracted years before doctors even knew of its existence, was sexually abused by her low-life drunk father. Back then, there were no real resources for sexually abused girls/women, and incest was not openly discussed. That's an awful lot of baggage to carry alone through life. Her actions and behavior, while not admirable, are certainly recognized by women of that era.
It still doesn't give her the right to more or less abuse Forest and manipulate him the whole movie and take advantage of his feelings.
Love is putting someone else's needs in front of your own and she doesn't do that once in the movie.
She uses him when it's convenient and takes off when she's had her fill.
She's not a likable character regardless of her traumatic past, I don't think the movie does enough to make her sympathetic.
I've never read the book but I consider her the villain of the movie.
I think they are both better off without her, she's a very toxic self-destructive person.
@@Mntguy-nr9vl Could you please point out where I condoned her behavior? There is a difference between explanation and approval. I merely stated facts without an opinion.
@@Mntguy-nr9vl She didn't condone the behavior. Expecting someone without access to resources who grew up in dire circumstances to show up in healthy ways is very short-sighted.
I didn't know there was a book! Of course! I'm so excited! And the book is Always better!(Except, maybe, Princess Bride, ironically here.)
Anyway, thank you for bringing this to light for folks like me who read your comment.. . . 🙏🏽
@@jezz7148 Glad I could bring a bit of joy to your life. Curl up with a nice warm beverage and enjoy.
As many amazing films as she's been in, I still can't help but think of her as Princess Buttercup. And I always will.
"as you wish"!
... stop 🛑 that rhyming now, I mean it! Does anybody wanna 🥜? 👸🏼
Inconceivable
@@wendyhale2189you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
“Who are you?”
“I’m no one of consequence.”
“I must know.”
“Get used to disappointment.” 😂
Did anyone realize that the song the band plays when Robin walks out is Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind", the song her character is singing on stage at the bar in "Forrest Gump"? That was a sweet nod.
Jenny is an empathy test for the viewer-she lets you know how well you can have empathy for a person so damaged and hurt.
And sooooo many people fail that empathy test hard 😢
@@Mububban23 Because a lot of people shockingly lack it.
Jenny was so abused as a child. She actually loved Forrest. I don’t think she’s the villain. There was redemption in the end
Interesting justification. I wonder if that tune would be the same if it was Forrest doing all those things to Jenny.
@@callmeshaggy5166but he didn’t
The simplest way to put it is this, Jenny never brought any of her problems to Forrest. She pushed him away when she was a mess and didn’t want to affect his life. She returned to him when she was ready. Leaving him at that point is questionable but near the end, she introduced him to their son so he would be taken care of. She’d been through so much, she didn’t want Forrest to see what she had been through. Selfless till the end.
Honestly you can be a Villain and not be the antagonist. Also not all villains are intended villains. How your actions affect others is often what makes someone a villain. Jenny does selfish and villainous things whether or not she intends it. The way her actions consistently affected Forrest puts her more in line towards a villain that maybe has a redemption arc depending on whether you view her introducing Forrest to their child as caring or not. Points can be made for either side.
Cinema Therapy did an episode addressing the idea that Jenny was the villain. She was a horribly abused child who did her best, and over time lands in a good place and apologizes.
Robin was also AMAZING in Wonder Woman. Underrated role for her since she doesn't last long in the film.
Also, she went to the high school near me. La Jolla
She was a fucking beast in WW besides Diana she was my favorite
Oh wow, she was originally from the La Jolla/San Diego area? TIL!
Robin Wright just absolutely flexing with her accent work in this interview.
If you aren't half-decent at accents, you won't get much work as an actor.
I never saw Jenny as the villain. I always see her as loving Forest Gump so deeply that she didn't want to saddle him with her hot mess self. That was an act of love.
Secondly, the ONLY man she ever crated a child with was the only man she ever loved.
Finally, she did marry him, and gave him a complete family, for the short time she had left.
Painful, definitely. Villain definitely not.
Adulthood is when you realize Jenny's kid isnt Forrest's.
@fludblud that was never implied.
IMO, Forrest Gump was a story of the contrast between Forrest and Jenny. Forrest was able to overcome adversity while Jenny's short life was defined by her suffering.
I never thought of it in those terms; very insightful. Will give me e different perspective next time I watch it.
@@smallmj2886 THANK YOU
My US history teacher showed it to us and said “Forrest Gump is a movie made in the 90’s for people to make sense of what happened in the 70’s and 80’s”
BRUH T.T
Forest wasn't abused on the same level Jenny was. I don't think this is the point of the film.
The lack of empathy towards Jenny, who was a child sexual abuse survivor, sickens and saddens me. She was a mess, but they CLEARLY spell out WHY she was so messed up. Her dad used to r@pe her and her sister!!! And the culture of the 70s was definitely "protect the man, you don't want to ruin his life do you?"
I honestly cannot tell you how many times I’ve watched The Princess Bride. I saw it for the first time in a movie theater in Charlotte, NC, in 1987, with a friend from work.
She's such a badass awesome actress.
When I rewatched The Princess Bride recently, for the first time in decades, I was SHOCKED to realize that ‘Jenny’ was also ‘Buttercup’!
😂😂😂🤣
For shame. You should watch it annually at a minimum.
@@Novascrub My name is Inigo Montoya...
Robin is a great stealth actress for me. I enjoy her in just about everything I see her in, but I never realize it's her until after the fact. XD
If Jenny wasn’t as complex a character as she was… during an intense time in history of our country during the 60’s … the story would be different… and the movie wouldn’t be the Classic it is.
Love Robin Wright
She's 58 years old, and (to me) still super sexy - -- will always love her, too😊
Thanks for pointing out the fact that there’s beautiful countryside and birds right here in our enormous country! Can’t believe people think they *have* to go abroad for that …
because of the abuse, Jenny didn't know how to give or receive love.
Never thought of Jenny being bad... It was such a well written and played character... You can't see some actions without seeing her soul, without seeing the entire story.
Theres a few different thesis on Jenny. One being that she was abused her whole life and knew her life was going to be destructive and wanted Forest to not have to see the depraved world she knew she would live.
Doesn't make not the villain
massive stretch. she was a broken person.
@@davidhester6648 It can be both.
@@davidhester6648 did you watch the interview?
Robin agrees, Jenny was a total heel
Get off colbert and quit defending abusers - that belongs on Fox news
Agree. Forest was the beneficiary of a profound expression of love, faith (in his/one's intrinsic ability to do good and overcome obstacle) tenderness and caring from his astonishing and devoted mother.
Jenny is the product of the worst kind of abuse a child can experience, made even more grotesque that it is at the hands of her father.
Jenny is drawn to Forest and his goodness, she has a deep affection and loves him; she's not capable of having any long term or meaningful relationship.
The fact that Jenny makes it to her thirties. is able to conquer her drug abuse and has a healthy boy is a miracle.
Anyone finding fault with Jenny not settling down with Forest is holding poor Jenny to a standard that myths and religious texts have never written about.
She is strikingly beautiful
But that hairstlye is awful
Colbert: We have birds over here too y'know, like robins.
Wright: I thought you meant, like, British birds..
Colbert: Oh, you meant like ladies. We have ladies too, like Robins.
I love this woman… 🥰 She was brilliant in House of Cards.
Let me just sat there is a VERY compelling Reddit thread on why Jenny ISNT a villain !
Good stuff.
Jenny wasn't the villian. She was actually the protagonist in the movie. Even though it's called Forest Gump & Forest is in almost every scene, it's Jenny's movie. She's the one who has the character arc and comes to realize at the end of her journey that she belongs with Forest.
She will always be Claire Underwood for me.what a haunting performance.awesome.
If you haven't seen the Cinema Therapy episode here on YT of Forrest Gump breaking down if Jenny is really a villain, go watch it. It's really good.
Jenny’s abuse made her want to fly far far away from her small town life and the abuse from her father. She wanted to sing on a stage and be heard and find fame. She was constantly running towards what she thought she wanted and life only got harder and she never achieved her dreams, therefor mentally she never escaped her father. Having a child made her realise how wrong all her choices were. Seeing Forrest, her only protector and friend, become famous, talk on a stage in front of thousands of people, become basically a national treasure. If she had stayed with him, she could have had the life she wanted, be protected, and be loved. She realised that by the end, and made choices that ended her life right where she began. In her small town, loved, resting underneath their tree. In no way is she the villain. If anything, she’s the protagonist. Forrest was always good, Jenny was the one who grew.
Jenny was broken. Don't fall in love with broken people. They'll break you.
She as a person, is nothing like jenny, she has set such brilliant milestones in the industry on her own merit, adapting herself to this hell hole workplace of Hollywood for decades. That is why she (even if jokingly) bashed jenny, and ironically that makes her portrait of this bruised, vulnerable woman in the movie so magnificent.
“With some black panther guy”. The audience went dead silent on that one 😂
We love robin wright
as folks discuss Jenny as villain of Gump, 4 me immediate cinematic image in head/mind/memory is them sitting on school bus together & Jenny telling Forest to 'run, Forrest' to get away from bullies & his braces break off...ms Wright just beams joy & beauty in this interview...
Still a beautiful woman 😊
Delightful both. Stephen has so much game, she is blushing.
for her entry music they chose the song she played nude on stage in Forrest Gump
I love her since I discovered her mega talent in HoC! So bright and positive, you can tell Stephen loves interviewing her ❤
I think, because of her father, Jenny didn’t believe she was good enough for Forrest. She told him, you don’t want to marry me. Yep, her father was the villain.
I loved Robin in Toys with Robin Williams. It wasn’t a big success but I loved it. She’s great and a lot of fun.
She’s really giving off Glenn Close vibes here!
You mean boiling a rabbit in a pot?
She wasn't the villain per say, she was just projecting everything. Why she kept telling Forrest to just run away. That's all I have to say about that...
it's not that kind of a movie.
having said that, yeah, not a role model character, obviously. also an abuse victim struggling with trauma and coping with various toxic behaviours.
Jen-nay!
Stellaaaaa.
I feel sorry for anyone who thinks Jenny is the villain or even a bad person... anyone like that has zero empathy.
Antagonists in a story don't have to be bad people... Just that they cause the conflict.
@@nooneofconsequence1251 ah, I see that you doubled down, but now it's that you pity me because I perceive her behavior as negative
Okay, that's reasonable
You say I have no empathy - I think that you are projecting your own lack of emotional range onto others
Jenny was the prime example of hurt people hurt people.
5:45 the villain question starts
Along with feeling fundamentally unworthy of love, especially from a pure and simple soul such as Forrest, due to her horrendous childhood trauma, the main reason Jenny was "horrible" to him by constantly running away despite their feelings for each other is because she was terrified that she would end up being even _worse_ to him by taking advantage of someone intellectually weaker than her, the same way her abusive father took advantage of her as a physically and socially weaker child.
It's like where Forrest's story, even his service in Vietnam, is kind of a highlight reel of post-war 20th century America, Jenny's is the ugly, painful reality check that not enough people want to hear about or acknowledge, even today. To call her a villain shows a deep lack of compassion and willful ignorance of much of the social history of the era, especially from the female perspective. (No shade on Robin Wright intended here, since she had only_ just_ heard about the argument and probably didn't have enough time to fully process it.)
_Forrest Gump 2: Running From Jenny's Ghost_
Litchfield county Connecticut has lots of nice birds, very few car horns or sirens, and very few women screaming on the sidewalks. the town of Salisbury is lovely.
Who's here because of Santa Barbara?
Omgoodness i had forgotten that, wasn't her name something overwrought like, Santana?! 😅
That’s where I first saw her!
Robin Wright, is so freaken amazing.
Forrest Gump is the greatest movie of all time. Forrest actually saved Jenny. I don't see her as the villain. Her father was the abusive one. Even though he's never seen. Hard to believe it's 30 years old.
This was very funny. When they got into the Forrest Gump talk things took a hilarious turn. :)
In the description it says "Help" but it's "Here"
Fun fact: they never made a sequel because the author hated the movie adaptation, so he filled the sequel book with things like Forrest inventing New Coke (or maybe it was Crystal Pepsi?), and meeting Tom Hanks. Basically a bunch of stuff to try to make it unfilmable.
They could have made a sequel to the movie without basing it on the sequel book, so that’s that not the reason.
No! Come on, Robin, you’re supposed to empathize with and defend your characters! Jenny is the tragic foil to Forrest, not a villain. She could never be sure if she was abusing or taking advantage of Forrest because of his disability - she was never sure that Forrest’s love or understanding of the world was as real as that of someone who was not disabled - and so she didn’t want to repeat the cycle of abuse that her father inflicted on her. Every time he got close, all of these thoughts came rushing back and made her run away. She was ashamed that she might have sexually abused Forrest and didn’t want to make him responsible for raising a kid. She had to go on her own journey of self-discovery and healing to be able to accept and appreciate Forrest’s love and accept that he could be a loving father… just before she died. It’s so incredibly sad, but a lot of viewers just hate her without empathizing.
I completely agree. I don't think Robin (who I admire) really understands Jenny. And I think it's been too long since she's seen the film, as she got the timeline completely mixed up.
Robin was heartbreaking in FG. And the depiction of the broken path an abused person can go down... it's never been rendered better (besides maybe parts of David Lynch's "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me."
She’s a great actress. It’s good to see her. I don’t like Hanks though. I don’t think he’s a nice person.
I really thought that she was going to defend Jenny. Jenny is one of my favorite female characters on film.
She was damaged, abused, she was an escape artist of sorts because of her trauma and she didn't know how to be loved. Forrest Gump showed always showed her love until the very end and she accepted it but didn't know how to deal with it. It's such a relatable character to me, and I will never see her as the Villain. The real villain in the movie is Life's struggles in Forrest's life and he overcame those obstacles regardless of his own intellectual limitations. He was very smart in a non conventional way. ❤❤❤ I'll always love this film and it has inspired me to write a lot of poetry throughout the years. So, bravo to Tom Hanks and Robin Wright and I'm thankful for this film; again, one of my all time favorites.
I remember seeing a young Robin Wright as Robin Wright Penn at the Olympia film festival where she was presenting her film . Sean Penn sat on the edge of the stage and sullenly smoked before later beating a guy up at a local club. That was in the 90's. I look at her now and I feel old.
Jenny didn’t get pregnant in that dorm scene where they messed around… it was many years later!
Jenny did function as an antagonist/tension machine, but is only the "villian" if every movie MUST have one. She was a victim, her being gave Forrest hope and purpose, and she ultimately gave him his destiny (being Forrest's dad).
I think it was heartbreaking to watch old Forrest Go through what he went through and be continuously rejected by Jenny. At best Forrest was bewildered by what was going on around him or he was genuinely suffering. Combat. Losing Bubba and his mother. That run across the US was Forrest trying to exorcise his demons that he couldn’t even identify.
Jenny’s character, as important as she is, does not represent the main theme of the movie, which is unconditional love and forgiveness. The movie is called “Forrest Gump” after all.
Starred in 2 of my all time favorite movies, Forrest Gump and The Princess Bride, and I went years without connecting the 2.
Stephen has really become a great interviewer.
She's great
Tthe idea of a sequel where Forrest proves to be an incredible Father, parenting their son through coming of age during the turmoil of the early 21st century, being the kind and supportive boomer dad so many of us who were kids when the first Forrest Gump came out would die to have had...
I would absolutely skip my Starbucks and avocado toast for like a whole week to pay for tickets to that. TAKE MY MILLENNIAL MONEY! PLEASE!
Texas proud. She is the real deal. Super cool!
Would it really hurt to number the videos? Cmon man please
Adore one of her best movies
Loved her since Santa Barbara!
wow, she still looks great.
She should portray the Prince's mother in the Red, White and Royal Blue sequel.
This interview was a bit awkward IMO 😮
There was a sequel book written by Winston Groom called "Gump & Co." they tried to adapt it into film but obviously wasn't made.
Life took a big dump on both characters, Forrest and Jenny. They both succeeded despite the hand they were dealt. I took my wife and four kids to the film shortly after it was released. Laughed and cried multiple times and still tear up when Forrest tells Jenny he knows what love is. Read the book and the sequel. Heavy satire.
Jenny might be perceived as a 'villain' if you look at things without taking context into things. Jenny was born into a dysfunctional household. Jenny never knew what love was. Jenny was looking for love in all the wrong places. Jenny was running everywhere because she was trying to find love in all the wrong places without realizing she had love in front of her eyes.
Forrest is the perfect contrast where he had a loving household (at least a mother - not sure about the father), he knew what was right from wrong. He might've been 'stupid' in terms of IQ but not in terms of emotion. I'd argue Forrest had a very high EQ despite being below average in IQ.
There's a line in the movie where Forrest says to Jenny something like "I might not be smart, but I know what love is".
If anybody was the villain it was Jenny's dad.
I would never go so far to say that Jenny is the villain in Forrest Gump. No way. Jenny was taken advantage of by her sick, twisted father and was a broken soul that sadly developed a broken life that only really found peace in the pure love of Forrest Gump. She struggled throughout up to the point of her passing but in no way was she a villain. She was broken, misguided in love, and didn't value the true love in Forrest because of his outer appearance until it was too late.
She and Stephen definitely need to watch @CinemaTherapy talk about Forest Gump. Jenny isn't the villain.
❤ 💙 Republican here voting for Kamala!!! Country before party United we stand!! I encourage my fellow Republicans to stand up as well and vote for our freedom! ❤ 💙 Lets Go Kamala!
No way in Hades I'm voting to have my taxes raised and my 2A eviscerated.
@@tedwright1380We all know you don't make enough money to meet that tax bracket... 😂😂😂😂
So many people just like Jenny, made poor decisions. Of course damaged as she was hurt people hurt. She was a deeply flawed girlfriend,. I admit I wanted her to love Forrest. But she got him "running" and boy did he accomplish so much. I don't remember wanting to shout at the screen for her to be steadfast for him. But I do think I identified with him, in a way that I suffered at how trusting and naive he was, and how she could not offer him what I felt he deserved In the end, in spite of not allowing herself to love or be loved, she spared him her own self-loathing and gave him a son, the bright part of his life. Many people of that era rebelled against society's norms, and her contributions to him, and a sort of loyalty, made me reluctantly accept her. There was a certain irony in the way Forrest's gullibility and naivite proved to be his greatest asset. He applied Jenny's few lessons. Running saved his life from baddies. It made him save the lieutenant. In the end in an era fraught with fighting authority, his literal almost savant like homilies and lessons internalized positioned him to be better off than a majority of his contemporaries. He managed to be in the frame, thanks to Zemeckis and a great script, as a witness to history. What a great fable that Forrest finds happiness (and wealth) in the end.
hell id go to say Forest is the real villain in the film, he simps all over her when she clearly was never interested in him, he lucked out in all he did in life, ruined Lt Dans life by saving him, didnt rescue Bubba in time, kept bothering people on the chair with his stories etc etc
Never crossed my mind Jenny was the villian; she was a product of her upbringing and damaged as opposed to villainous.
Y'all need to watch Cinema Therapy 's take on Jenny and the entire Forest Gump story. It gives a different perspective on Jenny's story
Wheelie Yellow, Robin.
That theory comes from a very patriarchal point of view, Jenny was abused as a child, which explains her emotionally unavailability and poor relationship choices.
If you don’t get that, you didn’t get the movie
Never mind Forrest Gump. It’s been some 37 years since Princess Bride and Ms. Wright’s iconic role as Princess Buttercup! ❤
it's important to look upon jenny with sympathy for the sake of preventing future jennies. this is what happens when a girl is abused. don't let it happen.
Jenny wasn't the villain. She was the one who needed help, but never realizes the need. When she left, it wasn't meaness, it was to change to someone who could accept help. She loved Forrest but felt she was too broken and not worthy.
Movie critics are happy to give endorsements. The consensus of critical opinion for "Here" is to put it kindly, mixed.
She's not the villain, she's as much a victim as Forrest. She doesn't rise above her tragic childhood like he does but she's not a bad person.
Farm boy fetch me that pale…..every girlfriend in h.s.- we knew every line…..still do. And Wesley was the man.
I always saw Jenny as a person who wasn't shown any love from her family as a kid and thus saw herself as an unlovable person, even with how Forrest treated her. I could see that she was angry that the only person who claimed to love her was the "half-wit" in the town and that just drove her even further down her spiral. And then it all came to a boil when they're walking down the road and spy her old homestead and she just loses it and starts throwing rocks at the run-down house in a fit of anger, and us hearing Forrest comment, "Sometimes there just ain't enough rocks in the world to throw."
Had the roles been reversed, gender-wise, I could easily side with folks saying that Male-Jenny was totally the villain to Female-Forrest so I suppose we should feel the same for Jenny as well but it's just hard to look at her like that, knowing all the pain and suffering she went through as a child.
Canada developed its film industry by offering good tax breaks and incentives. Toronto and Vancouver have well established film boards. Now more producers are filming in the Maritimes in Canada.
She's the epitome of the character The Boss in Metal gear solid
But she treated Forest like crap. Remember the words of Gandalf. Every day is a decision.