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It was very obvious to me too, a teenager back then. The thing is, the entire film puts Forrest in the middle of countless major historical and cultural events.
by scrumper 13y ago
It was very obvious to me too, a teenager back then. The thing is, the entire film puts Forrest in the middle of countless major historical and cultural events. He serves in the Vietnam War. He phones in the Watergate Hotel break in. He speaks at the giant peace rally on the Mall. He co-founds the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. He even invests in Apple ("some fruit company.") Having him witness the early rumblings of the AIDS epidemic is just one more example.
- yummyfajitas 13y agoFounding the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co is not a historical reference. The restaurant was founded in 1996 as a marketing tie in to the movie. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubba_Gump_Shrimp_Company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubba_Gump_Shrimp_Company
- scrumper 13y agoAh, thanks. Got another example I can swap it for? Haven't seen the film in at least a decade.
- Jeremy1026 13y agoHe was named about his relative named Forrest, who was part of a group that wore bed sheets and rode around on horses that also wore bed sheets. - KKK reference. Forrest was at the U. of Ark. during the time of integration, and picked up the book dropped by one of the Little Rock 9. He coined the term 'Shit Happens' and the smiley face t-shirt.
- mikeash 13y agoAnd it looks like that KKK reference is actually a reference to Nathan Bedford Forrest, famous Confederate general and early KKK member.
- dkrich 13y agoHe was at the University of Alabama, not Arkansas. George Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama is blocking the entrance in a famous scene in American history known as "The Stand in the Schoolhouse Door." [1] My dad was a professor at the University of Georgia during this time and still talks about what it was like being in the south at that time. Really fascinating to hear him describe it. He actually drove through Arkansas on a university research field trip right when desegregation was beginning to be enforced and saw the National Guard in place to enforce it. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_in_the_Schoolhouse_Door http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_in_the_Schoolhouse_Door
- asveikau 13y agoHe taught Elvis to dance.
- abraham_s 13y agoLittle Rock Crisis?