Jenny Isn’t the Antagonist Of ‘Forrest Gump,’ She’s The Victim

Forrest Gump was one of those movies that felt like it was everywhere. I was five when it came out, and I’m genuinely surprised I wasn’t taken to see it in a theater. Not because I was too young, I had already seen (and fallen asleep during) Jurassic Park in a theater. This was surprising because my boomer parents f***ing love Forrest Gump. They rented it as soon as it came out, maybe bought the VHS, and if it was on TV we were watching it. I saw it an absurd amount of times before I turned ten, and, surprise, a lot of it went over my head.

I did absorb a lot of the cultural references, as someone who is perpetually more interested in the past than the time he is currently living. My parents would happily tell me who John Lennon or LBJ were. They would tell me about the Black Panthers and the Vietnam War, always feeling more like anecdotes than history lessons. It was a walk down memory lane for them. A tour of the history they lived through. So, they soaked in their past and ignored the horrific aspects of the film.

There are plenty of things that haven’t aged well about Forrest Gump. Chief among them is the character Jenny. Jenny, Forrest’s longtime friend, and eventual partner, goes through the wringer in Forrest Gump. She’s subject to loss, heartbreak, abuse, suicidal thoughts, and terminal disease, all because she. .. had sex and did drugs and went to protests. She is a hippie stereotype and is punished for it, which is likely one of the many reasons this film has been embraced by conservatives in the years since its release (my parents are luckily not in that group).

There is a term called fridging, where a female character is hurt, abused, or killed as a way to motivate the lead male character. Jenny’s journey doesn’t entirely motivate Forrest, but her punishment feels no less pointed. She basically gets the Eve treatment, where she seeks something outside of her tiny world and is penalized for that. It’s insane to me that people could jump to the conclusion that Jenny is some sort of antagonist for Forrest, but apparently, that is such the case that Robin Wright had to talk about it.

When asked by The New York Times about Jenny being “anti-feminist” the actor shut that down. “No! It’s not about that,” Wright explained. “People have said she’s a Voldemort to Forrest. I wouldn’t choose that as a reference, but she was kind of selfish. I don’t think it’s a punishment that she gets AIDS. She was so promiscuous — that was the selfishness that she did to Forrest.” Look, I’m not going to argue with the person who played the character, but Jenny not being sure that she wants to be with Forrest doesn’t feel like selfishness nor is AIDS a just punishment for being “so promiscuous.”

However! I agree that Jenny is no Voldemort to Forrest, a person whose life is Homer Simpson-like in its absurdity. Regardless, there is a sweetness to them eventually getting together anyway as Wright pointed out. “He was in love with her from Day 1. And she was just flighty and running and doing coke and hooking up with a Black Panther,” she told the Times. “And then she gets sick and says, ‘This is your child. But I’m dying.’ And he still takes her: ‘I’ll take care of you at Mama’s house.’ I mean, it’s the sweetest love story.”

Jenny is not the villain. Jenny is not selfish. Jenny is living her life as a secondary character in someone else’s story, doing the best she can with the circumstances thrust upon her through the lens of rose-colored hindsight.