Tom Hanks and Robin Wright’s Forrest Gump will never not be one of the most epic depictions of love, trauma, and all the different emotions innocently wrapped up in a 142-minute-long masterpiece. Besides having people gain innumerable different perspectives of it, the brilliance with which it was made will continue to leave an indelible mark on viewers’ hearts forever.
That said, there have also been quite a few theories surrounding the traumatized Gump that seem to dump the entire blame of antagonism on Wright’s Jenny Curran because of the way she treated Hank’s character in the film. However, that seems to hardly be the case, after learning the story from a different narrative, that points out everything Jenny did for Gump.
This Narrative Proves Robin Wright’s Jenny is Not the Villain of Forrest Gump
Ever since Forrest Gump initially hit theatres worldwide back in 1994, there have been uncountable viewer perspectives on whom to dump the blame game on. And, more often than not, this rested on Robin Wright‘s Jenny, who is famous for having “used” the intellectually disabled Gump to her own advantage, thus earning herself the moniker of being a villain in his story.
As @ShooterMcGavin_ wrote on X while recently refreshing these memories with his own perspective, Wright’s character is, apparently, “on the Mount Rushmore of Underrated Villains.”
The reasons behind this are simple: She “gave Forrest the run around the entire movie,” kept “Little Forrest away from him until she finds out he’s rich,” and, after keeping Gump in the friend zone when he was poor, decides to get married to him after finding out he’s rich.
Of course, a lot of fans agree with his opinion as well. However, there’s a different perspective to this as well, one that sees things more clearly from Jenny’s point of view. As pointed out by @ShawnChittle, Wright’s character helped Hank’s protagonist more often than not in the film, and that:
Jenny was a sad figure, but she was NOT evil in any way shape or form.
Here are the claims that back this up: Jenny was a victim of abuse herself, as seen in the movie, and she “stuck up for Gump” as well when no one else did. She let him sit next to her on the bus, walked home with him, became his friend, and helped him “escape being killed or seriously injured by throwing rocks or a truck running over him.”
Moving on, through the “awkward” phases in Gump’s life, she decided to drop the friend zone “so he could experience romance with a person who he trusted.” Then the magazine debacle happened, and she “literally peaced out and went full hippie. She didn’t have to call out to him at the Washington DC rally, but did. He obviously loved her and ran to her.”
Then there was the point where she was being abused again and Hanks’ character tried to defend her, but Jenny didn’t let him as “she didn’t have it in her to quit the hippie movement. She probably had nowhere else to go.” To say the least, she even encouraged him to run and helped him develop “a talent he didn’t know he had” as he ran and ran and ran.
As shown later, she “saved clippings from him running” and kept up with how Gump was doing, financially as well. But in her defense, had she only wanted to take advantage of his fortune, she could have just asked him for money and Gump most certainly would have given it to her. But instead of doing this, “she wanted to see what kind of Dad Gump would make.”
Soon enough, after realizing he’d be a good dad—“despite it being in a rural backwater Alabama home”—she gave him Little Gump and left the world peacefully. If anything, Jenny gave Gump “the stability she never had, for a short period of time, and gave little Gump a Dad a solid future free of abuse and pain she endured her whole life.”
Needless to say, none of this establishes her as a villain in Tom Hanks‘ fan-favorite character’s story, but rather, as a helpful, gentle, loving hand that was troubled itself but tried her best to let Gump feel the love he so certainly deserved. That said, now even fans can’t help but admit just how perfectly this narrative fits in context to the story and cancels Jenny as a villain to Gump.
Fans React to Narrative Defending Robin Wright’s Jenny in Forrest Gump
While a part of fans are still arguing why Jenny remains, even after all this reasoning, an antagonist force in Gump’s story, others seem to finally understand her character the way she deserves to be understood. To say the least, these fans are justifying just why it was okay for Gump to be in love with her. Taking to X, here’s what they have to say:
With all of this being put out there, we might as well settle down on the fact that Robin Wright’s Jenny Curran was indeed a flawed character, but she may as well have been a blessing in disguise for Tom Hanks’ Forrest Gump who, even through his intellectual disability, managed to see her for the good she carried underneath that disguise.
Forrest Gump is currently available to be streamed on Prime Video.
