“Shit happens”: Forrest Gump and historical consciousness

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Sobchack, Vivian
Data de Publicação: 1997
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: por
Título da fonte: Ilha do Desterro
Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/8431
Resumo: In 1994, Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis), the immensely popular film about a simpleton hero triumphing over (by ignoring) the vicissitudes of three decades of recent American history, was second only to Disney’s animated The Lion King at the box office.1 Indeed, that year it not only captured the hearts (if not the minds) of most Americans, but also the major Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. Wondering at its immense popularity, Premiere magazine noted: “Before it was all over, Forrest Gump would gross more than $300 million in the U.S. alone, commanding whatever portion of the national attention span that O.J. Simpson did not. Was the film a paean to serendipity, an attack on the counterculture, an unabashedly romantic tearjerker, a monument to morons, or what Quentin Tarantino called ‘a really funny movie filled with more irony than any Hollywood movie I’ve ever seen in my life’?”2 Many reviewers and most intellectuals did not share in Tarantino’s reading, focusing instead on the film’s contributions to the “dumbing down” of America or on its complex and reactionary sexual politics (which keeps its hero nearly “pure” in sexual, historical, and political terms while aligning its doomed and sacrificial heroine with all the burdens and pain of historical consciousness, political activism, promiscuity, and AIDS).
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spelling “Shit happens”: Forrest Gump and historical consciousness“Shit happens”: Forrest Gump and historical consciousnessIn 1994, Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis), the immensely popular film about a simpleton hero triumphing over (by ignoring) the vicissitudes of three decades of recent American history, was second only to Disney’s animated The Lion King at the box office.1 Indeed, that year it not only captured the hearts (if not the minds) of most Americans, but also the major Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. Wondering at its immense popularity, Premiere magazine noted: “Before it was all over, Forrest Gump would gross more than $300 million in the U.S. alone, commanding whatever portion of the national attention span that O.J. Simpson did not. Was the film a paean to serendipity, an attack on the counterculture, an unabashedly romantic tearjerker, a monument to morons, or what Quentin Tarantino called ‘a really funny movie filled with more irony than any Hollywood movie I’ve ever seen in my life’?”2 Many reviewers and most intellectuals did not share in Tarantino’s reading, focusing instead on the film’s contributions to the “dumbing down” of America or on its complex and reactionary sexual politics (which keeps its hero nearly “pure” in sexual, historical, and political terms while aligning its doomed and sacrificial heroine with all the burdens and pain of historical consciousness, political activism, promiscuity, and AIDS).In 1994, Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis), the immensely popular film about a simpleton hero triumphing over (by ignoring) the vicissitudes of three decades of recent American history, was second only to Disney’s animated The Lion King at the box office.1 Indeed, that year it not only captured the hearts (if not the minds) of most Americans, but also the major Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. Wondering at its immense popularity, Premiere magazine noted: “Before it was all over, Forrest Gump would gross more than $300 million in the U.S. alone, commanding whatever portion of the national attention span that O.J. Simpson did not. Was the film a paean to serendipity, an attack on the counterculture, an unabashedly romantic tearjerker, a monument to morons, or what Quentin Tarantino called ‘a really funny movie filled with more irony than any Hollywood movie I’ve ever seen in my life’?”2 Many reviewers and most intellectuals did not share in Tarantino’s reading, focusing instead on the film’s contributions to the “dumbing down” of America or on its complex and reactionary sexual politics (which keeps its hero nearly “pure” in sexual, historical, and political terms while aligning its doomed and sacrificial heroine with all the burdens and pain of historical consciousness, political activism, promiscuity, and AIDS).UFSC1997-01-01info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/8431Ilha do Desterro A Journal of English Language, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies; No. 32 (1997); 015-026Ilha do Desterro A Journal of English Language, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies; n. 32 (1997); 015-0262175-80260101-4846reponame:Ilha do Desterroinstname:Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC)instacron:UFSCporhttps://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/8431/7960Copyright (c) 1997 Vivian Sobchackhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessSobchack, Vivian2022-12-06T14:10:50Zoai:periodicos.ufsc.br:article/8431Revistahttp://www.periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterroPUBhttps://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/oaiilha@cce.ufsc.br||corseuil@cce.ufsc.br||ilhadodesterro@gmail.com2175-80260101-4846opendoar:2022-12-06T14:10:50Ilha do Desterro - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC)false
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv “Shit happens”: Forrest Gump and historical consciousness
“Shit happens”: Forrest Gump and historical consciousness
title “Shit happens”: Forrest Gump and historical consciousness
spellingShingle “Shit happens”: Forrest Gump and historical consciousness
Sobchack, Vivian
title_short “Shit happens”: Forrest Gump and historical consciousness
title_full “Shit happens”: Forrest Gump and historical consciousness
title_fullStr “Shit happens”: Forrest Gump and historical consciousness
title_full_unstemmed “Shit happens”: Forrest Gump and historical consciousness
title_sort “Shit happens”: Forrest Gump and historical consciousness
author Sobchack, Vivian
author_facet Sobchack, Vivian
author_role author
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Sobchack, Vivian
description In 1994, Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis), the immensely popular film about a simpleton hero triumphing over (by ignoring) the vicissitudes of three decades of recent American history, was second only to Disney’s animated The Lion King at the box office.1 Indeed, that year it not only captured the hearts (if not the minds) of most Americans, but also the major Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. Wondering at its immense popularity, Premiere magazine noted: “Before it was all over, Forrest Gump would gross more than $300 million in the U.S. alone, commanding whatever portion of the national attention span that O.J. Simpson did not. Was the film a paean to serendipity, an attack on the counterculture, an unabashedly romantic tearjerker, a monument to morons, or what Quentin Tarantino called ‘a really funny movie filled with more irony than any Hollywood movie I’ve ever seen in my life’?”2 Many reviewers and most intellectuals did not share in Tarantino’s reading, focusing instead on the film’s contributions to the “dumbing down” of America or on its complex and reactionary sexual politics (which keeps its hero nearly “pure” in sexual, historical, and political terms while aligning its doomed and sacrificial heroine with all the burdens and pain of historical consciousness, political activism, promiscuity, and AIDS).
publishDate 1997
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 1997-01-01
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/8431
url https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/8431
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv por
language por
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/8431/7960
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv Copyright (c) 1997 Vivian Sobchack
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Copyright (c) 1997 Vivian Sobchack
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv UFSC
publisher.none.fl_str_mv UFSC
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Ilha do Desterro A Journal of English Language, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies; No. 32 (1997); 015-026
Ilha do Desterro A Journal of English Language, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies; n. 32 (1997); 015-026
2175-8026
0101-4846
reponame:Ilha do Desterro
instname:Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC)
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reponame_str Ilha do Desterro
collection Ilha do Desterro
repository.name.fl_str_mv Ilha do Desterro - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC)
repository.mail.fl_str_mv ilha@cce.ufsc.br||corseuil@cce.ufsc.br||ilhadodesterro@gmail.com
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