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0 pointsasveikau12y ago0 comments

I wonder if it's the younger YN crowd that is not seeing the connection? I was pretty young when I saw that movie in 1994, but it never occurred to me that it could be anything other than AIDS; the reference was completely unambiguous. I guess things had changed in the 12 years between the coinage of "AIDS" and that movie, but it still resembled the way people talked about it, and I think the memory of not knowing what it was was still fresh in the culture.

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9 comments · 7 top-level

scrumper12y ago· 2 in thread

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.

yummyfajitas12y ago

Founding the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co is not a historical reference.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

scrumper12y ago

Ah, thanks. Got another example I can swap it for? Haven't seen the film in at least a decade.

3 more replies

afterburner12y ago

It's probably easier to spot if you're older because absolutely everything in that movie screams reference to past cultural artifact. So you'd be looking for that in every detail. A younger person would be more likely to take the plot elements at "face value", as original or as standard story tropes.

That said I was around 15 at the time I saw it so recent history probably had a lot to do with it. AIDS was in the news a lot more in the 90s.

heywire12y ago

I would have been 13 at that time, and I have the same thoughts. It was very clear to me what it was they were suggesting.

lrei12y ago

I saw the movie only a few years ago in my early twenties and I didn't get it. It never occurred to me 'not knowing what it is' meant AIDS back then. I'm not North American so the reference was totally lost on me. Also I didn't think it was an important detail and I never thought about it.

michael_nielsen12y ago

Nice catch. Additional data point: I saw it when it came out, and it was obvious it was AIDS. I guess that's a piece of history that's gradually fading now.

enraged_camel12y ago

I think it being a movie may have caused people to overlook the reference. I can see how easy it would be to think that Jenny's mystery disease is actually just a made-up plot device to move the story forward, as opposed to a reference to a real disease. I only caught it because my parents are doctors and I happened to be watching it with them - I asked them if she had AIDS and they said that's probably what it was.

eshvk12y ago

It could be a cultural thing also. I watched the movie in Africa as a kid. AIDS was everywhere, the reference in the movie immediately jumped at me.

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