T.N.G.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES - N.M.
August 29, 2000 (#86)
Greetings
from Russell's Remnant: www.oocities.org/dkone_us
Forrest
Gump and the Perilous Bed
The blockbuster movie Forrest Gump won six Oscars
including Best Actor and Best Movie of the Year. Why did this movie have such a hold on the public? Maybe it had something to do with the
relationship between Forrest and Jenny.
Jenny offered to let Forrest sit next to her on the
school bus when others refused to. This
kindness touched his heart. They were
friends all through school. She would
stay with Forrest rather than go home to her abusive father.
Forrest came to her after she missed school the day her
father was abusing her. He really cared
about her. She was his girlfriend.
While in college he waited in the rain for her to
return. She returned from a date where
upon her date was sexually attacking her.
Forrest beat the man up. She was
indignant. She then brings him inside
out of the rain. She undresses in front
of him. She then takes her bra off and
pulls his hand to her breast. He is
embarrassed and shy.
While in the Army he followed her singing and acting
career. Jenny was being abused by the
male audience in a Memphis strip joint where she played the guitar and sang
nude. Forrest defended her and beat
up the heckler. She was ashamed of his
actions.
Forrest mailed Jenny letters almost everyday while he
was in Vietnam. She never wrote to
him. When he was wounded and evacuated
back to the states the post office returned all his letters to her.
The love of his life did not love him back, but she slept
around with several hippie friends. She
introduced him to her hippie friends and they abused him. Forrest beat up the hippie boyfriend who
physically beat her.
"I would never hurt you Jenny. I want to be your boyfriend," said
Forrest. She ignored him.
He gave her his Congressional Medal of Honor. She asked him why he was so good to
her. He replied, "Because you're
my girl." She left him again
and went away with the abusive hippie.
Lt. Dan wanted to get Forrest laid on New Year's
Eve. He got two party girls to be with
them. Forrest rejected his girl. He didn't want another woman.
He named his shrimp boat "Jenny," the most beautiful name I ever heard.
She didn't write, but I think about her a lot. I think of Jenny all the time.
He made it big in the shrimp industry. He had twelve boats, all named Jenny.
After he became a millionaire, he kept his word and gave
Bubba's momma half his money. When he
was through cutting the grass at the stadium he would think of Jenny.
"And then she was there." said Forrest. She came back to stay with me.
Maybe because she had no place to go or maybe because she was so tired. She slept all the time.
Every day I picked flowers and put them in her room. She taught me how to dance. We were like family. It was the happiest time of my life.
He asked her, "Jenny, will you marry me? ...
I'd make a good husband.
... I'm not a smart man, but I
know what love is." She rejected
him.
She eventually said she loved him and made love to
him. She then left him again while he
was still asleep.
It broke his heart again. He then ran across the country for two
years. “Most of all I thought about
Jenny. I thought about her a lot.”
He finally got a letter from Jenny. She wanted him to come see her in
Savannah. He did. He had a son, but she hadn't told him until
then. She was dying. She had an incurable virus.
Forrest asked Jenny to come home with him. I'll take care of you.
She asked him to marry her. He did.
He fed her in bed.
She said, "I love you," and then she died.
He sat at her grave and cried. I miss you Jenny.
***
Somehow
this movie fooled people. They thought
it was a comedy. It was not. It was a cruel movie about a woman who tried
life elsewhere and found it wanting.
She knew Forrest would love and care for her, he always had. She rejected him even when her life had
turned sour. She only came to him as a
last resort. And finally she came to
him when she was dying. Why did people
identify with this movie so?
“Recompense
injury with kindness.” - Lao-tzu. This
is what Forrest Gump did. Russell
stated that “An initiate can marry any woman.” The initiate Socrates married the meanest woman in town. From the second floor balcony, she would
throw garbage on him as he taught his students in the atrium.”
***
Joseph
Campbell gave many lectures on the symbology in our mythology. One of his best included the following in
regard to love between a man and a woman:
Courtly love
had to do with love, not marriage. The
troubadours debated what happens when this thing called love strikes. There is no such thing as married love. The conflict was between love and honor.
The fair lady
must assure herself that her courtier is a "gentle heart," not just a
"lusty boy" - therefore delay, test and trial: defend a bridge, go on
a quest, or write a poem. Then when
assured, she may grant her "merci," but the lady who accepts service
without at sometime ultimately expressing either conviction and then merci or
rejection is "savage." Many
women were "savage."
In one story,
Guinevere is abducted. Lancelot goes to
her rescue. He goes at such speed that
he rides two horses to death. Then he
had to walk along very slowly in his armor.
A peasant cart comes by him. He
thinks for a moment that he could get to Guinevere faster in the cart, but for
a moment he reflects that for a knight to ride in a cart would be a lose of
honor. He hesitates for three steps
about getting into the cart, but eventually gets in the cart.
He continues
his adventure until he comes to the trial of the perilous bed on
rollers. The knight in armor tries to
get in the bed, but it rolls away.
Finally he jumps into the bed and the bed starts bucking like a bronco
all over the room, banging against the wall.
Then it stops. Then arrows and
bolts come down at him. Finally he is
attacked by a lion. He kills the lion
and falls exhausted in the blood. What
is the meaning of the perilous bed?
This is the masculine experience of the feminine temperament. It doesn't quite make sense, but there it
is. The trial is to hold on, be
patient, don't try to solve it, just endure it - and then all the boons of
beautiful womanhood will be yours.
His next
adventure is crossing the Sword Bridge.
Crossing the fine cutting edge of the Sword Bridge on bare hands and
knees as you follow your bliss or quest.
Having completed these two tests, he has now disenchanted the castle in
which Guinevere is a captive. He
comes in to receive her greeting and gratitude, and she is cold as ice. Why?
Because he hesitated for three steps before getting on the cart. How did she know? She's the goddess - women know these things. Joseph Campbell on "Courtly Love"
Alice
Bailey states, “the three phases of womanhood in mythology are virgin, mature
woman and crone. The treacherous
heart and a lying tongue are the natural weapons of the female sex. Women are irresistible, but on the other
hand, they are the cause of men's woes.
The soft man and hard woman were unpleasant realities to the Greeks.”
***
Most
women should have their butts kicked by their husband. If women knew their true role in
the
scheme of things, they would stop a lot of the crap they dish out. Russell Whitesell
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