gump

Memory has reduced “Forrest Gump” to a few lines of dialogue and the ubiquitous meme of Tom Hanks “running like the wind” blows down the country road outside his home in Greenbow, Ala.

‘Forrest Gump’ 1994 directed by Robert Zemeckis.

“Forrest Gump,” meanwhile, is entirely devoted to making white Americans feel comfortable — about themselves, and about what they represent to the world.

Murray continues: “But to a large extent, “Forrest Gump” isn’t really an expression of values or a guide to a better life.

I cite these excerpts about “Forrest Gump” less out of a matter of echoing them than to observe that at 30, the most alarming part about the movie isn’t its historical or political elision but in the ways present-day America is sinking to meet the film’s mythical version of it.