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Jenny was molested as a child by her dad, and though she loved forrest, when she slept with him, she felt like she molested him because of his condition. This caused her to run away and fall back into self loathing and drugs, thinking she just became her own father. She loved Forrest more than anything, that’s why she stayed away, because she was a ticking time bomb and didn’t want to hurt him

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june@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Not sure why you were downvoted, but this is always how I saw it. Jenny wasn’t the terrible person she’s so often been made out to be, she was deeply broken and dealing with massive trauma, of course she’s going to act irrationally.

She’s an amazing character with so much depth that most people just reduce to ‘that selfish bitch’. It irks me.

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- VaultBoyNewVegas@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It irks me too. The scene where she’s contemplating killing herself while freebird plays isn’t subtle at all about her state of mind and where her life has got her. Yet some people seem incapable of actually understanding that Jenny isn’t hateful to Forrest and is a flawed human being.
  
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  - DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    It’s almost like our society has deeply internalized issues with misogyny or something.
    
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- Gullible@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It comes from a feeling of ownership, where she isn’t considered past gender norms. As society has become less attached to antiquated ideas and more cognizant of trauma, the oversimplification of Jenny’s character has died down. It’s really a pretty neat societal study.
  
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ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Because if you flip the gender roles she’d be considered a rapist and everyone would be up in arms about it

But because sad traumatized girl it’s okay.

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- flicker@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I tell ya what.
  
  You show me an identical situation where the gender roles are flipped, and I’ll have an opinion on it.
  
  For the record, I think Jenny was extremely gross for what she did (I’m uniquely qualified to comment on this) but the entire point of the story is that it’s nuanced and complex. And far more nuanced and complex than "every time someone says a girl is a sympathetic character, I have to change the entire discussion to but men!"
  
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Olhonestjim@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Thank you, that clears it up. I saw the movie several times as a kid, and haven’t watched it in a long time. I never made the connection as to why she left the next morning.

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