Sexism In Forrest Gump

The movie, Forrest Gump depicts the story of a man intertwined in significant moments in the United States history. Forrest, an intellectually challenged man relies on his mother to guide him throughout the movie. Due to the popularity of Forrest Gump, it’s underlying sexism is dismissed. The male characters in this film are portrayed through various positions of power whereas the women are portrayed along side them with the sole purpose of improving their lives. Mrs. Gump conforms to a stereotypical housewife role with no ambitions of her own. On the other hand, Jenny, the other female character, does not conform to this role and is consistently punished for her promiscuous actions. The film Forrest Gump has a pattern of gender stratification
Mr. Hancock the school’s principal informs Mrs. Gump that Forrest will need to attend a school for special kids instead of attending public school. Upset with this news Mrs. Gump asks if there’s any way Forrest could attend the school since it was only a mere five points under the standard. Mr. Hancock responds with, “Is there a Mr. Gump, Mrs. Gump?” Mrs. Gump then replies, “He’s on vacation.” This dialogue seems to elude that Mr. Hancock is taking advantage of Mrs. Gump’s circumstance. Since Mrs. Gump’s purpose is to better the life of her son throughout the film it leaves her no other choice other than to have sex with Mr. Hancock. The tone in which Mrs. Gump speaks suggests she does not want to have sex with Mr. Hancock but is so desperate that she concedes. “Your Mother sure does love you son”, confirms that Mr. Hancock abused his power as a principle to capitalize on Mrs. Gump’s desire to have Forrest lead a normal life. When Mrs. Gump has sex with the principal it shows men who watch the movie that it’s okay to use power to have sex with women, even if they don’t want too. This exemplifies how women are mistreated by men and only serve as an object to please
This mindless activity doesn’t let viewers have a deeper meaning of the movie. By observing the movie through a critical lens allows for an underlying theme to be noted. The treatment of women is overlooked when not viewing the movie in a gender focused lens. It’s sad that gender inequality is not seen unless deliberately looked for. This means that the downgrading of women has been embedded in our culture and is considered normal. In our society men use sex to take advantage of women in the workplace. Men abuse their power, similar to Mr. Hancock, to persuade women to have sex with them for promotions. When the film condones the idea that it’s okay to abuse your power and take advantage of women it only makes it more prominent in our