MovieChat Forums > Forrest Gump (1994) Discussion > Why was Jenny's strip club nudity necess...

Why was Jenny's strip club nudity necessary?


Okay, I am not a huge prude when it comes to nudity in film. I realize there are a lot of films where it serves a purpose. I would prefer it not be in films at all, but I can easily tolerate it if it isn't gratuitous or there was some purpose to it. I realize that Jenny's nudity in the strip club scene was very limited and was probably one of the most tame nude scenes ever, but I find it also to be one of the most disturbing and unnecessary nude scenes in any film ever. Let me explain.....

1) Forrest Gump is a family film. Everybody has seen it. It is very popular. This movie would have been just as good minus the nudity. Next time you watch Forrest Gump, and you get to the strip club scene, think about how much of a family film this is, and the nudity in that scene will seem over the top and a little too much when thinking in that context. It is not like this is an R rated film that has nude women as one of its main themes.

2) Why was it necessary for us to see Jenny's bare butt during this scene? The previous stripper who is on stage before her is wearing a full bikini bottom and it is implied she is topless but we don't see anything. That is all that is necessary to get the point across in a family film like this. It was obvious to us that Jenny was topless and covering herself with a guitar. But they had to go further and show us that shot from behind showing part of her thong "covered" butt crack sitting on a stool. That shot was way too long by the way. But then that wasn't enough . They had to show us her entire bare butt in another scene when she is storming off the stage. I can understand that maybe they wanted to show us she was in only a thong to show her vulnerability in this scene which is fine. But we got the point already when they showed the behind shot when she was still sitting and singing. Why was the next scene where she storms off the stage necessay? Not only do we see more of her butt here in a gratuitous manner, but we see a lot of side boob, plus she is standing up and walking here while appearing to be completely naked if your eyes miss the flesh colored thong. Way too gratuitous for a family film.

3) In the Alabama football shower room scenes they go through great lengths to make sure no male bare butts are shown in the background. Also, when Forrest has a bandaged butt later, we see a quick fuzzy glimpse of his crack. It is obvious that this movie was careful to hide any male butt nudity. So why did we get a nice long look at Jenny's butt earlier?

4) Because of what I mention in points 1 and 3 especially, I have always felt sorry for this actress and I have always wondered if she was pressured into doing that scene only to regret it later. This actress has stated publicly that she doesn't like nude scenes and I have noticed that her other nude scenes are very quick and tasteful and tend to be limited to obscure movies that most people won't see other than a small percentage of women. Forrest Gump has shown her bare butt to the entire world for no reason. Also , I really hope they respected her privacy during shooting that scene. During the part where she storms off the stage naked you only see the heads of four men in the audience so I really hope most of the room was cleared out when she had to get off the stool and walk naked.

5) Jenny was abused as a child. By showing her naked body as an adult is seems they are putting the joke on her instead of her father. Just seems disturbing and exploitative in my opinion.

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Okay, I am not a huge prude when it comes to nudity in film.

ok
I realize there are a lot of films where it serves a purpose.

ofc
I would prefer it not be in films at all,

wait what?
but I can easily tolerate it if it isn't gratuitous or there was some purpose to it.

how tolerable of you
I realize that Jenny's nudity in the strip club scene was very limited and was probably one of the most tame nude scenes ever,

yes it was so tamed it lated around 2 secs wasn't even nudity... go figure
but I find it also to be one of the most disturbing and unnecessary nude scenes in any film ever.

what?! lol

friend, you are a HUGE GIGANTIC prude if you have a problem with Jenny's scene.

1 - wait, Forrest Gump is a family film? also, there is no nudity.

2 - she had fallen low in her life, she was damaged, broken. again no nudity there. have you ever went to the beach or something?

3 - because there was no need to show Forrest's butt, he was just acting stupidly innocent again. No porpoise for it. sooo you are complaining because you wanted to see Tom Hanks butt?

4 - I'm sure she got a nice check, besides all the cast from baywatch showed more skin. again no nudity in either situations. And she wasn't naked so...

5 - she was abused as a child and let others abuse her as an adult because of it...if you were paying attention to the movie instead of the thong and the side boob you would get it.

you sound like the disturbed one here... complaining about a thong and a side boob?
btw did you had any problem with forrest's mom "sexy time" offscreen? or any of the bullet wounds or dead bodies?

Sean Bean has not died from Lightsaber related issues yet...just saying

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I think it was quite necessary in telling Jennys story. Think about it, Forrest is standing there, watching her sing so happy that she made it as a singer playing the guitar, the next shot is we can see she is naked which shows she hasnt "made it" at all and its sad and she is miserable and she just kinda wants to die.

Its not inapropriate, and as for this being a family film, its a 12. 12 year olds know what a naked body looks like and there was nothing pornographic about the scene.

If you dont like nudity in this film, then dont watch it if you are so disturbed by it.

I think it was tastefully done and an important plot point in Jenny's story.

No power in the verse can stop me

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I totally agree with above. I think it's one of those fantasy vs. reality scenes.

The "fantasy" is there's Jenny, on stage with her guitar, singing peaceful folk songs like she'd always dreamed. That's what he sees in that moment.

The reality is she's singing topless in a thong at a strip club. And her running off stage kind of... "breaks" that fantasy. Now he sees it was just a front and we see what's really going on.

I do also have to agree with a point made by a lot of other posters regarding FG being a "family" movie.

a) Mrs. Gump bangs the school principal -- and we hear it -- to get Forrest admitted.

b) Forrest sees Jenny making out in the car in college. He then goes into her dorm room and comes to fruition on her roommate's bathrobe while touching her boob.

c) They explain Jenny getting kicked out of college for nudie pics that appeared -- among other visible nudie pics -- in Playboy, while Forrest thumbs through the magazine.

d) Jenny and Forrest have sex on screen -- we can see Jenny take her shirt off, even.

...and these are just the sexual scenes, never mind the scenes with drug usage.

I absolutely love this movie and no part of it is offensive to me whatsoever, but I certainly wouldn't call it a "family movie."

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I didn't even bother to read your post. I skimmed it, but I didn't read it.

It was done to show how essentially she was lost. She wanted to be a singer, and in order to be that, she did whatever she had to do. She didn't care.

To me it's as important of a detail as showing her drug use to show how her life had no real direction and while you say it was a joke on her and not her father, it was important to show that BECAUSE of what her father did, she didn't value herself.

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Why was Jenny's strip club nudity necessary?




I don't know, but I certainly enjoyed it...







Is very bad to steal Jobu's rum. Is very bad.

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[deleted]

The truth?

Nudity is NEVER necessary.

It's just done for the corruption of those making the films...those that think it up and for the love of money. They think the film will make more money if a woman takes her clothes off. I'm sure none get into acting so they can be nude, they do it because acting is fun. The corruption and wickedness of those making films are the ones who twist it to make it where women have to choose how successful they want to be by how much they are willing to do on screen.

It just highlights the character of those in this country.

Übung macht den Meister

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lol this guy is a troll.

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lol are you serious?

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It's not a family film. The movie deals with very adult issues.

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