MovieChat Forums > Forrest Gump (1994) Discussion > Missed references?

Missed references?

posted 2 years ago by blindfolded (1651)
3 replies | jump to latest

I was 13 when the movie came out. While I understood right away that Forrest was accidentally-ing himself into American history, I still missed a lot of things that I didn't realize until I was older

-Abbie Hoffman - I was aware of the anti-war counter culture of the time, but thought that was just a generic hippie leader
-Watergate - Had heard of it, knew it had to do with Nixons downfall...but had no idea what it had entailed.
-Imagine - I knew who Lennon was through culture, but didn't really know the song.
-Hurricane Carmen - I just thought Forrest and Lt Dan survived just a random storm.
-Bear Bryant - Didn't know anything about legendary college football history until I was an adult.
-Black Panthers - This movie was my first exposure to them

Were there any references or pieces of history that you missed at first?

[–] CupidDeLocke (279) 2 years ago

I first saw this when I was 4 or 5, so it was my first exposure to a lot of the historical bits. I just learned about Abbie Hoffman a few years ago and am just now hearing about hurricane Carmen.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7818) 2 years ago

Like you I didn't know who Abbie Hoffman was or about the Black Panthers. I was aware of who the Beatles were but didn't really listen to their music. I'm not knowledgeable of sports or the history of hurricanes. Personally I find watching sports kind of boring. And I am an American. l think it also has to do with the fact my dad and mom weren't really into sports either.

[–] BicD (223) 2 years ago

The whole Ping Pong reference was pretty cool. In the spring of 1971, several American ping-pong players traveled to China at the invitation of Chairman Mao. They played games against Chinese players, and were taken to Chinese cultural sites like the Great Wall and the Summer Palace. It was a significant thawing of U.S.-China relations, and led to Nixon visiting mainland China the next year.