Forrest's low I.Q. didn't cause any problems for him, other than the way callous people treated him because of their own assumptions and bigotry. So after Gump's long and improbable journey the thing he's taken away from it is that the best way to get around the ugliness of the world is to be "smart"? This is the message of the film? Stupid isn't as stupid does, rather it is how you're made to feel by the worst people you encounter, so if you know what's good for you don't be something they can ridicule out of cruelty and ignorance: be "normal"...whatever in the fart THAT is.
You said it yourself, didn't you? Some people treated him callously because they were bigoted and insensitive. And, let's be honest, he dodged a few bullets, figuratively and otherwise. The fact that he got past it all doesn't really change the fact that it caused him hardships. Isn't that reason enough to be happy for his son?
Neither the film nor the character suggests that being smart is the "best" way to live a good life, but I'd say it helps in a number of important ways. The fact that
he overcame his own disability with honesty and (forgive me, please...) gumption is wonderful, but it doesn't change the natural reaction of a parent to want the best for their child in all things. Indifference or perfect contentment with a mental diability would be bizarre, to my mind.
Let's use another analogy: if an immigrant comes to America and pulls themself up by their own bootstraps, goes into business and becomes a success with no formal education...can they be proud of that fact and still want their children to get a degree? Happens all the time, and it strikes me as pretty reasonable. We're all okay with personal struggle when it's our own, or when it's in the rearview mirror and has helped us build a little character, but when thinking of a loved one's future, caution tends to prevail.
I also think there's perhaps a degree to which one must be a parent to fully "get" this scene. I'm not a parent, of course, though I am the oldest of seven children and am technically old enough to have fathered my youngest sibling, so I sometimes feel like I have a very tiny inkling of what it must be like. Presumptuous of me, maybe, but I think this is a discussion that would only take place very often among non-parents. I don't mean to suggest this in lieu of an argument, of course, or to undercut someone's opinion based on this alone, but I do think it factors in.
You're usually a much better arguer than that.
Thanks...I think?
So you are comparing military service and a World War to the way somebody is born and has zero control over from the instant they emerge from the womb? How do these things equate?
They don't equate; it's simply an analogy for something a person can be glad happened, or even proud of, but still not wish on their loved ones. We've all been through some tough things and many of us would say that they made us who we are and are, in a way, glad they happened. But when faced with a choice for someone we care about, nearly all of us would choose the easiest existence for them.
Forrest Gump treats every single person he encountered on his journey the same open and honest way, it didn't matter if they were poor or rich or famous or what race or creed they were or if he knew them his whole life or met them as strangers on a bench waiting for a bus. Because of this attitude the universe rewards him time and time again, no matter how stupid and cruel the other people around him are. But when it comes to his own son...oh, I hope he's not a retard. Terrific. Lesson learned.
I think there's a difference between actively hoping he isn't mentally handicapped and simply being happy when he learns he isn't.
I think it's pretty clear that the movie's core message is not that Forrest treats people openly and honestly merely because he's simple, but because he's a good person. The movie isn't suggesting that lack of intelligence equates to goodness, or that intelligence equates to badness; just that there's more to life than how smart you are, and that you don't have to be smart to understand how to treat people. Intelligence is still a good thing, just not the only thing.
Looked at this way, Forrest's happiness near the end would seem to fit just fine. His son's intelligence doesn't undercut the film's message, because the film's message isn't lowering the value of intelligence as much as it's elevating basic decency.