I don’t watch as much TV as I used to. It’s not that I think I’m “too good to waste my time on such a brain-numbing blot on the history of popular culture” or anything like that. But I am lazy, and watching a TV show--not just one episode, but an entire show--takes time and dedication. For the time being, the only TV series I plan to follow this year is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and that’s more out of loyalty to Joss Whedon than anything else. Any other TV shows that I decide to watch can wait for a DVD release.
But the pool of season premiers that slowly trickles out this time of year still holds a place in my heart. I used to watch TV, and a lot of it. I could have been described as a couch potato, except even potatoes need to go outside and get sunlight now and then. When I was a kid, a new episode of The Simpsons was always a landmark event. Besides, I really hated going to school, and having a new season to look forward to in September helped soften the summer-ending blow of academia that always coincided with the dead leaves and dropping temperatures.
Of course, that's all in the past now that I'm an adult. Summer vacation can't end if it doesn't start, so the autumn brings with it no new wounds for the lineup of premiers to heal.
Perhaps someday I will gather the energy to watch TV like a champ, and will once again reap the rewards that only September and sometimes October can bring. But for this year, I will have to admire the 2014 season premiers from a distance, my heart aching with the nostalgic echoes of a pleasure that only comes to those watching a hotly-anticipated episode on its original air date.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Forrest Gump: The Novel
Tomorrow, one of my favourite movies will be getting a theatrical re-release to celebrate its 20-year anniversary. I'm speaking, of course, about that beloved Tom Hanks vehicle, Forrest Gump, which beat out such classics as The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction to win the 67th Academy Award for Best Picture. Love it or hate it, there's no denying the movie's near-universal appeal among audiences and critics alike.
But this blog post isn't just about the movie.
Instead, I want to talk briefly about the film's source material. This isn't a review, just a quick paragraph or two to make sure that everyone knows a little about the book behind one of the most enduring characters of 90's cinema. The novel Forrest Gump was written by Winston Groom, published in 1986. I've read it twice, and the sequel (Gump & Co., also written by Groom, and published in 1995) once, and it's interesting for me to realize that the most famous image of Forrest Gump, the one that you are probably picturing right now, is so different from the one that I'm picturing. In the books, Forrest is a very large man (according to a 1994 article in the New York Times, Groom pictured John Goodman in the role) with a surprisingly cynical outlook and a very foul mouth, and although he is on about the same intellectual level as his cinematic counterpart, he does have an impressive aptitude for advanced mathematics. I don't know why Forrest's savant syndrome was cut from the movie--in my opinion, it was of the most interesting aspects of his character.
I am definitely going to see the movie again during its big-screen revival, and I'm sure I won't be alone. But I'm going to ask everyone reading this to at least consider picking up a copy of the book as well. Forrest Gump is a good comic novel, and deserves to be remembered for more than inspiring an award-winning dramatic movie.
But this blog post isn't just about the movie.
Instead, I want to talk briefly about the film's source material. This isn't a review, just a quick paragraph or two to make sure that everyone knows a little about the book behind one of the most enduring characters of 90's cinema. The novel Forrest Gump was written by Winston Groom, published in 1986. I've read it twice, and the sequel (Gump & Co., also written by Groom, and published in 1995) once, and it's interesting for me to realize that the most famous image of Forrest Gump, the one that you are probably picturing right now, is so different from the one that I'm picturing. In the books, Forrest is a very large man (according to a 1994 article in the New York Times, Groom pictured John Goodman in the role) with a surprisingly cynical outlook and a very foul mouth, and although he is on about the same intellectual level as his cinematic counterpart, he does have an impressive aptitude for advanced mathematics. I don't know why Forrest's savant syndrome was cut from the movie--in my opinion, it was of the most interesting aspects of his character.
I am definitely going to see the movie again during its big-screen revival, and I'm sure I won't be alone. But I'm going to ask everyone reading this to at least consider picking up a copy of the book as well. Forrest Gump is a good comic novel, and deserves to be remembered for more than inspiring an award-winning dramatic movie.
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