Robert Zemeckis’ 1994 masterwork Forrest Gump is known for many things. In an extremely competitive year for film, it beat out both Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption in the contentious race for Best Picture. Tom Hanks also took home a gold statue that year, for his unforgettable portrayal of a mentally challenged man who serves in Vietnam, runs far more than a marathon across the country, and drinks fourteen Dr. Peppers in one sitting. In terms of its characters, its story, and the indelible legacy it has left on cinema at large, Forrest Gump is definitely no ordinary picture.

There is something else, though, that the film has come to be remembered for over recent years. That is, for crafting one of cinema’s most nefarious “villains.” By this, we refer to none other than Jenny Curran, played by the talented Robin Wright.

Jenny is clearly not presented as the antagonist of Forrest Gump. She is a lifelong friend of Forrest’s and has been shown to be one of the few people who loves and supports him for who he is. Despite this, her character has seemed to amass a fiery storm of hatred over the internet recently. One Reddit user called her “one of the worst villains in all of cinema.” A silver-tongued member of the red-pill community referred to her as “a selfish, solipsistic, loose, no-morals kind of girl.” The deeper one dives into the subject of Jenny, the more unfavorable words one is bound to find on her.

Although the above-mentioned are only some of the most extreme insults hurled at Jenny’s character, taken from the darkest (and most misogynistic) corners of the internet, the debate over her villain status still remains quite the heated one across the film community. Regardless of how one chooses to interpret Forrest Gump and Jenny’s overall moral character, here are some reasons we believe Jenny may be villainized unfairly.

Related:Tom Hanks Discusses 'Inauthenticity' Of Playing a Gay Character in Philadelphia

Jenny is a Survivor

forrest gump forrest and jenny
Paramount Pictures

Unlike Forrest, who grew up in a loving home, Jenny was physically and sexually abused by her own father as a child. Since the film is told through Forrest’s perspective, we only get limited glimpses of this, but it’s more than apparent that she was trapped in a horrific cycle. From far away, Forrest observes that Jenny’s father was always “kissing and touching” Jenny and her sisters. Forrest mistakes these actions for love because, to him, that is what love looks like. But, as viewers, we are well aware of all the suffering that Jenny was forced to endure, to the point where she felt she had no choice but to run away.

This immense trauma that Jenny suffered informs not just every decision she makes throughout the film, but also how she perceives and experiences love. Unlike Forrest, whose love for Jenny is pure and boundless, Jenny has a much more complicated relationship with the emotion, and with feelings of worthiness in general. Quite simply, Jenny does not feel she deserves to be loved — at least, not in the way that Forrest is ready to love her.

This can also explain why Jenny repeatedly runs away from Forrest. With her total lack of self-esteem, Jenny feels that she needs to abandon Forrest in order to protect him. Even if she could accept him totally for who he is, she could not understand why he would do the same for her.

Her Intentions Were in the Right Place

Jenny.forrest
Paramount Pictures Studios

It’s hard to argue that, as much love as she showed him, Jenny also caused Forrest a lot of hurt over the years. She leaves Forrest at those points when he is most vulnerable, only to return when she needs him most. Due to these troubling patterns of behavior, and because she is fully aware that Forrest will never reject her, many say that Jenny never really cared for Forrest at all — at least not on a deep or meaningful level.

But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Jenny loves Forrest wholly and unconditionally. When Forrest is pushed into making a speech at the capitol, Jenny literally runs through water and hundreds of thousands of people to reunite with him, in one of the film’s most beautiful and touching scenes. It goes without saying that Jenny could have easily ignored Forrest in this moment, and many others. But, when given the opportunity to see him after years-long estrangement, Jenny shows nothing but ecstasy when hugging Forrest again for the first time. It’s clear that she truly cares for and wants what's best for Forrest, but in the moment cannot escape the trap of her own struggles.

Related:Tom Hanks Reunites With Forrest Gump Team After Three Decades For New Film

We Only Got to See a Limited Version of Jenny

Jenny.waitress.FG
Paramount Pictures Studios

As mentioned earlier, the film is told entirely through Forrest’s perspective. In this way, we only get to see those parts of Jenny that are relevant to him —- we have no way of ever knowing her interior thoughts, or why exactly she made those decisions that were most harmful to Forrest.

Jenny is also a representative of her time. As columnist Sonny Bunch writes, “So of course Jenny is terrible. She represents a terrible time.” Jenny is what exists on the other side of Forrest’s American Dream — and that’s not her fault. Just as we do for more favorable characters like Lieutenant Dan, who suffered very similar abuses in the past, we should learn to go a bit easier on Jenny. Unlike Forrest, she never got to see the light of what could have been.