Tweet
As most of you know, I'm on the fence and go back and forth on this entire ending scenario. That said, I think that especially for the doubters I should probably share some things I've potentially figured out. Some of you I have shared this with privately or perhaps as a comment on a not entirely related thread on here.
In the last scrapbook before it was found, Forrest mentions meeting Wallace Beery when Forrest was 12 years old. Wallace Beery is an actor. In 1942, when Forrest was 12 years old, Wallace Beery starred in one major motion picture released that year. It was titled "Jackass Mail." Also in that scrapbook, Forrest mentions Skippy building a wooden trap for a bear and it get broken into bits. Cue Jack: "The blaze was broken."
The last film Wallace Beery starred in before his death was called "Big Jack" and he played the role of Big Jack.
Now, this scrapbook would only have made sense to Jack if he figured out how to read them, because it made no sense to me until Jack released his name. Trust me, I studied all kinds of things about Wallace Beery, but because I was not the audience for that story it simply made no sense why he would be writing about Wallace Beery getting angry at him when he was 12.
Had Forrest not mentioned his age when he encountered (fictionally?) Wallace Beery, then we could chalk this up to coincidence. But he mentions a year that we can use to look at Wallace Beery on Wikipedia and see that Forrest was indeed responding or flagging down someone named Jack very shortly before it was announced found. That was Forrest's last scrapbook. I firmly believe that he was using scrapbooks to attempt communication or to confirm for at least Jack that he was on the correct track, especially with the broken shattered wood of Skippy's grizzly bear trap made of two inch logs. A two inch log would never trap a grizzly bear, as we all know. Most adult humans could snap a two inch pine limb with their hands or perhaps using their knee. A grizzly bear would have zero concerns with a two inch bit of pine.
When you couple the "Jackass Mail" film with the "Big Jack" film and then add in Forrest's use of that infamous and politically incorrect word that Jack got in trouble for using... it sure seems to me that Forrest was indeed signaling to someone named Jack. That the finder is later revealed to be named Jack makes sense to me. It's not a conspiracy type thing. Jack did figure it out. Forrest agreed with him in the scrapbook that something was broken (Skippy's ridiculous grizzly bear trap).
To keep conspiracy folks and the other half of my thoughts happy, maybe I'll write a post why it maybe wasn't Jack. But knowing what we know now about the finder's name, that Wallace Beery scrapbook mention makes a lot of sense to me. It's quite possible that Forrest was pushing everyone who was close to finding it along to end the chase. Because I don't know anyone else who was close, I can't quite examine scrapbook contexts to see if it was them.
Also, I don't have access to the scrapbooks so I have to use my memory on this sort of thing.
In the last scrapbook before it was found, Forrest mentions meeting Wallace Beery when Forrest was 12 years old. Wallace Beery is an actor. In 1942, when Forrest was 12 years old, Wallace Beery starred in one major motion picture released that year. It was titled "Jackass Mail." Also in that scrapbook, Forrest mentions Skippy building a wooden trap for a bear and it get broken into bits. Cue Jack: "The blaze was broken."
The last film Wallace Beery starred in before his death was called "Big Jack" and he played the role of Big Jack.
Now, this scrapbook would only have made sense to Jack if he figured out how to read them, because it made no sense to me until Jack released his name. Trust me, I studied all kinds of things about Wallace Beery, but because I was not the audience for that story it simply made no sense why he would be writing about Wallace Beery getting angry at him when he was 12.
Had Forrest not mentioned his age when he encountered (fictionally?) Wallace Beery, then we could chalk this up to coincidence. But he mentions a year that we can use to look at Wallace Beery on Wikipedia and see that Forrest was indeed responding or flagging down someone named Jack very shortly before it was announced found. That was Forrest's last scrapbook. I firmly believe that he was using scrapbooks to attempt communication or to confirm for at least Jack that he was on the correct track, especially with the broken shattered wood of Skippy's grizzly bear trap made of two inch logs. A two inch log would never trap a grizzly bear, as we all know. Most adult humans could snap a two inch pine limb with their hands or perhaps using their knee. A grizzly bear would have zero concerns with a two inch bit of pine.
When you couple the "Jackass Mail" film with the "Big Jack" film and then add in Forrest's use of that infamous and politically incorrect word that Jack got in trouble for using... it sure seems to me that Forrest was indeed signaling to someone named Jack. That the finder is later revealed to be named Jack makes sense to me. It's not a conspiracy type thing. Jack did figure it out. Forrest agreed with him in the scrapbook that something was broken (Skippy's ridiculous grizzly bear trap).
To keep conspiracy folks and the other half of my thoughts happy, maybe I'll write a post why it maybe wasn't Jack. But knowing what we know now about the finder's name, that Wallace Beery scrapbook mention makes a lot of sense to me. It's quite possible that Forrest was pushing everyone who was close to finding it along to end the chase. Because I don't know anyone else who was close, I can't quite examine scrapbook contexts to see if it was them.
Also, I don't have access to the scrapbooks so I have to use my memory on this sort of thing.
Comment