Daily Dialogue — August 2, 2011
Forrest: What’s the matter, Mama?
Mrs. Gump: I’m dyin’, Forrest. [motions to Forrest] C’mon on in and sit down over here.
[Forrest sits on chair beside her]
Forrest: Why are you dyin’, Mama?
Mrs. Gump: It’s my time. It’s just my time. Oh, now. Don’t you be afraid, sweetheart. Death is just a part of life. Something we’re all destined to do. I didn’t know it, but I was destined to be your mama. I did the best I could.
Forrest: You did good, Mama.
Mrs. Gump: Well, I happen to believe you make your own destiny. You have to do the best with what God gave you.
Forrest: What’s my destiny, Mama?
Mrs. Gump: You’re gonna have to figure that out for yourself. Life is a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you’re gonna get.
Forrest (V.O.): Mama always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.
Mrs. Gump: I’m going to miss you, Forrest.
— Forrest (Tom Hanks), Mrs. Gump (Sally Fields), Forrest Gump (1994), screenplay by Eric Roth, based on the novel by Winston Groom
http://movieclips.com/e/ZRKFy/
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is deathbed scenes, suggested by Gabe.
Trivia: The movie’s line “Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” was voted as the #40 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
Dialogue on Dialogue: Here is a scene seemingly with little subtext to it, filled with simple declarations and questions. And yet there is something going on underneath the text. How do you interpret that? What is going on below the surface of the words? And while the “box of chocolates” line is famous, what about this other one: “I’m going to miss you, Forrest.” The irony: She will be dead. Does she mean in heaven? Or simply an acknowledgement in the moment that she is attached to her son?