Editing Forrest Gump (section)

=== Feather ===

{{Quote box |width=30em|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|quote="I don't want to sound like a bad version of 'the child within'. But the childlike innocence of Forrest Gump is what we all once had. It's an emotional journey. You laugh and cry. It does what movies are supposed to do: make you feel alive."|source=—producer [[Wendy Finerman]]<ref name="WorldTime" />}}

Various interpretations have been suggested for the feather present at the opening and conclusion of the film. Sarah Lyall of ''The New York Times'' noted several suggestions made about the feather: "Does the white feather symbolize ''[[The Unbearable Lightness of Being]]''? Forrest Gump's impaired intellect? The randomness of experience?"<ref name="LyallFeather">{{cite news |last=Lyall |first=Sarah |title=It's 'Forrest Gump' vs. Harrumph |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/31/weekinreview/it-s-forrest-gump-vs-harrumph.html |work=The New York Times |date=July 31, 1994 |access-date=October 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110801025155/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/31/weekinreview/it-s-forrest-gump-vs-harrumph.html |archive-date=August 1, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Hanks interpreted the feather as: "Our destiny is only defined by how we deal with the chance elements to our life and that's kind of the embodiment of the feather as it comes in. Here is this thing that can land anywhere and that it lands at your feet. It has theological implications that are really huge."<ref name="DVDEyes3">{{cite video|title=Forrest Gump-(Through the eyes of Forrest Gump)|medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures]]|time=23:27|date=August 28, 2001}}</ref> Sally Field compared the feather to fate, saying: "It blows in the wind and just touches down here or there. Was it planned or was it just perchance?"<ref name="DVDEyes4">{{cite video|title=Forrest Gump-(Through the eyes of Forrest Gump)|medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures]]|time=23:57|date=August 28, 2001}}</ref> Visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston compared the feather to an abstract painting: "It can mean so many things to so many different people."<ref name="DVDEyes5">{{cite video|title=Forrest Gump-(Through the eyes of Forrest Gump)|medium=DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures]]|time=26:29|date=August 28, 2001}}</ref>