Hanks received his second Academy Award in as many years for his portrayal of the title character, a Southern man with a low I.Q. who stumbles, like an unwitting Zelig, through the major American events of the second half of the twentieth century (achieved through Zemeckis’s innovative use of computer-altered stock footage). His innocent experience is contrasted with that of his friend Jenny (Penn), who is all too conscious of her own struggle with the darker side of American life. Forrest’s obliviousness in the presence of “great men” is a sly critique of America’s mythic self-image; Jenny’s stoicism in the face of abuse, drug addiction, and AIDS provides a chilling counterpoint.