The recent motion capture obsession aside, Robert Zemeckis is one of my favorite directors. Yes, please, if you would be so kind -- cull away!

I have to second this. Robert Zemeckis is amazing, and I suspect he is mainly responsible for the script awesomeness that is Back to the Future.

The feather? Isn't it an obvious metaphor for Gump's question about life; "I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both. Maybe both is happening at the same time."