The character Edward
Bloom in Big Fish is, I think, the type of person that most people
aspire to be. He is good at everything (star baseball player, star football
player, etc.) and he works hard with a smile on his face. His personality is
also very likable, and the sheer imagination that he uses to make his stories
come to life is hardly a con for him.
Throughout
the movie, Bloom meets many people that are much less like him. These people
(such as the giant, the circus owner, and the people of Spectre) are kind of
the darker characters of the film. Of
course, compared to Edward, anyone might seem dark. But these characters are
the ones that are either rejected by society or reject society themselves. Lots
of times, they are just misunderstood characters, and that is why they like
Edward so much – he takes the time to understand and get to know them. I want to talk about two scenes that
illustrate this special communication between Edward and these outsiders: the
scene in which Edward leaves the town with the giant and the scene in which
Edward throws the stick for the werewolf.
In the first scene I
chose, the town is terrified of the so-called man-eating giant that lives in a
cave. They have no idea what to do with him until Edward volunteers to deal
with him. Edward goes and offers, humorously, to sacrifice himself. Once Edward
and the giant talk with each other, they both realize that the giant (whose
name is Carl) is as human as can be and just needs a “bigger city.” Edward
gains a better understanding of the misunderstood giant because he genuinely
gets to know him (when most would not go near him).
In the second scene I
chose, Edward throws a stick for a seemingly dangerous werewolf (who is, in
fact, the circus owner). This situation is a little different from the scene
with the giant as Edward gets to know the circus owner from working for him for
three years. Edward at first meets the werewolf when it jumps on him and
viciously attacks him. However, after a brief confrontation, Edward throws a
stick and realizes that the werewolf wants to play an innocent game of fetch.
I think everyone wants
to be Edward. He’s kind, smart, and extremely talented. The father-son relationship
in Big Fish is obviously what drew Burton to direct this film, but I
cannot help wondering if the allure of exploring how a person such as Edward
works had an even stronger pull.
I chose the same scenes to discuss in my blog, because I also found them to be the most telling of Edward's character and how he affects other people. I found your last paragraph very interesting, that Burton was more drawn to exploring Edward's character than the father and son relationship. I agree with this, but I think exploring his character ties into the father and son relationship. Burton sees himself as the father in this film, because he has just become one himself. Therefore, by exploring Edward's character, he is exploring his own. Becoming a father must be a difficult transition, and to be one I am sure you must have an excellent understanding of yourself to do it well. Burton explores that part of himself, the part that has felt unfinished, and the relationship with his own father. When Burton's father died, they were not close and I guess on some level Burton always knew that he could have fixed that with a phone call, but he did not. I think by doing this film he learned that father and son are always going to be different people and misunderstand certain things. But that does not mean they need to cut each other out of their lives completely.
ReplyDelete-Amy Dupuis
I agree that what makes the outsiders that Edward encounters like him so much is that he does not judge them, rather takes the time to get to know and understand them. I also think that your last idea about Burton being interested in a man like Edward Bloom is really astute and original. There is the obvious tie between the father-son relationships in the movie and in Burton's life, where we see Burton at a similar life intersection as Will Bloom. But one also must take into account that Burton most definitely considers himself an outsider (no matter how mainstream and successful he has become). I think that he sees Edward Bloom as sort of a perfect version of himself. Burton has always been driven to succeed and searching for more out of life than his childhood town was able to offer (suburbia). He also likes to collect different types of people from all walks of life (outsiders) and keep them close to him during his career, just like Edward Bloom did during all of his travels. There are certainly strong connections between Burton and Bloom beyond the father-son dynamic.
ReplyDeleteCyrus Nabipoor