Tim Burton’s film Big Fish, based on the novel by Daniel Wallace, is one of my top ten favorites of all time. I recently shared it with my kids who love everything Burton. Their favorite Christmas movie is The Nightmare Before Christmas which means I’m either really rocking this parenting thing or I’m raising warped little cynics.
But I love Big Fish above all others. It has all the quirky, fantastical, and sometimes dark elements of a typical Burton film while diving even deeper into rich themes like family, love, and death. But what has always struck me the about Big Fish is what the film shows us about story.
One of my pet peeves is hearing people say, “such-and-such is JUST a story” whenever a book or film is critiqued. Yes, it’s a story but not JUST a story. Nothing is just a story. Story is powerful. One of the most powerful tools we have. And its power can be terrifying when the story is crafted to deceive and manipulate. Such stories are what got us Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton as presidential nominees. These campaigns speak powerful stories, but the stories are lies.
The power of story is why the disabled community is up in arms over the new film Me Before You. Yes, it’s a fiction, but the story it tells is that unless your body performs like everyone else’s, your life isn’t worth living. It’s just a story, but one that’s dangerous and deadly. It’s a lie and that’s why people are speaking the truth to say, being in a wheelchair doesn’t make my life any less valuable.
But truth is not the same as facts. And just as a fiction can tell a lie, fiction can also speak powerful truth. And that’s the heart of Big Fish.
If you’ve never seen Big Fish well just stop right here and remedy that. If you have then you’ll remember that the plots follows the life of Edward Bloom, a larger-than-life Southerner who is dying of cancer. Edward spins yarns about his life for his daughter-in-law Josephine during a visit from his estranged son, Will, who is about to become a father himself.
Edward Bloom’s tales are brought to life as he tells them through colorful flashbacks, but they are fantastical. And yet….are they false? What is it that makes a story true? To Will, his father’s stories are “lies,” “fictions.” He desperately wants to know the facts about his father and thinks Edward is hiding behind this facade of tall tales.
The way Will categorizes the world into fact vs. fiction causes him to misunderstand his dad. He misses the concept that Edward is sharing truths, not facts. He is sharing who he really is through his fanciful renderings of the past.
When Edward tells Josephine about how he met Will’s mother Sandra and wooed her, his story is over-the-top incredible. It includes love at first sight, months of servitude to a werewolf circus master to discover her name, larger-than-life romantic gestures, a public brawl with Sandra’s then fiance, and taking on unbelievable military missions during WWII to speed his return back to her.
The details are impossible. It couldn’t happened just how he told it. But Edward wasn’t thinking about the details, he was trying to explain his love for his wife. He would have worked as a slave for a werewolf for months in order to have finally met Sandra. He would have planted a field of daffodils for her. He would have taken on any mission, no matter how perilous, if only he could get back to the woman he loved. He was telling the truth by embellishing the facts.
Will’s estrangement from his father began over a fight at Will and Josephine’s wedding. Will was upset that Edward told a story about the day of Will’s birth–thinking it was an attempt to steal the spotlight from the bride and groom. Edward’s tall tale revolved around the catching of a legendary fish in a river–a fish that had swallowed his wedding ring–to explain why he couldn’t be at the birth.
During his final visit with his dad, Edward’s doctor (and friend of the family) tells Will what really happened the day he was born.
Dr. Bennett: Did your father ever tell you about the day you were born?
Will Bloom: A thousand times. He caught an uncatchable fish.
Dr. Bennett: Not that one. The real story. Did he ever tell you that?
Will Bloom: No.
Dr. Bennett: Your mother came in about three in the afternoon. Her neighbor drove her, on account of your father was on business in Wichita. You were born a week early, but there were no complications. It was a perfect delivery. Now, your father was sorry to miss it, but it wasn’t the custom for the men to be in the room for deliveries then, so I can’t see as it would have been much different had he been there. And that’s the real story of how you were born. Not very exciting, is it? And I suppose if I had to choose between the true version and an elaborate one involving a fish and a wedding ring, I might choose the fancy version. But that’s just me.
Will remains unconvinced, but this theme of his father and the fish in the river keeps coming up.
When Will tries to discuss Edward’s inevitable death with him, Edward dismisses his concerns saying, “This isn’t how I go.” He reminds Will of a story he told him many times about seeing an image of his death in a witch’s glass eye when he was a little boy. When Will asks for details, Edward says, “Surprise ending. Wouldn’t want to ruin it for ya.”
It is a surprise ending and so beautiful. While Sandra and Josephine get some rest, Will sits with Edward in the hospital and it becomes clear that Edward is in his final minutes on earth. He asks Will to tell him the story of how he dies. Will is confused and doesn’t know what to say, but he decides to humor this dying man and he begins to make up a story by Edward’s hospital bed.
In the story Will tells, he and his father make a dramatic break from the hospital and head for the river. When they arrive everyone from all the stories Edward has told is there, cheering, and greeting Edward as Will carries him down the bank to the river. Edward cheerfully bids them farewell, kisses Sandra, and jumps into the water to become the big fish of his tale. “That’s it. Exactly,” Edward whispers before passing out of this life in his hospital bed.
In his final moments, father and son understand each other. They are united by story. While Edward died a very uninteresting death in the hospital, something much more significant was happening. He was bidding farewell to this world while in the arms of his son and courageously accepting his death and the new life to come, just as Will told in his fiction about his father’s death.
And Edward’s funeral that follows is a reflection of Will’s tale. Everyone is swapping stories Edward had told them, laughing, hugging, and comforting each other. And in the final scene Will with his young son, now born, is passing on Edward’s tales to become part of family legend. Despite being parted by death, Will and Edward are still connected by the stories and Edward’s grandson will know him through the same tales.
If you can get through the final 10 minutes of the film dry-eyed, you’re a heartless monster. There is such a poignant depiction of reconciliation and love between a father and son that death cannot marr or lessen. And it’s such a hopeful and joyful ending, a reminder that even death is no match for a good story when that story is created from love.
Big Fish shows us that story is what makes life colorful. And that every person transcends the mere dates and details of his/her life. But most of all, Big Fish shows us that story can bind us together to reveal the truth and that often the most powerful thing we can share is our story.
So let’s take stories seriously. Nothing is just a story. But let’s be sure that the stories we tell and the stories we believe are full of truth, even when they’re fictions.
So good. I have long loved Big Fish and Ewan McGregor’s masterful performance. Loved this post!
Thanks, Nicole! Ewan McGregor is great in it!
I am always frustrated when Christians in general, and Catholics especially, say the Bible is “just a book” when it doesn’t support their opinions! Jesus went to Hebrew school, I’m sure, He could have written His own autobiography if He liked. He chose to be passed on in a story we are now all a part of for a reason. I also hear people say “the Bible is just a fairy tale”, to which I say, ” You don’t “get” either one.”
“He chose to be passed on in a story we are now all a part of for a reason.” Love that.
I can’t even get through your recap dry eyed. I’m glad we own this movie, I think I need to watch it tonight!
Do it! <3
I always enjoy your posts. This one not only inspired me to get busy writing again, it has earned you another entry in my quotes collection. 😉
Aw, thanks, Pat!
I’d forgotten all about that movie. Such a great critique / insight. Have y’all seen Zootopia? We finally just saw it today. It’s got a great story I was not expecting.
We haven’t seen it yet, but we want to! The trailer looked great!
I can’t get through the movie without a full on happy sob, and I couldn’t get through your beautiful description of it without tears. Wonderfully written, thank you Haley! Do you know if it is still on Netflix?
I can’t get through the movie without tears, too! The scene with Sandra and Edward in the bathtub KILLS ME. “I don’t think I’m ever gonna dry out.” Old people in love. Gets me EVERY TIME. Not sure if it’s still on Netflix! We have a copy.
Big Fish is one of our favorites, too! It’s probably time to watch it again.
It’s always time to re-watch! <3
“…full of truth, even when they’re fictions.” YES! Never would have put it like this but I love it so much.
<3
1. Did you know Thomas and Kellie have been to Specter? (Spectre?)
2. How bad is Ewan MacGregor’s Southern accent? So bad! (But not enough to stop us loving the movie…)
1. I SAW THAT ON FB! So jealous. So cool.
2. SO BAD! So terribly bad. But Albert Finney’s was pretty good!
If you loved the movie, you should come to The Therry Dramatic Society South Australian Premiere of Big Fish: The Musical. Opening night tonight, Thursday 9 June season until Saturday June 18th.
Tickets on sale via: https://www.trybooking.com/Booking/BookingEventSummary.aspx?eid=175120
Just heard that there’s a musical version! If only I could just snap my fingers and get a plane ticket to Australia, lol
This was the first movie my husband and I saw when we were dating and is one of the few we own. Can always re-watch it! Great post, Haley
Maybe the first movie Daniel took me to, too! I remember seeing Big Fish and then going to a park to walk in the moonlight. Great date!
I’m reminded of this quote from the opening of a lesser known Jim Henson series:
“When people told themselves their past with stories, explained their present with stories, foretold the future with stories, the best place by the fire was kept for… The Storyteller.”
I think people who can masterfully recite or put to paper an encompassing story which tells truths about life, death and morality through the lens of fiction tend to also have a closer connection to the spiritual as well. Why? Probably because God is the one telling OUR stories. The moment he stops telling it or knowing it, we would cease to exist completely.
After all, in the beginning was the WORD. Obviously the Word was manifest in creation as Christ but, it is interesting that the Word is how the world was created.
Very insightful.
I like this:
“I think people who can masterfully recite or put to paper an encompassing story which tells truths about life, death and morality through the lens of fiction tend to also have a closer connection to the spiritual as well.”
However please just remember this anytime anyone (not saying you, I don’t know you or if you say this!) says something negative about the industry of or the people who live, work, or tell stories in Hollywood. We’re not bad people! 🙂 Sure not every movie is interested in seeking the depths of humanity in their storytelling, but for those that do try to look deeper into the human experience (i.e. maybe You Before Me? I haven’t seen it so I don’t know, but since it does touch on death) – it is because the writer and makers of the film have also usually thought deeply into the spirituality of its subject matter.
I haven’t seen Big Fish since it originally came out, but I wasn’t a fan. I’m someone who likes the truth and only really understands the truth. I see beauty in the truth as it is; I don’t need to see an embellished fictionalized version of a story in order to appreciate it for its meaning. So Big Fish rather annoyed me, ha ha. 🙂
Now I do also appreciate story (my husband is a writer and we’re currently co-writing a script…based on a true story… 🙂 ) and the elements that make up a story and how deep truths can be taught through entertainment. I get that. But there a difference between understanding a story as purely fictional – and KNOWING that you’re hearing an embellished re-telling of a true story…and that you can later research to find out the actual story if desired.
But if like in Big Fish, the truth is only told in a fictionalized version without also explaining the truth (i.e. how Will had never heard his true birth story, only the fake version of it), then the appreciation of the half fiction/half truth story is lost. If we don’t have a frame of reference to understand the truth of a story – then we lose the ability to know what is real and what isn’t.
How can you ever trust a person if you never know if what they are telling you is the truth, or what they want to be the truth?
I haven’t seen the movie in a long time so who knows if I’d cry now (motherhood turned into a crazy weepy person 🙂 ), but I took Big Fish more seriously than most, and it was that seriousness that led me NOT to like it. For the exact reason you mentioned at the end of this post – because if we want to tell and hear stories that are full of truth, then we need to be sure to know what that actual truth is.
EXACTLY. You’ve put your finger on what I’ve loved about this film ever since the first time I saw it. (And oh, that scene in the bathtub — I’m always a sobbing mess right there.)
First of all, I love your blog. Seriously. You get me. I too am a slightly crunchy, bookish, recently converted southern girl. Flannery O’Connor’s peacocks may or may not be my spirit animals. I’m fortunate enough to be in a nook where there is a rich Catholic history (Diocese of St. Augustine, baby!) but it’s still had its challenges.
This post really spoke to me. (Especially the part about your kids and Nightmare…I regularly question my parenting choices because my almost 5 year old is totally my kid and loves all things scary.) We are huge Burton fans, and watch Big Fish as often as we can pull it off. I don’t think *anything* is JUST a story. Story is how we relate. How we break down. How we find commonality. Our stories are what make us human.