Big Fish: The Use of Myth
The use of myth in Daniel Wallace's Big Fish is particularly what allows Edward Bloom to keep other people in his life at a distance. By stretching the events of his life into tall tales, Edward was able to create an identity for himself that was more noteworthy or memorable than the objective facts that typified his existence. However, Edward's son, Will, is called home to reconcile with his father has he nears death; though one of his true motivations is to separate myth from reality once and for all. Essentially, this is the emotional setting of the story: Will believes that if he can divine the facts of his father's life from the myths, then he will somehow be closer to him and understand him before his death. Yet, as he uncovers more of the inspirations for Edward's tall tales, he comes to realize that the fictional stories he's been told his whole life are more true to the character of his father than a straightforward telling of them ever could have been. Consequently, Will learns that in order to tell the story of his father's death, he must call upon the myths that gave it meaning. The book Big Fish is rather more convincing than the film adaptation with respect to the representation of Edward Bloom's death. This is be
In the second interpretation of his father's death, Edward's point about jokes becomes a bit more forceful. Will still doubts that any of his stories or jokes amount to anything; he wishes that he had known the foundations of his father's belief system. However, Edward-like most people-possesses doubts about the infinite. Accordingly, he states, "Still, if I shared my doubts with you, about God and love and life and death, that's all you'd have: a bunch of doubts. But now see, you've got all these great jokes." (Wallace, 73). The fact that Edward's dying word in this version is the punch-line to his joke suggests that Will's insistence upon deep intimacy is partially giving way to the realization that his father's myths and jokes were, in fact, a form of intimacy. Nevertheless, even within the first adaptation of his father's death, Edward still supplies one of the driving themes that will continue throughout the story: "Remembering a man's stories makes him immortal." (Wallace, 20). Initially, Will disagrees and Edward is not even sure that this statement is true either. From Will's point of view, his father's explanations of how he failed as a father are mere exaggerations to make it seem as if there was no element of choice in him not being home very much. Edward tells his son that the earth splitting and natural disasters prevented him from being the father he should have been; but then, he admits that one of the things he most centrally wanted was to be a "great man." (Wallace, 21). Obviously, this comes as no surprise to Will, but it does partially explain the root of the tall tales. So overall, the first take on Edward's death is steeped in Will's version of objective reality; he believes it should be this way if there is to be any tangible aspect of his father that can be represented. The humor of Edward's stories has vanished, the greatness of his life has been wiped away, and all that remains is a scaly old man slowly losing his faculties. Unfortunately, this narrative element of the story is what the film adaptation seems to lack. Although it adheres to the major events of the novel, it is less evident in the film that the reason why Will changes the events of his father's death is because he is the one charged with the task of carrying on Edward's legacy: the stories must live on through him, in some new form. Burton's interpretation simply makes the scene of Edward Bloom running off into the river seem like a fitting eulogy to an enigmatic man. Yet, the reality, to Will, is that Edward is still alive if he is able to take his jokes and myths and mold them into something new-essentially, that something new is what the
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Approximate Word count = 1790
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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