Lake - Big Fish

In Big Fish, Tim Burton attempts to blur the lines of fantasy and reality and show the silver lining that makes imagination so profound and powerful.  Burton creates Ed Bloom, an incredible man that is one of the more “normal” characters in film but is still wildly a product of a good imagination and storytelling.  Ed Bloom’s life is a wild adventure and he comes across many estranged and distorted people that play pivotal roles in both, Ed’s life and the plot of Big Fish itself.  These grotesque characters help portray Burton’s infatuation with the gothic and unusual, shows internally how Burton could have felt about himself, and externally how he felt about his father, “a real fairy-tale character.” 

Burton makes his living by showing the world his twisted view of reality in very well put together films.  Big Fish is no different.  Burton creates many characters in the film that should frighten Ed Bloom and the movie viewer but it turns out that all of these characters are very kindhearted people, but they are misunderstood.  This is very representative of Burton because when looking at Big Fish and the culmination of his work, it is obvious that he is a tortured, misunderstood soul that longs for love and acceptance in his films.  Two characters that represent this are Ed Bloom and the Giant.  Ed Bloom in his stories is an amazing heroic gentleman who always seems to save the day, win the game, and get the girl, but as an older man he tells stories in order to maintain the same level of praise.  The fact that Ed Bloom would attempt to steal his sons thunder at one of the largest moments in his son’s life proves that he is craving love and respect.  Everyone except Ed Bloom fears the Giant in Ed’s hometown and it turns out that he was just misunderstood and hungry.  Ed Bloom accepts the Giant for who he is and goes on a journey with the Giant and genuinely cares about the Giant.  When Ed Bloom goes to Spectre, he easily could have ditched the Giant but he doesn’t; instead he gives the Giant his backpack and assures him that he will be back.  Burton shows that anyone can become friends and form a relationship.  This is very profound when you put this idea to Burton himself and the relationship he had with his father.  Burton is trying to show on many different levels with many different characters that him and his father could reconcile their relationship even though it has been difficult and Burton felt coldshouldered as a child.