Prevost-Big Fish

Discuss how Tim Burton merges the sunny character of Edward Bloom with the darker grotesque characters who people the film. Why do those people like Edward, and why does Edward like them? Discuss at least two scenes in your blog. Burton said of his own father that he had forgotten how much larger than life he was than his neighbors' parents. He had only his canine teeth left, so he wore dentures that he would take out; then he would howl at the moon and scare the neighbors' children into thinking him a werewolf. He was, said Burton, "a real fairy-tale character." Tim Burton's movies have always been famous for grotesque aspects within them. Big Fish is a brighter movie than what we are used to coming from Tim Burton. It has a country atmosphere, with colorful characters and surroundings. So knowing Tim Burton's style, he obviously had to throw in some type of gothic and grotesque feature, and through the characters and certain scenes he did. In one scene we see a gothic feel is when the witch shows the two boys their fate through her eye, but it is also picked right back up with happy and cheerful characters when the little boy is not affected by knowing how he goes and simply accepting the fact. Another scene in which we see a humorous gothic feel is when the guy dies while using the restroom. It is an inhumane way to go and just sad. Although Edward and the dark characters are different, they are similar they do for one another. Just as Edward helped the giant, the giant helped Edward by fixing the home. Other gothic and creepy feelings are seen within the town of Spectre. Edward was greeted by the town as soon as he arrived, claiming he had arrived earlier than expected. They greet him all with smiles and open hearts, but he gets the feeling that he doesn’t belong there, so he leaves. Big Fish is about imagination and exploration which we see throughout the fathers' stories, Burton is living out what his father was to him in Will's father. Will's fathers' stories may not have been completely true but he was only trying to make his son proud of him and enjoy his company. Will being a journalist takes everything literal and does not seem to have any type of imagination, he likes clean, cut facts and nothing added on. Will and his father were complete opposites, until Will got a wakeup call from his surroundings and the people who had known his father for a long period of time. He had not viewed his fathers' story as plausible before he had some type of evidence to support them. It is not until the end of the movie that Will finally realizes why his dad was so fund of storytelling; it was so that he would live on through his grandchildren’s lives and their children and so forth. He did it to remembered, in a good light not only as a person who had passed away, but as someone who had passed along an everlasting story. Tim Burton himself has done this with his own movies he will have an everlasting affect on the movie industry.

Adrienne Prevost