Big Fish: The Fish As A Metaphor For Life

Big Fish (2003), directed by Tim Burton, is a film loaded with symbolism and metaphors. Here we do not see the dark scenes we usually associate with Burton, but the exact opposite. Big Fish consists of color, light and harmony.

The film is about Edward Bloom’s life and his relationship with his son Will. Will lives in Paris with his pregnant wife. His relationship with his father deteriorated over the years and they communicate only through his mother, Sandra.

One day Sandra calls her son to tell him that his father is seriously ill. Will and his wife then take a trip to visit him.

Edward and Will had a good relationship during Will’s childhood. Over the years, however, their relationship has cooled. Edward is known for telling amazing stories about giants, witches, werewolves, etc. Will loved these stories when he was a child, but when he was growing up he realized that they were not true.

After that, he wants more than anything to know the truth about his father. He can not accept that his father does not stick to the facts when he tells stories.

Will tries to convince his father to tell the truth, but Edward is very proud of his stories. It’s something he does not want to change, not even for his son.

Paradoxically, Will himself is a writer. He also tells fantastic stories about things that never were and never will be. We can see that Edward and Will are actually not that different. One tells stories, another writes them.

Will has a hard time accepting his father. He does not trust him and has come up with theories to justify his absence when Will was a child.

In the part of life they are in, Will becomes a kind of replacement for his father. Edward’s life is about to end and a new one is about to begin. Will will be the father figure his son needs.

First, Will judges and criticizes his father. He does not think he has been a particularly good role model. However, a parent’s job is never easy and now Will also has to face that reality.

He wants to be a completely different kind of father than his own father was to him. He wants to tell the truth to his son. But it ends with Will starting to accept his father and understanding this truth: that his father will leave him many legacies, and Will will take his place.

Big Fish is the kind of story that uses and combines a wide range of stories and incidents. It’s Edward Bloom’s life story. The last name is a metaphor for what he is just doing – blossoming. He is born, he reaches the height of his splendor and then he begins to wither step by step.

There are many metaphors in this film. We will try to explain the most important and most interesting.

The fish

When Edward tells the story of his childhood, the fish is an important figure. The fish is the common thread through the film that is there from beginning to end. That’s the metaphor of Edward himself. When he was a child, he read about a fish that changed size depending on the environment. When free, it could triple in size.

Edward understands that he is like the fish and that his limitations in life are like a fish bowl. Edward realizes that in order to achieve his goals, he needs to figure things out based on the limitations that exist.

If we leave the fish bowl, we are free, we can decide our own path and achieve greatness. At the same time, it can be scary to leave the fish bowl because we do not know what is out there.

The eye

What do you have to be afraid of if you already know how your life will end? In Edward’s stories of his childhood, there is a witch with a pair of glasses. If you look at the spectacle, you will see how you will die. Edward looks at the glass eye, sees how he will die and accepts it. 

When he is in a dangerous situation, he faces it and says to himself: “This is not how I should die.” In this way, he overcomes his fears and obstacles and can move forward.

Edward accepts his fate, which is the same for all people: death. He faces it and overcomes it, he does not let fear take control.

Ashton

This is Edward’s fish bowl. The city he was born in. A small, limited town for a man with hopes and dreams. Despite this, he has a good reputation among his neighbors and can do good things inside his fish bowl. He does all this without having to face too many obstacles.

The fish bowl is our comfortable and safe point. It represents conformism. It is the place where we feel safe and which is difficult to leave. But in our fish bowl, our opportunities are limited. Therefore, Edward decides to leave the fish bowl and face the unknown.

Specter

After leaving Ashton and embarking on his journey, he encounters a series of obstacles that he must overcome to get to Specter. This is a utopian city where everyone walks barefoot and nothing ever happens.

There he finds a former resident of Ashton, Norther Winslow. Winslow was a famous poet in the city who was meant for great things, just like Edward. Therefore, he made the same journey.

However, Norther was caught by another fishing hook and he can no longer write his poems. He ended up in another fish bowl. Specter, although it is a wonderful place, is also a kind of safe and comfortable point.

Edward plans to stay, but he changes and continues to move. He still has a lot to see. The screenwriter did not choose the name Specter by chance. It is actually a reference to ghosts and revelations. This is because Specter, in addition to being a fish bowl, is also a fraudulent place.

There is a fish in the river that Edward thinks is a woman because it changes shape depending on what the viewer wants. Edward’s wish was to find a woman.

The ring

In order for a fish to reach its maximum size, it cannot be caught. Edward must avoid all the fishing hooks that come up in his life. He must avoid going back to the fish bowl, at least until he has reached his goals and learned his homework.

But if the right fishing hook comes, we all risk falling into the trap. In other words, Edward rejects every hook until he finds the right one. The fish that Edward talks about can be caught by his wedding ring.

Edward’s fishing hook was his wife Sandra. But to get there, he needed to overcome endless obstacles, leave his security, learn his homework and, at the end of his life, take off his shoes at a new safe point.

Shoes

The shoes protect our feet when we walk. When we are at home, we no longer need them. In Specter, all residents walk around barefoot. They do not have to keep walking and therefore they do not need their shoes anymore.

Despite this, Edward Specter leaves without his shoes. In other words, he leaves Specter completely unprotected because he will then face the panic. At the end of our lives, we no longer need our shoes. We can sit down and hang them up once and for all.

Big Fish is a modern fantasy story that shows us a different way of looking at life, of accepting it. Each of us can do extraordinary things if we succeed in conquering our fears, leaving security, and going our own way.