Peixe Grande and its Wonderful Stories (2003), directed by Tim Burton, is a film full of symbolism and metaphors about life, which does not present Burton’s own gothic, dark and sinister settings, on the contrary: Peixe Grande is color, light and harmony.
The film is about Edward Bloom’s life and his relationship with his son, Will, who lives in Paris with his pregnant wife, a few years ago the relationship with his father had worsened and they communicated through his mother, Sandra. Sandra calls her son and tells her that her father is seriously ill, which causes Will to travel with his wife to visit him.
- Edward and Will had a good relationship during Will’s childhood.
- But eventually she ended up getting cold.
- Edward is known for having extraordinary exploits.
- With even more extraordinary beings (giants.
- Witches.
- Werewolves?).
- Will loved these stories when he was little.
- But when he grew up.
- He realized they were unreal and was overwhelmed by the desire to know the truth about his father.
Will doesn’t accept that his father is running away from the true facts of his stories.
Will tries to convince his father to tell the truth, but Edward is very proud of his stories and that won’t change, even for his son. The paradox is that Will is a writer, that is, he tells fictional stories that did not change. will exist and never exist. We see that Edward and Will, in the end, are not so different: one tells their story and the other writes their own.
“The fascinating thing about icebergs is that we can only see 10% of them, the other 90% are underwater. Is the same thing wrong with you, Dad, did I just see a piece that appears over the water?-William Bloom, Peixe Grande and his wonderful stories-
Will struggles to accept his father, distrusts him and has even invented hypotheses to try to justify his absences as a child. At the crucial moment he was in, he became a kind of substitute for his father: Edward’s life is over; another is on the way and Will will be the father figure his son needs.
At first, Will judged his father, criticized him, and thought he was not a good example; However, the task of being a parent is not easy and now he has to deal with this situation, he wants to be a totally different father, he wants to tell his son the truth, but gradually Will will finally accept his father. understanding what his truth is; his father will leave him stories as a legacy and he will take his place.
Peixe Grande is a kind of story that presents and mixes a wide variety of stories and episodes; it is the story of Edward Bloom’s life, the surname is something that occurs at birth, Bloom means flowering and that is what Edward does, like flowers, was born, reaches its maximum splendor and, little by little, will fade away. There are many metaphors that appear in the film, so I’ll talk about the most important or interesting ones:
When Edward recounts the adventures of his childhood, the fish appears as an important figure, the fish is the common thread of the film, it is present from start to finish, it is Edward’s own metaphor. As a child, I read the story of a fish that adapted its size to the place where it was and, in nature, could triple its size.
Edward understands that he is like a fish and that the aquarium has its limits, Edward realizes that to get everything he wants, he has to take into account these limitations.
Continuing the metaphor, leaving the aquarium, we gain freedom, we decide our actions and we achieve greatness. At the same time, leaving the aquarium can be scary because we don’t know what’s out there.
“Have you ever thought that you may not be too big, but that this town is too small?”- Edward Bloom, big shot-
What will we be afraid of if we already know what our end is?In Edward’s childhood stories, a witch appears who has a glass eye that, if anyone observes him, will show how the person will die; Edward looks at him, knows how he’s going to die and accepts.
When you’re in a dangerous situation, you face her and you think, “I’m not going to die like this,” so overcome the obstacles and go your way. Edward accepts his destiny, the same as that of all human beings: death. He confronts and overcomes it, he doesn’t let fear take hold of him.
This is Edward’s Aquarium, the city in which he was born, a small limited town for a man with great aspirations and great dreams, yet he enjoys a great reputation among his neighbors and could accomplish great things in his aquarium, without having to. face many obstacles.
The aquarium is our comfort zone, our compliance zone, the place where you feel safe and where it is difficult to get out, but it is a place where learning is limited, Edward decides to face the outside outside of his comfort zone.
After leaving Ashton and starting his journey, he encounters several obstacles that he must overcome until he reaches Spectre, a utopian city where all the inhabitants walk barefoot, where nothing ever happens.
There he met a former Ashton resident, Norther Winslow, a well-known poet from the city who, like Edward, was destined for great things, so he undertook his journey.
However, Norther was hooked by another hook and can no longer continue poetry, entered another aquarium: Spectrum, despite being a wonderful place, is another comfort zone.
Edward thinks about staying, but he reacts and goes his way, because there is still much to end. The name Wraith was not chosen at random, does it mean ghosts, apparitions?This place, besides being an aquarium, is also a deceptive place, there is a fish in the river that is confused by Edward with a woman, because depending on the person who sees it appear different things that represent the desires of the individual, here we see Edward’s desire, which is to find a woman.
For a fish to reach its maximum size, you can’t fish, so Edward has to avoid all the hooks that appear in his life. You should avoid entering an aquarium, at least until you have achieved all your goals and reached the learning area. But if the hook on the right appears, we can all get hooked.
In other words, Edward rejects the hooks until he finds the right one. Edward’s talking fish was hooked by his wedding ring, like Edward himself and Sandra.
But to win it, he had to overcome many obstacles outside his comfort zone, acquire knowledge and, at the end of his life, take off his shoes in a new comfort zone.
Shoes serve to protect our feet when we walk, and when we’re home we don’t need them. In Wraith, all the inhabitants walk barefoot, need not move forward and will never need their shoes again.
Despite this, Edward leaves Spectre without his shoes, that is, unprotected because, at that moment, he will have to face the panic zone. Similarly, at the end of life, we no longer need shoes, we can get comfortable and hang up. Them.
“Big Fish and its wonderful stories? It’s a fantastic contemporary story that shows another way of seeing life, accepting it. It shows how each of us is able to do extraordinary things if we can overcome fears, get out of our comfort zone and chart our own path.
“When something is very difficult to do, the reward that awaits you in the end is greater” – Edward Bloom, Peixe Grande-