Monday, March 29, 2010

Big Fish--Characters

Please post your character responses here.

For your character profiles you should do the following:
-List the important details about the character: who are they, what are the important details a viewer should know about them (how their name impacts their importance (example: Bloom--what is blooming), and the specific moments where they support a symbol or a motif.
-These responses should be 7-9 sentences in length but more to the point they should adhere to the rules of good writing: they should be clear, direct, make a point, contain depth of thought, but also ooze a sophistication of expression (that does not mean that should be over-written, but I would encourage you utilize good word choices).

12 comments:

Lydia Waldo said...

Jenny plays many roles throughout the movie Big Fish. Jenny helps to show Will that Edward is a legend by making a connection to her life. She is a legend just like Edward in the town of Specter. Jenny aids Will in finding a connection between him and his father by making a parallel between their lives. I think one of the motifs that Jenny’s character helps to bring out is the motif of cats. Cats have ‘nine lives’, and because Edward will ‘live on’ after his death as a legend, the cats help to symbolize that. Whenever Will is around Jenny, there are cats around. The cats help to show Will that his father is immortal… he has ‘nine lives’.

Lydia Waldo said...

Ok-- Big ops on my part for adding 'I think' to this writing assignment. I have no excuses. I have posted the revised version below.



Jenny plays many roles throughout the movie Big Fish. Jenny helps to show Will that Edward is a legend by making a connection to her life. She is a legend just like Edward in the town of Specter. Jenny aids Will in finding a connection between him and his father by making a parallel between their lives. Jenny’s character helps to bring out ithe motif of cats. Cats have ‘nine lives’, and because Edward will ‘live on’ after his death as a legend, the cats help to symbolize that. Whenever Will is around Jenny, there are cats around. The cats help to show Will that his father is immortal… he has ‘nine lives’.

Anonymous said...

The witch played a huge factor in the success and risks Edward Bloom had taken in his life. Although watching the movie we did not know how Ed Bloom was going to die, he looked in the witch’s eye and saw his fate. As he says many times during the movie, its okay if I do this, this isn't how I die. Although the witch doesn't appear to be a prominent role in the film, she is the one who makes Ed Bloom so fearless in his actions and able to tell the stories he tells from experience.

~Conor McFarland

Anonymous said...

Wow looks like i only sent the first part of my writing.

Here is the whole thing:


The witch played a huge factor in the success and risks Edward Bloom had taken in his life. Although watching the movie we did not know how Ed Bloom was going to die, he looked in the witch’s eye and saw his fate. As he says many times during the movie, its okay if I do this, this isn't how I die. Although the witch doesn't appear to be a prominent role in the film, she is the one who makes Ed Bloom so fearless in his actions and able to tell the stories he tells from experience.
Normally, a witch is seen as a horror character, but quite frankly, the witch in this film just seems to be a pretty creepy looking old woman. I think that her age and ability of showing deaths displays the lesson that when you’re younger you don't have as much experience and you’re not as wise. Corresponding to Will Bloom it still means the younger kids have potential. This picture of the witch shows how Ed Bloom has been through a lot and Will Bloom will. She teaches us by just her actions that life is a work in progress.

~Conor McFarland

Anonymous said...

The main theme that Northern Winslow conveys is that “a big fish will never survive in a small pond”. At first, he goes against this when he goes from Ashton to Spectre, thinking that if he goes to a smaller place, that his poetry will thrive even more because more people will know of his poetry. When Edward shows up to Spectre and then leaves, Northern has an epiphany about why he hasn’t left Spectre yet. When he leaves again, he starts to travel everywhere and it seems like he doesn’t write poetry anymore. He thrives so much more out of small toens and out in the entire world, even though he has to “rob” a bank to start his start his thoughts of the stock market to earn money. His name, Norhtern, is a unique name and it symbols about his life that is shown in the movie about how his life from the beginnign of the4 movie to the end is always getting better, or going north. I wouldn’t say that Northern is a motif in the movie, but if there was a character that would have to act as a motif the best in this movie, it would probably be him since everytime Edward is telling a story, Northern shows up randomly and helps with the symbolism that the stories are telling.

-Jon Malloy-

Lydia Waldo said...

This is my revised, revised copy of Big Fish Characters.
Character: Jenny (Jenifer Hill)


Jenny plays many roles throughout the movie Big Fish. In Specter, the town where Jenny lives, she is a legend. Jenny is not very outgoing, but she tries to help others, and one way she does this is by teaching piano lessons to the children in Specter. When Will goes to Jenny to ask for information about his father, she helps to show him that like her, he will become a legend when he dies. Through his stories, Edward will become immortal.
Jenny’s character helps to portray the motif of cats. Cats have ‘nine lives’, and because Edward will ‘live on’ after his death as a legend, the cats help to symbolize that. Whenever Will is around Jenny, there are cats around. The cats help to show Will that his father is immortal because he has ‘nine lives’.

Izzie W said...

Ping and Jing were the Siamese Sister that Edward met during the war. They were performing for their countries soldiers and started off facing sideways so that only one sister could be seen, then they turned forward surprising the audience with the fact that there were actually two sisters. Their names are similar and only off my one letter making them sound almost identical. Those names put even more emphasis on their being together all the time and being almost the same person. I felt that that story’s theme was life’s unexpected twists. So by having the twins enter one way and shock the audience gave an example of an astonishing twist.

Benn said...

SANDRA
Sandra Templeton is Ed Bloom’s wife, whom he first sees at the carnival, and later proposes to with several thousand daffodils. An interesting connect is that “Bloom” is Ed’s last name, and the movie puts emphasis on how much Sandra loves flowers, especially daffodils. This is foreshadowing that they are the perfect companions, and their relationship is durable and lasting.
In addition to being particularly close to Ed, Sandra also brings out the motif of water. During the scene where Ed, as an old man, is sitting in the bathtub, Sandra comes and joins him. This is the last time they have a meaningful conversation with each other, there in the water. This adds to the idea that stories come full circle. In the story Will tells as Ed is dying, Ed says goodbye to Sandra while she is standing in the water, just before Will puts Ed into the river. Sandra is used in this motif because it not only emphasizes the motif of water and big fish, but it also emphasizes the strong connect between Ed and Sandra.

Benn said...

SANDRA
Sandra Templeton is Ed Bloom’s wife, whom he first sees at the carnival, and later proposes to with several thousand daffodils. An interesting connect is that “Bloom” is Ed’s last name, and the movie puts emphasis on how much Sandra loves flowers, especially daffodils. This is foreshadowing that they are the perfect companions, and their relationship is durable and lasting.
In addition to being particularly close to Ed, Sandra also brings out the motif of water. During the scene where Ed, as an old man, is sitting in the bathtub, Sandra comes and joins him. This is the last time they have a meaningful conversation with each other, there in the water. This adds to the idea that stories come full circle. In the story Will tells as Ed is dying, Ed says goodbye to Sandra while she is standing in the water, just before Will puts Ed into the river. Sandra is used in this motif because it not only emphasizes the motif of water and big fish, but it also emphasizes the strong connect between Ed and Sandra.

Anonymous said...

Big, and miss understood at first, Karl is a big giant man who just wants to fit in. Just like everybody in Big Fish he is a little bit odd, but that should be no reason why he be looked at differently. Edward Bloom was the first man to actually give him a chance and look at his as a man not a giant. At on point in the story when Edward tells Karl he’s going to take a different pathway and cut through the woods and meet him there, Karl felt that he was going to be left. Edward reassured him he would meet up with him but Karl didn’t know to trust him, because he’s been so looked badly upon and people leaving him because he’s a giant. For him to trust Edward was a big move and took a lot of courage from him. Karl is like Edward’s assistant he goes everywhere with him and helps him with everything. He’s a BIG help literately doing all the big jobs that a normal man just would not be able to do. He seems like a fairy tale being so tall that you would think he’s fictional just like what William (Edward’s son) thought he was. He thought he was just a BIG lie like he thinks all his father’s stories are. Maybe he is a big lie but he was a BIG part of Edward’s success.

Ricky Kramer

Anonymous said...

This is Andrew Waterhouse

William Bloom is the son of Edward Bloom who has the potential to live without a care as his father does. Throughout his life, William has always enjoyed fact based ideas and felt betrayed whenever his father would tell him stories that had been fabricated to an extent. His relationship with his father is tough. All of his life, William has felt that he has never truly known his father because his father embellishes all of his stories he tells. William interprets his father's fabrications as lies, and thinks that he does not know his father. He only realizes towards the end of his father's life that all of Edward's stories were actually who he was; the only reason that Edward told his stories in a fabricated manner was that it makes them more enjoyable.

Anonymous said...

Chris Richards
Andrew Kasprzak
English 9-A
April 2, 2010


Sandra Tibleton is the mother of William Bloom, the wife of Edward Bloom, and initially engaged to Don Price. She is important to the story of Edward’s life because she plays a drastic role within it as soon as Edward lays eye upon her. Edward Bloom states that time stops when you meet the love of your life, and after the moment is over, time has to move extra fast to catch back up again. This aphorism adds to the importance of Sandra as a character in that she, and she was the first person who forced Edward Bloom to halt in place. The name Sandra is a derivative of the name Alexandra, meaning “mans defender.” Her name’s origings become apparent when William turns to her to discover the validity of his father’s tales. Sandra defends Edward, and his stories, when she tells William almost the exact same version of the war stories Edward told William only a few hours previously. The act of reminiscing on Edward’s life, and by proving Edward’s stories’ validity, Sandra defends Edward’s legacy. Sandra is crucially important for William’s reconcilliation with his father because she is the proof of Edward’s life. Sandra first met Edward at the circus with Karl where he first began his work, she lived with him during his days of traveling as a salesman, and she was present during Edward’s departure for war and his return. Thoughout the majority of Edward’s tales, Sandra was present or within contact with Edward; by placing her within the stories, Edward’s stories are given new life in the fact that Sandra was present in Edward’s adventures.