Please place your group motif responses here:
These responses should do/address the following:
-How/why are the motifs important--what are the scenes within the film where these motifs are established and accentuated. You should also state what characters help establish these motifs.
-It is your job to 'decode' these motifs and talk about how they are symbolically important and articulate how they drive the narrative of the film forward.
-Most importantly, these responses should adhere to the rules of good writing--more the point: be specific, be clear, and make sure that you are aptly articulating the importance of these motifs in strong written responses.
This is a challenge but you are ready to meet them.
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12 comments:
Ping and Jing
I think the Siamese Twins are a motif for life’s unexpected twists. I loved how each of the father’s stories kind of had their own theme and this story’s was one of my favorites. First in this story life caught Ed off guard by having him drafted into the military right when his life with Sandra was beginning. Then at the end when Sandra thought he was dead he went back home and she found out he was alive. But I think it is really cool that we always expect one thing and when we see that it’s different it catches us off guard. And I think that was one of the things Ed was attempting to teach Will. Sometimes things aren’t always what they seem and that can surprise or shock you, but it’s entirely your decision whether you accept the twist or reject it.
Doors
On one side of the door there is a story, what the other side beholds is a mystery. Everytime a new story is bout to told a door opens and when a story is vout to end the door is shut from that side. A door is a passageway in both symbolic and literal meanings. It gates us through to our next steps and our next adventures. Without the doors we would be roaming the earth with no direction no real precise way to go. Our lives would be complaetely unpredictable and could almost be boring. With doors you nowhere your going and you know where you want to go but yet there are always suprises behind every door. A new beginning could be scary but if you go through head down and barge ur way in you’ll be all set.
The Glass Eye/ "I"
The Glass eye of the witch is an important motif from the movie, because it portrays Ed's fearlessness when he looks into the eye. In looking into the eye, he is also looking into himself because the eye is a symbol for "I", or himself. In looking into the eye, Ed looks into himself, and realizes that death doesn't scare him. With this belief, it helps Ed to face life fearlessly and have all of his fantastical adventures.
The eye is also a symbol for the life he could have had. The glass eye, in his story, is captivating to everyone. Ed is captivated by Jenny, who becomes the witch in his stories because of their attraction to each other. In this way, the glass eye also helps him look at himself, and realize that he truly loved Sandra.
People instinctively wear shoes and are incapable of leave their houses without them. Shoes represent freedom and the ability, at any desired time, to leave a place or situation. The citizens of Spectre don’t wear shoes, ever, and have never left their town. When someone new enters the town, their shoes are untied and tossed onto a wire. This symbolizes all the people in town that are tied to the town. People have difficulty with accepting and adapting to change. Without shoes people believed that they couldn’t leave. After Jenny threw Edwards shoes onto the wire, Edward chose not to follow the example of the town, and he left. He chose to leave without his shoes, even though it would cause him pain. This altered how the people looked at their town, and people started leaving. People only need one person to have an open mind in order to change their perspective on life. Letting go of things is an important skill to learn in order to move on in life.
~Maddy
Water/Pool
Water keeps us hydrated, it makes up 75% of our body, and it houses many wild creatures including catfish. Most of the time we just overlook it as if it was nature but there’s more to it. In Big Fish, Edward Bloom has a fetish with water. He always seems to be “dried out”. The very first scene of the movie was of a body of water and the story of Edward Bloom begins. Edward Bloom’s story ends with him being dropped into that same river. Water is a beginning and an ending. It is doors opening and closing. Water is life and death.
After Edward's death, Will's son told his grandfather's stories to his friends while in his grandfather's old pool. Edward's stories and legacy lived on in the place that shaped him. This was the place that made him who he was and seemed to be the only one who did not want to change it.
Eliza
Motif: Flowers
The motif of a flower or many flowers helps cement the theme of life is simply a passage of time. Flowers live and they die. Usually the life of a vase flower is only about a week. But within that week they do affect many people. They brighten that place on the counter where they sit, offsetting the gray weather. Also bringing a little more color to peoples souls as they pass by. As motifs give depth and additionally weight to symbols and themes, flowers help shed light on the meaning of Big Fish. Flowers are the quiet aunt of the literary family that just continues to show up to family functions to contribute its two cents.
It was no accident that the protagonist and his family share the last name of Bloom. Bloom like a blossoming flower that touches people’s lives. Edward, who has experienced many stories and adventures and interacted with many people, had bloomed and shared his beauty. But Will has not. He has lived his life in the shadow of his father’s supposed lies and has not bloomed yet. But according to his name, he will. Flowers carry forward each story to the next, appearing at crucial moments to remind of past promises.
Jennifer Hill, when she was a little girl, had flowers on her dress the day in Spectre. She stole his shoes and “hooked” him into the town. But he escaped, only after he promised his return. The flowers would die when he returned, because his time has passed.
When Edward proposes to Sandra he brings 1000’s of yellow tulips. Marriage is a promise. Those flowers show that Edward is going to stay with her until her it is her time to pass. Within this same scene, Don Price beats up Edward Bloom. Don is trying to but life, in terms of a price tag, and he turns out to always be second best. Edward lets life bloom and goes with the flow and is always the hero. Also when Don beats him up, the flowers below are crushed, like a soul or promises that are now dead; Don and Sandra’s engagement. But they are still there bright yellow, demonstrating the promise of a different marriage.
Each flower occurrence pushes the film into the next story.
Flowers are the secret ingredient
RED
In Big Fish, the color Red continuously appeared around Ed Bloom. The school color of his high school is red, his old car is red, and his wife wears a red dress to his funeral. He even has red hair in when he’s young. Red is a flashy color, and when people see it, they generally associate the color with flashy or exuberant ideas, such as anger and boisterousness. Colorful, playful events such as carnivals (another occurrence of red in the movie) typically sport lots of red, to give the patrons a feeling of happiness or excitement.
This frequent use of red, a playful color, is to outline Ed Blooms happiness, sociality, and, most of all, his success. At his high school, he does incredibly well in sports and in academics, capturing all his classmates and the entire town with his achievements. This success is emphasized by the school color red.
When he takes up a job as a traveling businessman, he drives a red car wherever he goes. In his job, he was highly successful, due partly to his friendliness. Again, his red car emphasizes his success.
At Ed Bloom’s funeral, his wife wears a red dress. Despite creating a mourning attitude, as is customary at weddings, the use of such a colored dress celebrates Ed’s willingness and capability to do well in life.
Finally, Ed Bloom has red hair. This is not an accident, because it gives Ed a feeling about him that helps his friendly nature. If Tim Burton brought Ed to the screen with long, dark hair, it would not have made a friendly, likeable impression on the audience. Therefore, by giving him red hair, his shining personality is made even more apparent by such a hair color.
Here is my revised version the assignment.
RED
In Big Fish, the color Red continuously appears around Ed Bloom. The school color of his high school is red, his old car is red, and his wife wears a red dress to his funeral. He even has red hair in when he’s young. Red is a flashy color, and when people see it, they generally associate the color with flashy or exuberant ideas, such as anger and boisterousness. Exciting events, such as festivals and carnivals (another occurrence of red in the movie) typically sport lots of red, to give the patrons a feeling of happiness or excitement.
This frequent use of red, a playful color, is to outline Ed Blooms happiness, sociality, and, most of all, his success. At his high school, he does incredibly well in sports and in academics, capturing all his classmates and the entire town with his achievements. The color red emphasizes this because, as a bright color, brings a feeling of display to Ed’s young life.
The color red also displays his success as an adult. When he takes up a job as a traveling businessman, he drives a red car wherever he goes. In his job, he was highly successful. Again, his red car emphasizes his success.
At Ed Bloom’s funeral, his wife wears a red dress. Despite creating a mourning tone as is customary at weddings, the use of such a colored dress celebrates Ed’s willingness and capability to do well in life.
Finally, Ed Bloom has red hair. This is not an accident, because it gives Ed a feeling about him that helps his friendly nature. If Ed Bloom long, dark hair, it would not have made a friendly, likeable impression on the audience. Therefore, by giving him red hair, his shining personality is made even more apparent by such a hair color.
Revised Motif
The glass eye of the witch is an important motif from the movie, because it portrays Ed's fearlessness. When he looks into the eye, he is also looking into himself because the eye is a symbol for "I", or himself. In looking into the eye, Ed looks into himself, and realizes that death doesn't scare him. In addition, because Ed is the only person who isn’t scared to look into the eye, it foreshadows Ed’s relationship with the witch. Most people are scared of the witch, but Ed was captivated with her, and because he could look fearlessly into the eye, it demonstrates that he was one of the few people who didn’t judge her, and appreciated her for who she was. This is especially important because eye is also a motif for the life he could have had. The glass eye, in his story, is captivating to everyone. Ed is captivated by Jenny, who becomes the witch in his stories because of their attraction to each other. In this way, the glass eye also helped him look at himself, and realize that he truly loved Sandra.
Revised Motif: Shoes
People instinctively wear shoes and are incapable of leaving their houses without them. Shoes represent freedom and the ability, at any desired time, to leave a place or situation. The citizens of Spectra don’t wear shoes, ever, because they never go beyond the boarder of their town. Whoever enters the town has their shoes removed and tossed onto a wire. This symbolizes all the people in town that are stuck in the town, unable to leave. People have difficulty with accepting and adapting to change. Without shoes, people believed that they couldn’t leave because nobody had ever thought of leaving a place without shoes. After Jenny threw Edwards shoes onto the wire, Edward chose not to stay, and he left without his shoes knowing he would be in pain. This altered how the people looked at their town, and people started leaving. People only need one person to have an open mind in order to change their perspective on life. Letting go of things is an important skill to learn in order to move on in life.
Motif: Water
Revised
Water is everywhere; it surrounds us and keeps us alive. It is overlooked by most as just another piece of nature, but Edward Bloom did not see it that way. Edward could not get enough water; he was always “dried out”. The first scene in the movie Big Fish was of a fish swimming through water and so the story of Edward Bloom began. Edward’s story ended with his son telling the story of his death. This story was of Edward being placed into the river where he was ‘born’ by his loving wife. For Edward, water is a beginning and an end. It is a door opening and closing. Water is life and death. In Edward’s case, death was not eternal. For eternity, Edward Bloom will swim the length of the Ashton River as an uncatchable fish.
Edward’s death brought clarification to his son. Will began to believe the stories that his father told long ago and passed them down to his own son. Will’s son told his grandfather’s stories to his friends while swimming in his grandfather’s old pool. Edward Bloom’s stories and legacy lived on in the place that shaped him and in the memories of his family. This was the place that made him who he was and something that would never change him.
Chris Richards
Andrew Kasprzak
English 9-A
March 30, 2010
The wedding ring is symbolically important because it culminates all of Edward Bloom’s stories. Edward Bloom references the ring within the opening minutes of the movie when he describes the story of William’s birth. There is the one uncatchable fish in the river, who takes Edward’s wedding ring from him. This juxtaposition between the wedding ring and the fish is a reference to Edward and his love Sandra later in life; Edward was the big fish, and once he had grown as much as he could, he takes the ring in marriage. The ring also serves a similar purpose in an earlier chapter of Edward’s life. The day Edward first meets Sandra she shows him a wedding ring already placed upon her finger. Edward states that the only way to catch an uncatchable woman is with a wedding ring; however, he is not suggestibg charming a woman, but rather directly referencing the ring that is a symbol of his love for Sandra, and the journey that had brought him to her. Edward’s life comes full circle within William’s narration in Edward’s final hours. Edward coughs up his own wedding ring just as the fish he fought with over forty years previously had done. This scene connects and relates Edward to the uncatchable fish, giving the fish symbolic importance in that it represents Edward himself. When he gives the ring back to his wife, it comes his entire legacy; every story he told, every adventure he underwent, and every friend he made, he hands over to his family; because even though every hero dies, their stories can live on.
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