Joel B.
AP English Period 3
9/20/10
Archetypes in Big Fish
Throughout the movie “Big Fish” there were many archetypes used to depict the underlying meaning of the film. Not only were there the basic form of archetypes found, there was also archetypal characters and situation archetypes that helped the viewer understand what the movie was all about. Through the use of these archetypes I was able to realize that Edward Bloom was the Big Fish and the story of his journey to be free.
The archetypes that I found throughout the movie helped me understand what the producer was trying to convey. One of the archetypes was the fish which means divine creation and life which made me realize how Edward Bloom brought life to everyone who he came in contact with. Another archetype I realized was the woods and the haunted road which meant fear, evil, and darkness. I also discovered that the woods were like Edward’s life with all the troubles and evil that he had to face. Then he reaches the Town of Spectre, another archetype which I believed meant heaven, and realizes that it wasn’t his time to be there yet. However, at the end of the movie Edward finally reaches heaven which was the river. The river means continuous life and the transitional phase in the cycle of life and that’s why the fish swam off into the river at the end showing that all that Edward Bloom was still lives on.
The archetypal characters that I found in the movie were the hero, soul mate, and a variety of helpers. The hero was obvious from the very beginning of the film with Edward Bloom always being the one in control and being a larger than life character. In addition to the hero, there was the soul mate who I conveyed as Edward Bloom and Sandra Templeton because as soon as Edward saw her face he completely fell in love saying that she was the one he was going to marry. The helpers were a very significant archetypal character in the movie because without these people Edward would have faced so much more trouble. Beginning with the Vietnamese twins where they helped him escape from Vietnam without being caught to the Ringmaster with him aiding to find the love of Edward’s life to the Giant helping him with the every second troubles he had to face. All of these archetypal characters had a very big impact on the movie making it easier as the viewer to understand what the purpose of the movie really was.
Contributing also to the underlying meaning of the movie was the situation archetypes. The main ones that I found were The Journey, Father and Son Conflict, and Death and Rebirth. The journey really describes what the whole movie was about because it wanted viewers to see how life is about the journey and the people you come in contact with. All throughout the movie the father and son were in conflict, with the son not believing that his father’s stories were true. This had an important impact on the movie because the viewer didn’t know which side to believe until the very end creating a sense of unknown and eagerness to find out the truth. However in the end of the movie, as Edward Bloom dies, his son carries on his legend of telling his children the stories that his father was so famous for. This death and rebirth explains that even though Edward Bloom passed away his experiences and his stories will be reborn through his son and last forever.
Without fully understanding what these archetypes mean, I believe the viewer would miss much of the message in this movie. Archetypes help the reader or the viewers get closer to fully understanding what the author or producers want their work to portray. In being knowledgeable of the archetypes and what they mean I not only get to know how they impact the film as a whole but also what the producer was trying to convey. I am confident now that I understand the movie in a totally different way that I thought was possible which has also grown my knowledge of archetypes and the impact they have on a piece of work.
