In the movie Big Fish, Edward Bloom is similar to that of a mythological hero seen in Greek stories. He was bigger than life, filled with fantastical adventures and had a flair for telling tall tales. Due to this, it is often difficult for those near him to decipher fact from fiction and reality from myth. This concept of myth reflects the ideas of Bruce Lincoln, who, like Edward’s son William, also attempts to reconcile the facts and fictions of myths.
Edward saw himself as a big fish in a small pond. He was an adventurer meant for bigger things than the small town he grew up in, and his stories reflected that. According to his tales, from birth to death, Edward was special and different. In his stories, he met a witch, exhibit an unnatural …show more content…
So, if myths are a system of ideals, then stories are reflections of those ideals. Lincoln states that while myths are fictitious in nature, they still reflect parts of an ideological truth. According to him, scholarship and myths are not different from each other. Lincoln defines scholarship as “myths with footnotes” (Lincoln 209). The film Big Fish, from its title to its characters, exemplifies the concept of myth. Edward enjoy telling tall tales that reflects his ideas about himself and the world around him. In one of his story, he talks about catching a large catfish. Edward made the fish into a myth through his story telling. It became an extraordinary creature that was “touched by something extra” (Burton). For Edward, the fish was a symbol of himself, someone filled with something extra, hence the title of the film. While his father may be the exemplification of myth, William is the exemplification of scholarship in Lincoln’s article. The article states that scholarship “implies and depends upon debate wherein one experience the scrutiny of others who are able to point to data and invoke established principles of method” (Lincoln 208). William scrutinizes his father’s myths and therein provide the footnotes for
Edward saw himself as a big fish in a small pond. He was an adventurer meant for bigger things than the small town he grew up in, and his stories reflected that. According to his tales, from birth to death, Edward was special and different. In his stories, he met a witch, exhibit an unnatural …show more content…
So, if myths are a system of ideals, then stories are reflections of those ideals. Lincoln states that while myths are fictitious in nature, they still reflect parts of an ideological truth. According to him, scholarship and myths are not different from each other. Lincoln defines scholarship as “myths with footnotes” (Lincoln 209). The film Big Fish, from its title to its characters, exemplifies the concept of myth. Edward enjoy telling tall tales that reflects his ideas about himself and the world around him. In one of his story, he talks about catching a large catfish. Edward made the fish into a myth through his story telling. It became an extraordinary creature that was “touched by something extra” (Burton). For Edward, the fish was a symbol of himself, someone filled with something extra, hence the title of the film. While his father may be the exemplification of myth, William is the exemplification of scholarship in Lincoln’s article. The article states that scholarship “implies and depends upon debate wherein one experience the scrutiny of others who are able to point to data and invoke established principles of method” (Lincoln 208). William scrutinizes his father’s myths and therein provide the footnotes for