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While William enjoys many of the various stories his father tells him as a young child, William’s enjoyment of them as an adult gradually morphs into intense embarrassment and annoyance to eventually resentment. This is evident from William’s reaction in the very beginning of Burton’s film to hearing his father utilize his stories in public speaking (Burton 0:5:35). It is only with the inevitable death of his father that finally forces William to make some effort to repair the damage his relationship with his father has suffered with throughout the three years that they have gone not speaking to one another. While both Burton and Wallace’s William attempt to reconcile with his dying father, the motives to achieve this is different from Daniel Wallace to Tim Burton. In the novel, Wallace uses William’s attempt to reconcile and understand his father’s motives for story-telling is what brings the two men to reestablish the desired relationship that they both wish to have with each other. In comparison to the Wallace’s novel, Tim Burton elects to utilize William’s desire to finally uncover the ‘truth’ from his father’s many mythical stories before he dies to bring them together at the end of the film. Also with Burton’s introduction of William’s pregnant wife serves as motivation for William to reconnect with his father; fearful that he himself will not
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Director Tim Burton lost both his parents in a relatively close span from one another causing him to initially accept the job to make a film from Wallace’s novel. Similarly, screenwriter John August admitted that he felt something similar to William’s wide array of emotions when his own father died and incorporated that raw emotion into his scriptwriting. These feelings are significant because people commonly wonder near the end of someone’s life if they truly did understand and know the man or woman — their hopes, dream, and failures — that built and destroyed them. For William, this is even more difficult because he truly feels that he did not know his mystic father, and despite his best efforts, cannot help but feel some animosity towards his father who has been absent for most of his life. William is only able to finally forgive and grasp who that man his father is after many years of barely concealed resentment and hidden anguish of not understanding his father and the reasoning for retelling his unlikely stories. At the end of both the Burton’s film and Wallace’s novel, William’s final, but most significant action done for his dying father is ultimately done out of love for Edward, and with it comes the desperate reconciliation that they both need.
Director Tim Burton lost both his parents in a relatively close span from one another causing him to initially accept the job to make a film from Wallace’s novel. Similarly, screenwriter John August admitted that he felt something similar to William’s wide array of emotions when his own father died and incorporated that raw emotion into his scriptwriting. These feelings are significant because people commonly wonder near the end of someone’s life if they truly did understand and know the man or woman — their hopes, dream, and failures — that built and destroyed them. For William, this is even more difficult because he truly feels that he did not know his mystic father, and despite his best efforts, cannot help but feel some animosity towards his father who has been absent for most of his life. William is only able to finally forgive and grasp who that man his father is after many years of barely concealed resentment and hidden anguish of not understanding his father and the reasoning for retelling his unlikely stories. At the end of both the Burton’s film and Wallace’s novel, William’s final, but most significant action done for his dying father is ultimately done out of love for Edward, and with it comes the desperate reconciliation that they both need.