Blog Four - Archetypes and Big Fish

We have devoted a lot of time to studying and recognizing archetypes these past few weeks in class.  The movie we watched in class, Big Fish, contains tons of archetypes, many of which are easily understood and recognizable.

The most common archetype in this film is, as the title suggests, a big fish.  A fish resembles divine creation and life, while the big size of it shows that it has an important role in this world.  As we view the film, we learn that Edward Bloom becomes the big fish he always sought after.  He had an important role in the world, greatly affecting those around him.  In certain parts of the film, bones are scattered across the ground, representing the mortality of humans and reminding us that we must continue pressing forward in the life cycle eventually going through that transition from mortality here on earth to immortality in the next life in heaven.  During the story of his death, we learn that he is dropped into a river and becomes the big fish.  Rivers represent heaven, a transition in the life cycle, and continuous life.  While he himself dies and passes on to heaven, his life continues as the river through his stories.  Edward Bloom lives on and his son carries on the intriguing stories and lessons of his life.

Not only are countless archetypal symbols such as the big fish, river, darkness, forest, and choosing between split roads depicted, but other aspects of archetypes are also evident in the film. We see examples of archetypal characters such as the hero and the soul mate. Edward Bloom takes on the role as an archetypal hero. In  all of his adventures he depicts himself as larger than life, from being the hero that saved his small town of Ashton from what they thought to be a monstrous giant, to successfully retrieving the top secret files in WWII.  He is always achieving things which many feel are extraordinary and quite implausible if not completely impossible.

Just as the archetypes of “Big Fish” supply so much more meaning to the film, which otherwise would have been a jumble of random entertaining stories, they can supply much more meaning to any other piece of literature they are in. With archetypes, we are able to look deeper and discover new meanings created with each new archetypal symbol or idea introduced.

- Chad L.