Is ‘Big Fish’ a character-driven narrative, or does the narrative shape the characters?

An analysis into how mise-en-scene, narrative, characters, Todorov, Propp and dialogue can impact on how a film is portrayed to the audience.

‘Big Fish’ is an American fantasy adventure film that was released in 2003, directed by Tim Burton and stars Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney as they share the role of the main character, Edward Bloom. The film tells the story of the former traveling salesman from Southern America, with arguably the greatest gift of all, storytelling. Bloom now lies in bed suffering from cancer; after hearing the dreadful news, Edward Bloom’s estranged son, Will, and his wife travel to his parent’s home as Scott attempts to mend their distanced relationship and begins to hear the tall tales of his father’s eventful life as a young adult for the final time.

In this piece of writing I will answer the question “is ‘Big Fish’ a character-driven narrative, or does the narrative shape the characters?” by using my own knowledge and understanding as well as research I have collected. I will also refer to the elements of mise-en-scene, the narrative of the story, the characters in the movie, the Todorov system, the Propp method and some quotations that I have picked up on throughout the film to aid my answer.

In the film ‘Big Fish’ there are plenty of scenes where the mise-en-scene creates a surreal effect for the audience, opposed to the sense of realism in most other movies. For example, in this scene of the movie, where Edward discovers the tiny town of Spectre, the use of mise-en-scene is to create a dream-like environment:

In this screenshot taken from the movie you can see the view of the little town of Spectre. The environment the mise-en-scene creates is close to perfection – everything looks like it belongs to be where it is, and is almost child-like, like a small play set young children may have. The houses look dainty and are perfectly in line with one another. The grass is a bright shade of green with no roads to obstruct the view and the sun in shinning in a clear blue sky with no clouds to block out the brightness. Everything this image shows us screams ‘dream’, the environment seems too good to be true – creating a sense of surrealism for the audience. 

The feeling of surrealism is carried on into this shot, taken a short while after the first, where the people of Spectre are encouraging Edward to stay:

Another factor of mise-en-scene used in this shot to represent a dream-like feel is the costumes. The people surrounding Edward are all dressed in plain and simple clothes – to represent the plain and simple lives they live and to show that the society they live in is not progressing, nor regressing but staying exactly the same. However, Edward is seen wearing a bright red shirt – completely opposite to the pastel colours worn by the inhabitants of Spectre. This comparison is to show the audience that Edward does not belong in Spectre and he is very different from those who do.

A different factor of mise-en-scene that links to the surrealism of the shot is the lighting. The lighting is artificial and greatly high key, although the environment tells the audience it is night-time. Dreams occur during sleep at night, another reference to the audience that this may not be the real world, but one of Edward’s dreams. The lighting makes the environment look misty and the people of Spectre look airbrushed and perfect, matching the surroundings they live in, whereas Edward is very much in focus – again suggesting that he does not belong there.

The use of mise-en-scene in the scenes I have described tell the audience that the narrative is shaping its characters – Edward’s narrative is telling the story and therefore creating the scenes we see and the characters, how Edward wants us to see them.

In the film ‘Big Fish’, Tim Burton uses a very strong narrative structure to differentiate between the real world and Edward’s fanatical tales. The narrative in the movie jumps from the present day to Edward’s past stories producing a fairy-tale narrative in the majority of the film, as we explore the past as Edward wants us to. As it is Edward that is telling the audience all about his past, the narrative once again is structuring the characters – Edward describes the scenes and the characters as he wants us to see them, not how they really happened.

The characters in the film play a huge part in how the narrative is set out. Edward bloom is portrayed as a storyteller and the way the character is expected to shape the story is by telling his own, the narrative we follow, how he wants us to see them. Edward’s son, Will, grows up hating the way his father has a habit of turning every factual event into an elaborate tale and begins to distance himself from his father and his ‘lies’.

Edward’s wife is very acceptable of the tales her husband tells and her reaction to his stories makes the audience question whether her husband is actually telling the truth or whether she just goes along with the stories to keep him happy.

Will’s wife expresses a keen interest in the stories her father-in-law likes to share and insists of hearing them while he is laid up in bed at the family home.

In the film the characters are created to display the narrative; for example, without Will’s wife insisting on hearing Edward’s tales, the audience in turn would not be able to hear them either and if Edward’s wife did not accept the stories with such ease, Edward would possibly never have expressed them – missing out on the majority of the plot and the dream-like atmosphere that the stories create. I believe that, in this case, the film is a character-driven narrative – the characters are determining where the story progresses and how it does so.

I believe the plot of the film follows the method of Todorov: starting with the equilibrium followed by the disruption then ending with the restoration.

In ‘Big Fish’, I believe the equilibrium is where Edward is telling his son, Scott, bedtime stories, which he believes in deeply, following the typical role of a father and a young child at bedtime:

Not long after the above scene, the disruption takes place. The disruption consists of Edward and Scott having an argument on the night of Will’s wedding – where Edward once again takes centre stage and tells one of his favourite tales, causing Scott to flip and tell his father that he has had enough of his ‘lies’:

The restoration occurs right at the end of the film, where the roles switch and Will begins to tell his father the story of how he dies, while Edward lies in a hospital bed. Will slowly begins to understand why his father exaggerates the truth and creates a tale of his own to put his father to rest. The peace between the father and son is finally restored as Edward dies happy with Will fulfilling his final tale:

I believe that in the case of the Todorov system, the narrative shapes the characters – the narrative of the film shows us how the director wants us to see the characters. Edward Bloom describes the stories in such a way that we are not seeing the truth, but we are seeing what Edward wants us to: an elaborated version.

In the movie ‘Big Fish’ the method of shaping the characters over certain roles is established through the use of the Vladimir Propp method:

The hero being Edward Bloom – the main character on a journey to experience the rest of the world, helping out people and getting his own way as he progresses.

The villain being his son, Will – Will gets in the way of Edward telling his stories by passing them off as just ‘lies’ and demanding the true, factual version, not the elaborated ones that Edward loves to tell.

The heroine being his wife, Sandra – Edward works for years in a circus just to receive information on Sandra, the information is offered as a reward for his work.

The father figure being the circus manager – offers Edward information on Sandra so that he can find her in reward for working on the circus.

The helper being the son’s wife – by insisting on hearing Edward’s stories, the audience can relive them as Edward describes.

The donor being Sandra, Edward’s wife – Sandra gives Edward the attention and acceptance of his tales that he needs to feel comfortable enough to tell them over and over again.

I believe that the Propp method shows that the film ‘Big Fish’ is a character-driven narrative, where the characters are the cause of the narrative and show the film how the characters wish for it to be shown and told how they want it to be told from the view point of Edward Bloom.

Throughout the film ‘Big Fish’ there are many quotations which describe the meaning behind some of the things Edward does and the storyline as a whole. One of these quotations is “you’re quite a catch” – “a catch” is a reference we see in fishing when the fisherman has caught a fish, linking to one of the stories we hear Edward talk about at several different points throughout the film. Towards the end of the movie, when Edward is dying, we see him turn into the fish he once described at the start – a never-ending cycle of Edward Bloom that will live on long after his death. A second quotation is “an adventure as big as life itself” – during the film we see Edward wanting to leave the small town he grew up in and start his adventure, meeting many different people along the way – the journey Edward goes on shapes his life from there on in; for example, discovering Spectre, working in the circus and meeting his wife. A third quotation is “you were a big fish in a small pond but this is the ocean and you’re drowning” – the start of the quotation describes Edward’s position in the town he originally grew up in, Ashton. In Ashton Edward was seen as a hero by many of the inhabitants and is even given a key to the town when he decides to leave, showing the audience just how much impact he had on the little town. The second part of the quotation shows how Edward imagined that his adventure would be just like his life in Ashton, easy. However, Edward is soon hit with the reality that actually he will have to work a lot harder to get what he wants; for example, working in the circus for several years and using many different methods to get Sandra to marry him.

I believe that these quotations show that the narrative very much shapes the characters – the events that Edward Bloom is faced with shape how his future is going to be affected.

In this piece of writing I have used my own knowledge and research to explore the question “is ‘Big Fish’ a character-driven narrative, or does the narrative shape the characters?” and by referring to the elements of mise-en-scene, the narrative of the story, the characters in the movie, the Todorov system, the Propp method and some quotations that I have picked up on throughout the film.

In conclusion, looking at all the different elements I have written about, I believe that the film ‘Big Fish’ is a film where the narrative shapes the characters opposed to a character-driven narrative. This is because that although the characters and the Propp method portray to me that the film is a character-driven narrative, the mise-en-scene, the narrative, the Todorov system and the quotations shows how the narrative surrounding the stories shapes the characters as the film progresses.