“Big Fish” Movie and Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” Essay

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

There is a movie that impressed me a lot recently. It is Tim Burton’s Big Fish, telling a story about a man, Edward Bloom, who adores telling made-up stories about his life, and nobody trusts those stories, especially his son Will. The last one is so disappointed with his father’s passion for telling fairy tales about his life that he doesn’t talk to him for a long time and blame him for his attitude. According to Will’s opinion, his father’s attitude made Will unable to trust other people. At the end of Edward’s life, his son realizes that his father mostly told the truth but exaggerated his stories to make them brighter.

While watching this movie, I was trying to compare its main ideas with Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The intention of his poetry can be defined with just four lines, which can obviously be connected to the sense of his poetry in general.

My intention is to tell of bodies changed

To different forms; the gods, who made the changes,

Will help me — or I hope so — with a poem

That runs from the world’s beginning to our own days (Ovid 29).

Just like Ovid in his Metamorphoses, the main character in Big Fish sees the sense of his life in telling stories about people and events that can be changed to different forms. Similar to Metamorphoses, where Ovid tells a mythological story starting with the creation of the world and ending with his own time, Edward tells the story of his own life. While Ovid’s narration starts with the creation of the world and ends with his own time, Bloom states the story, where his friend Karl is a giant, dancers Ping and Jing are Siamese twins, and Amos, the girl he was in love with, is a werewolf.

However, there is a difference in the way that Edward tells his stories. All the characters in Metamorphoses are made up of, for example, gods. In a Big Fish, though, the main characters are only overstated. In my opinion, the only exception is Amos, a werewolf. The last one is obviously a made-up mythological character, which can not be just exaggerated.

As for the rest of the characters in the movie, Edward’s son finds out in the end that his father was mostly telling the truth. Will meets his father’s friends near the river, where everyone comes to say goodbye to his father. Karl appears to be really tall for a regular man -7 feet, 6 inches. As for Ping and Jing, they are twins from Siam in Asia, but not Siamese twins. These facts make Will believe that his father’s stories have sense. Moreover, he later thinks they are brilliant. That is why he decides to retell them to his son after his father’s death.

In both Metamorphoses and a Big Fish, the authors decided to analyze transformations using exaggerations. Ovid uses mythological characters and gods in his work. For example, he tells the story of Jupiter, who sends floods to the world. Edward tells more down-to-earth stories, like one in which he robs a bank and this bank appeared to be bankrupt.

In general, the sense of both works is in the idea of change. All of us can see transformations around: water becomes ice, baby grows up, leaves become yellow. Therefore, both authors want to tell us in similar ways that everything in the world experiences changes, goes from one state to another. This main idea of transformation unites Metamorphoses and a Big Fish.

Works Cited

Ovid, Innes Mary M. The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Innes Classics Series. London: Penguin Classics, 1955.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2021, December 30). "Big Fish" Movie and Ovid's "Metamorphoses". https://ivypanda.com/essays/big-fish-movie-and-ovids-metamorphoses/

Work Cited

"Big Fish" Movie and Ovid's "Metamorphoses." IvyPanda, 30 Dec. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/big-fish-movie-and-ovids-metamorphoses/.

References

IvyPanda. (2021) '"Big Fish" Movie and Ovid's "Metamorphoses"'. 30 December.

References

IvyPanda. 2021. "Big Fish" Movie and Ovid's "Metamorphoses." December 30, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/big-fish-movie-and-ovids-metamorphoses/.

1. IvyPanda. "Big Fish" Movie and Ovid's "Metamorphoses." December 30, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/big-fish-movie-and-ovids-metamorphoses/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "Big Fish" Movie and Ovid's "Metamorphoses." December 30, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/big-fish-movie-and-ovids-metamorphoses/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
Privacy Settings

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Required Cookies & Technologies
Always active

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Site Customization

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy.

Personalized Advertising

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

1 / 1