Kevin Stevens

ATH 111

March 13, 2016

                                                Milestone Two

            The film I chose for my final project is BIG FISH. It is directed by Tom Burton, and take place in the 1950 to the 2000 era. The film focuses on a father Edward Bloom and his son William Bloom. Most of Williams’s life his father always told him stories that were fascinating as a youth, the stories consisted of magic, werewolves, witches and giants. As William grew older and older and his father shared these stories to everyone around William, causing William to be embarrassed and start to question his father’s stories and consider them as lies.

It isn’t until Williams’s father’s death does William figure out that his father’s stories were not lies but in fact truth that was stretched to make the people that Edward had met throughout his life more legendary and magical. It wasn’t about the stories it was about the little people in them and how they were bigger than anything in Edwards’s eyes.

            The film dictate how life in the 1950’s was, it was more suburban Its economy was booming, with new cars, suburban houses and other consumer goods that were available to more people than ever before, the industries where becoming bigger and better, providing more opportunities for employment. In the film Edward Bloom told a story about how he met a giant who was terrorizing the local people, everyone was scared. He agreed to get rid of him and accepted the risk of death if he couldn’t. While talking with the giant he found that the giant was just hungry and the town had very little food for him, Edward convince the giant that he wasn’t too big for the town but the town was too small for him, so the giant decided to leave with Edward by his side.

            While leaving town, Edward decided to take a short cut out of town, and would meet up with the giant up ahead. While wondering the unmarked road that didn’t get travel, Edward came upon a town called Spectra, here the people lived in harmony, and they were simple folk who had everything they needed to live a peaceful life. Here he met the only person that had left the town he and the giant had. A poet who fell in love with the town and decided to stay and write. While convinced there was more that Edward had to do in his life, he decided to leave the town, the townsfolk tried to sway him to stay but he told them there was more out in the world and there was many possibilities to explore, and so he left.

            Later Edward would visit later in his life, while visiting, he noticed the town was not quite like he had remembered it. With his parting words of other opportunities in the world, he had somehowconvinced some of the local folks that there was more they were missing out in the world when he was there in his younger years. With the some of the townsfolk leaving they had brought back with them greed and destruction and chaos. Causing the stores to close, the buildings to decay as well as the people to change. This relates how in today’s times, things like this have happened. With places like Detroit becoming modern ghost towns, from the industries shutting down and causing the local people to lose their jobs and have to move their families away from their homes in order to find work elsewhere.

This is the modernization of the film, how the people where in Edwards youth were more civilized, they governed themselves and everyone had a say, once he left and came back the town had completely gone the other way causing families to leave, businesses go out of business, and no government to bring order. What ended up happening was Edward realized it was his doing, so he bought all the land in the town and fixed it back to the way it was, the deal was he owned it but the townspeople stayed and did what they had always done to make the place magical.

Another story from Edward Bloom that goes with the modes of production and distribution is when Edwards meets back up with the giant and as they travel, they come upon a traveling circus, while watching the show from the stands, the ring master warns the crowd of what they are about to see, the most dangerous and uncontrollable giant. Edward intervenes with the ring master by whistling, this motions for the show lights to pin on him, he then signals for them to move to the entrance to the tent, displaying his friend the giant. This stuns the show giant as he is nothing compared to Edwards friend giant, he walks off stage. The show ends and the ring master stands there staring at the giant with aww. While this happens and the crowd is dispersing from the tent, Edward notices a blond woman exiting out, time stands still and Edward falls instantly in love, he wants to know who she is and how to find her, the ring master makes him a deal, the giants signs on to the circus and Edward works for him, and he will tell him.

            Every week the ring master gives Edward a clue about the mysterious female, sharing with him a little bit at a time, after 3 years of working for the circus for free only receiving bits and pieces of the girl Edward is in love with, something happens one night. As Edward is thinking about the clues he’s gathered and wondering about his love, he hears a commotion coming from the ring masters tent, as he opens the door to the trailer a wolf jumps out at him, Edwards instincts is to kill  it, but another circus performer stops him, and explains who it is, the ring master. He decided to not kill him, the next day the ring master thanks him for not harming him in his wolf form, he gives Edward the final clue of the female, her name as well as where she lives.

            Why this story relates to the modes of production and distribution is because, Edward was producing a labor for the circus and in return was not receiving a contribution of profit but more of a social contribution, he became good friends with the circus performers, creating a family environment, as well as gaining the notion of finding his true love. Edward was able to convince people to come to the show by selling them the notion of it being the most legendary circus ever, this created more people to flock to the show, producing the circus to profit more and more, he was able to bring Siamese twins into the circus from Korea, when he was drafted into the military and deployed during the Korean war.

            And with globalization within the film, I mentioned the story of when Edward returned to the town of Spectra and found the once beautiful town in rambles and decay and many of the town’s people gone. What I didn’t tell you was how he came back to the town. Later on in Edwards life he got to meet the love of his life and convinced her to marry him, soon after he was drafted into the military and was deployed during the Korean War where he met the Siamese Twins at a theatrical show for the Korean Troops, where he landed wrongly during his parachuting exit into Korea. While he was behind enemy lines and no way to reach any other military members, he convinced the Siamese twins to help get him home and promised them a shot at show business (that’s how they ended up at the circus).

            With no word from Edward the military considered him dead after 4 months. Finally when Edward did show up, it was hard for a declared dead guy to find any work. When an opportunity of sales fell to him, so he took to the road. Sales were doing good, while stopping to cash a check at the bank, Edwards shocked to see the poet that he had met in Spectra, they talk some, when the poet tells Edwards he’s robbing the place and he’s helping. Edwards told to get the cash out of the safe, upon doing so, he realizes there is no money in it, and the clerk tells him the bank is bankrupt. Edward and the poet flee. He tells the poet what he had found at the bank and the poets decides that the real money is in Wall Street, so Edward and the poet part ways, while traveling some more, he got caught up in a nasty storm that prevented him from seeing where he was going, he ended up crashing into a lake and upon swimming out of it, realized he was back in Spectra, which was now in shambles. This is how Edward got back to Spectra.

            How this part of the story ties into globalization is, while back in Spectra, he decides to buy all the land around Spectra, and with money given to him from the poet who made millions on Wall Street, Edward was able to bring the town back from devastation, while he owned the land, the towns folk didn’t need to pay him, they just needed to continue what they have always done. While rebuilding the town, he was able to modernize it, but still keep it the same traditions, while opening the town to tourism, and providing a capitalized Spectra.

            Throughout the stories of Edward Bloom life as he tells it, he is met with all kinds of fascinating and legendary events, he faces modernization, globalization and modes of production and distribution throughout his life, all while meeting great people to help and guide him, to each adventure. Each story becomes bigger than the last. Upon his death his son realizes his father’s stories where not lies but stretched to make the people in them and the stories legendary.

References

Encyclopedia. (2008). Mode of Production (International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences ed.). Thomson Gale.

HISTORY. (2010). History.com The 1950’s. Retrieved march 13, 2016

TIME. (2016). TIME Detroit: Now a ghost town. Retrieved march 13, 2016

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