Dissecting the Importance of Human’s Legacy: a Case Study of Tim Burton’s Big Fish

What was the last movie that made you cry the most?

The answer could vary depending on how sensitive you consider yourself to be. Perhaps you remember you wept yourself out for Polanski’s heartbreaking translation of the holocaust in The Pianist, or maybe the very dark Ghibli’s rendetion of world war in The Grave of Fireflies. The line is there, though, tragedy, heartbreak, loss… Sounds like a reasonable equation for tear-jerking movies, no?

I wouldn’t object - but for me, the most a movie ever made me cry is the lightest, brightest (literally, when you compare to Edward Scissorhands) work of Tim Burton - Big Fish.

The movie tells a story of Edward Bloom and his son, Will. Upon receiving the news of his dying father, Will and his wife traveled back to the US. About starting a family on his own, Will confronted his father and their distant-relationship. This is partly on the blame of Edward’s continuous impossible story-telling of his own life - involving giant creatures and monsters - that had embarrassed Will and made him feel like he never actually knew his father at all. 

The movie follows Edward’s life from all those tall-tales and I’m telling you, despite the preceding background, it’s all bright and beautiful. You’ll find yourself in a dreamy town where all the people don’t wear shoes, or circus where time stopped when Edward met the love of his life, or even an endless field of daffodils where the famous scene below occurs;

Sandra Bloom: You don't even know me.

Young Ed Bloom: I have the rest of my life to find out.

 - I won’t spill much because if you haven’t, it’s best that you watch it for yourself.

For me, Big Fish destroys all my standard for movies. I don’t usually enjoy fantasy movies, or cheesy lines, or larger-than-life fiction. But Tim Burton masterfully blurs the line between all that with reality. Throughout the movie, we might find ourselves on Will’s side. That can’t be true, one might exclaim. Why isn’t this old man just give up and tell the plain truth?

But you know what, reaching the end of the movie - a scene where all characters in Edward’s story came and said farewell with loving faces - I find myself not even caring whether it’s true or not. 

Will to Edward: Everybody's there, and I mean everybody. And the strange thing is, there's not a sad face to be found, everyone's just so happy to see you.

The real question that emerged suddenly, abruptly found myself off guard as the credit rolled was:

How would you like to be remembered when you die? How many lives that you feel you have touched?

I remember upon finishing the movie, I went to the bathroom and in the dark I thought about those questions to myself, and I kept quite a couple of days after that.

No, the movie is not telling you to be the next Einstein. Or Alan Turing. Or anyone legendary for that matter. Simplify it to its atom, I believe it’s more of a lowkey realization that, we might be just one person in this 7 billion populated earth, but you can be a good person nonetheless and leave positive impacts to everyone you meet. Well, maybe not everyone, but you still goddamn impactful to those around you and you know what - better have as many as you can. Just like in Edward’s case, his legacy was his adventure, his story, the people he had met along the way...

I guess growing up in a devoted Muslim community, it resonates with the ultimate hadits,

خَيْرُ الناسِ أَنْفَعُهُمْ لِلناسِ

“The best of humans is he who is most beneficial to them.”

Because time is the fairest thing out there and each of us have our own fair share of twenty-four hours per day and we know that we all will die (at the time this piece is written, death is still an unquestionable, inescapable way of human’s life). Now, if power is temporary and wealth can only bring you a better quality casket, wouldn’t you prefer to just see some heart-warming faces on your last day on earth, grateful for all the positive things that you have shared, and while we might not know what the purpose of life is... at least we have left a legacy, to put meanings in the life of the people we love?