#11 Michael Romett - Big Fish

In this film we see a boy who grows up listening to the stories that his dad tells him repeatedly. This is what he knows his dad as, a storyteller. A common theme that surrounds this movie is the idea of fantasy. His dad tells the stories and most people like to hear them because they have a lot of fantasy and unrealistic details thrown into them. It is not until the end that we find out that the stories were actually true. The details that were surrounding them were slightly skewed, but the people that his father talked about and the main ideas were true, which we see at the end of the film when all of the members of the stories are attending the funeral. We find out that his father has lived a life of telling stories and the stories are what tells his life. When he is on his death bed he asks his son to do one thing and to take him to the river, where we find out that all of the people who have any relation to him are waiting to see him off into the lake, as he is characterized as the Big Fish that he has been his whole life. His son now realizes that all of the stories that Edward had told are true, and everyone was there to help him finish the way the story ends. Edward goes in peace knowing that now that his son is a believer in what he has done his whole life, that his stories will never die, which we see when Will has a son of his own and starts to tell the stories to him. Fantasy is not just a characteristic of children and their world. Fantasy is all around us today and even as adults, it is good to take a step back and realize that the ideals that have made us who we are today are important and mean something not only to us but to others around us. What we make of ourselves and friendships that are made are important and stories are how to keep them alive.