BIG FISH
The Importance of
Storytelling
Big Fish
“There are some fish that cannot be caught….because they are touched with
something extra.”-Edward Bloom
“When telling the story of my father’s life it is impossible to separate fact from
fiction”.....”best way to tell it is the way he told me” -William Bloom
*We should be thinking about the legends in our life
*Are there any stories that we take for granted?
Why Do We Tell Stories?
*Why is this important?
→ Is it just embellishing the truth or conveying something deeper?
Father/Son Relationship
What do you notice about Edward and William’s relationship?
--What is the story of the day when William was born? What is the actual factual
story?
**Would you want to know the facts or the story? Why?
-What condition is Edward in? What does William want from his father?
William→ becoming a parent (learn from the best)
**The need for truth→ end of childhood
Do we need absolute truth to trust?
Opening Scene(s)
**What is the story Edward is telling throughout his son’s milestones?
→ How does Edward finally catch the “Big Fish”?
what does the ring symbolize? : fidelity
→ What do you think his father is really trying to teach him?
John 10:1-21
Edward Bloom’s Childhood
“Most people take their time growing up….I found myself in a hurry to grow up”
*Edward confined to a bed for three years: what about the goldfish?
Town of Ashton
→ when have we outgrew our surroundings? Felt we didn’t belong?
**What is the story with the witch?
--what do they find out? Don Price and the other boy
How do we understand this?
Edward and Karl:
Edward was the biggest thing in town until a stranger came….
Does this story remind you of another story?
1 Samuel 17
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
What do we learn?
Important themes you should know:
*Reconciliation of father-son relationship (when in our lives have we needed
reconciliation)
*Gestures of love (when did we see real expressisons of love in the film)
*Story vs. truth (do we need all exact facts to believe? is a story a lie?)
*Release of anger and acceptance (when do we need to let go in order to move on?)
*Finish the story (when a re we challenged to be like our parents/be our own person)
Important quotes
Senior Ed Bloom: They say when you meet the love of your life, time stops, and that's true. What they don't tell
you is that when it starts again, it moves extra fast to catch up.
Will Bloom: A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They live on after him, and in that
way he becomes immortal.
Senior Ed Bloom: There's a time when a man needs to fight, and a time when he needs to accept that his destiny is
lost... the ship has sailed and only a fool would continue. Truth is... I've always been a fool.
Senior Ed Bloom: Sometimes, the only way to catch an uncatchable woman is to offer her a wedding ring.
Important Quotes cont...
[When meeting young Sandra Templeton for the first time]
Young Ed Bloom: You don't know me but my name is Edward Bloom and I love you.
[first lines]
Young Ed Bloom: There are some fish that cannot be caught. It's not that they are faster or stronger than other
fish, they're just touched by something extra.
[last lines]
Will Bloom: That was my father's final joke, I guess. A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the
stories. They live on after him. And in that way he becomes immortal.
Will Bloom: Have you ever heard a joke so many times you've forgotten why it's funny? And then you hear it again
and suddenly it's new. You remember why you loved it in the first place.
Important Quotes cont...
Karl: I don't want to eat you. I just get so hungry. I'm just too big.
Young Ed Bloom: Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you're not too big? That maybe this place is just too
small?
Ed Bloom (Age 10): I was thinking about death and all. About seeing how you're gonna die. I mean, on one hand,
if dying was all you thought about, it could kind of screw you up. But it could kind of help you, couldn't it? Because
you'd know that everything else you can survive.
Will Bloom: 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.
Important Quotes cont...
Senior Ed Bloom: I've been nothin' but myself since the day I was born, and if you can't see that it's your failin',
not mine.
Will Bloom: In telling the story of my father's life, it's impossible to separate fact from fiction, the man from the
myth. The best I can do is to tell it the way he told me. It doesn't always make sense and most of it never
happened... but that's what kind of story this is.
Senior Ed Bloom: Most men, they'll tell you a story straight through. It won't be complicated, but it won't be
interesting either.
Important Quotes cont...
Will Bloom: You become what you always were - a very big fish.
Young Ed Bloom: [voice over narration] It occurred to me then, that perhaps the reason for my growth was I was
intended for larger things. After all, a giant man can't have an ordinary-sized life.
Young Ed Bloom: She said that the biggest fish in the river gets that way by never being caught.
Amos Calloway: You were a big fish in a small pond, but this here is the ocean and your drownin'. Take my advice,
go back to Puddleville; you'll be happy there.
Biblical Characters
Edward Bloom : at the end of his life→ Redemption and glory ( Jesus)
Josephine (William’s wife) → believes, supports (Mary Magdala)
William Bloom: began to believe at the funeral (Thomas)
Don Price: threatened by Edward, wanted to defeat him (Jewish authorities)
William Bloom: finished the story to continue the legacy (Peter)
Important References
**Storytelling : Jesus and parables
***David and Goliath
****Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken”