Big Fish

I have discovered a fascination for Tim Burton films. I don't think they're necessarily all that spectacular, but they're practically guaranteed to be every last bit of interesting.

My last encounter with a Tim Burton film was Big Fish. I don't even know where to start in sketching it out..

It is a myriad of stories all interconnected. There are so many different story lines you could focus on-- 

a dying man

a lost son

a love story

a million different deeper meanings

I think each person is drawn to different aspects of the movie.

They see their own life in the lives of the characters.

Here's what I saw:

Some of these quotes I'll be taking out of their context and twisting them to fit my thoughts a little bit but I hope that it will come out mostly making sense.

If it doesn't, well, just pretend I'm teaming up with Tim Burton.

"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."

There are moments in life when we get caught up in the moment. When for a period of time, everything is perfect and your greatest dreams are standing right in front of you. Looking back on it, it is that bright sunny moment when you remember not being able to stop smiling. 

But time can't stand still forever. 

When that bright flashing moment ends, there is often a period of time when you're still so dazzled by that bright sunshine that you have to wait for your eyes to readjust. And usually when that finally happens, you're scrambling to catch up as time has been rapidly passing you by without your acknowledgement.

"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."

Every once in a while you get set on a single idea. You'd give anything for that idea to work. Anything at all. But hey, reality check.. its not gonna. Then comes the planning-- time, change, patience. Fight fight fight for it! And you know you're a fool. But.... you're set on that idea.

"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."

Sometimes we get so engulfed in EVERYTHING that we get lost. We forget our focuses. We are dog paddling for life because we're too frantic to remember how to swim. We lose the things we care about-- not because we don't still care, but because we're so consumed with the irrelevant that we can't see the clear picture of what we really want. It's good to go back to the basics and practice swimming again. 

"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."

We're bestowed with tremendous lessons of learning. We grow and understand often only to return to what we had been doing all along. But that growth... it is a window of opportunity to be so much more. We limit ourselves to who we've always been because sometimes we can't comprehend all we can be.

"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."

We start going through the motions. Suddenly we realize that we do the exact same thing over and over and over again not because we care.. but simply because its the rhythm we've paced ourselves to. Wake up! Go through your life and rediscover who you are. Rediscover why you do the things you do and find that passion and love again.

I suppose in the film I saw the invitation to be more-- to not only get caught up in the moment but to be the moment. 

Get a grip on who you are and what you live for and make sure those things are what you want to be.

If you're going to be a fool-- realize it and add it as a chapter in your fairytale.

Laugh and swim.