Hacker Cinema
Big Fish
2003 · Film · 125 min
Directed by Tim Burton
Throughout his life Edward Bloom has always been a man of big appetites, enormous passions and tall tales. In his later years, he remains a huge mystery to his son, William. Now, to get to know the real man, Will begins piecing together a true picture of his father from flashbacks of his amazing adventures.
7 positive2 neutralfrom 9 commenters
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12 comments on Hacker News
There’s Toy Story 1-4 on there and Star Wars Force awakens, but for popular films it doesn’t have the incredibles, no Star Trek (perhaps include ii), few/no bond films (Casino Royale?), few Miyazakis (Nausicaa, Mononoke), not many Tarantinos (hateful 8), not too many Burtons (Batman 2, Big Fish, Sleepy Hollow). Is there any Indiana Jones? Could include Starship Troopers.
It's one of my favorite movies. I love movies or books that get me thinking "what the hell is going on" until in the end there's a twist where it now all makes sense.
Another movie like this is "Big Fish"
This comment hits the head on my biggest criticism of this article, where because a given movie doesn't resonate with him, it's therefore terrible. For me, Onward is one of Pixar's best and made me rethink how I was interacting with my brother now that we're both adults.
I think this quote from the author sums this up:
> It’s also great because it affirms my own views on human life, as all great art does.
The movies don't fit his worldview and doesn't resonate with his past struggles and are therefore terrible.
A similar example, not from Pixar, would be I watched Big Fish with an ex and she couldn't finish it do to her complicated past with her dad, which I didn't have with my own dad. Good movies need not appeal to everyone and I think it would be a loss if we don't support Pixar in making movies that don't.
I'm sorry for your loss.
If you did not see "Big Fish" when it came out in 2003, I highly recommend it as it is one of the best movies that I have seen that explores the relationship between a father and son.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rziFIdDjfHo
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt000319061/
EDIT: On second thought. This movie might be a bit too heavy/close to home for you or others who have lost their father to watch, but the recommendation still stands for others.
The film 'Big Fish' is a great example of this.
The Animatrix. The best reason to watch the live action trilogy is to be sufficiently informed to watch this. It delves far deeper into the philosophy and psychedelia of technology than the live action films. And it's made and voiced by the same people.
Big Fish. How will you live if you know the exact moment you're going to die?
The Wicker Man. Weird. Christopher Lee apparently said it was his best work?
Waking Life.
The Big Lebowski.
A Serious Man
O Brother Where Art Thou.
I loved this movie also. In the end, he was a Big Fish.
JofUR reminds me of this scene from Big Fish. What would you do if you knew what the outcome was...
Senior Ed Bloom: People needn't worry so much. It's not my time yet. This is not how I go.
Will Bloom: Really?
Senior Ed Bloom: Truly. I saw it in the eye.
Will Bloom: The old lady by the swamp?
Senior Ed Bloom: She was a witch.
Will Bloom: No, she was old and probably senile.
Senior Ed Bloom: I saw my death in that eye, and this isn't how it happens.
Will Bloom: So how does it happen?
Senior Ed Bloom: Surprise ending. Wouldn't want to ruin it for you.
-From Big Fish, the best movie about fathers and sons you might never have seen
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319061/quotes
People continually underestimate the power of the narrative.
Humans want to see things in terms of stories, of drama, heroes, and so forth. Even if the underlying history doesn't fit the narrative, allowance will be made so that it does. The story wins out over all else.
This is why the internet meme is so powerful. Nobody steals your kidneys and leaves you in a bathtub, but it makes for a helluva great story. Bill Gates isn't giving away money for emails, but wouldn't it be awesome if he was? I could probably put together a list of 100 Hollywood movies that purposefully destroy the truth just in order to sell more movie tickets. And people love it. (sidebar: "Big Fish" is a great movie about this topic) Movies will even go to great lengths to reassure you that they are telling a true story -- then bullshit the hell out of you.
People know that they're stretching and murdering the truth, but guess what? They don't care. A good story is much more interesting than what actually happened, or some cold collection of facts.
And I think 3 centuries is being generous. Most times this begins way before the people involved die. There are many people alive today trying to restore in the public's mind what actually happened, instead of what the public believes happened through consuming some terrific story.
I love this line of inquiry. "Big Fish" is a good movie to watch along these lines if anybody is interested.
Does fiction have a place in business writing?
Yes, and it's sorely needed.
One point Swombat missed was that much of what we read as non-fiction is actually closer to very speculative science-fiction. For instance, nobody really knows what the year 1700 was like in England. We have various accounts, we make various assumptions, we fill in the blanks with educated guesses. In the end, whether we mean to or not, we create a narrative of things that happen that makes sense to us.
The same goes for 1900, or 1200. All of history in this way is a form of fiction. (A very good and very educational form, I might add)
The same goes for what constitutes popular science articles. Somebody wants to write a popular article on how human sexuality developed. So they accumulate lots of studies and data, then create an evolutionary-based scientific-sounding narrative around that. Makes for great reading, and most wouldn't even think of it as fiction, but I don't think it approaches the "truth" of something like 2+2=4, or even the validity of Newtonian Physics.
Our brains love narratives, stories, and will find them even where none exist. It's the way we are wired to learn. Pure fiction, by being unconstrained by facts, allows us to explore how various emotional states are reached and vicariously think about how we would act. It does a heck of a lot of good in a lot of ways, the least of which is that it helps us practice how to learn.
There are a lot of good movies here already, I missed these two however:
Big Fish http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319061/
City of Ember http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970411/
In the movie "Big Fish" by Tim Burton, an excellent film about father-son relationships, there is a scene where the son goes to an oracle and learns how he is going to die. After learning how he is going to die, he takes on various death-defying stunts without consequence - for he knew that was not the way he was going to go.