So, watching the musical in full length, without any breaks, I learned a few things. Among those things is that you really shouldn't be drinking too many bottles of water during these things, because it will require unnecessary bathroom breaks during the emotional scenes. But there are a few things I learned that I didn't expect from this musical.
First of all, the version I watched had a completely different opening number. Hell, I don't even remember what it was called, but it was very different then 'Be The Hero', which is the musical's iconic number in its (rather brief) run on Broadway. I just remember listening to the number with a rather confused look on my face, probably, because I was like, "Um, where is the whole bit where there is stomping 'n stuff?" Upon further research, it was the tryout run through in Chicago, where the opening number had been changed for Broadway, because that one kinda sucked apparently. I don't know, but 'Be The Hero's is pretty damn catchy.
I think my favorite scene in the musical is actually the scene near the end, when Will and his father escape the hospital and go the river, where we see the characters that's been featured in Edward's stories since Will was a boy. It's just such a powerful scene, because leading up to this point, we're just hearing stories, and we find the truth about Ashton, but when we reach the end, we realize they were real in a way. They were real in the stories that Edward told, maybe slightly different then the figures they represented in Edward's life. We see the characters at Edward's funeral, maybe just slightly different then how Edward told them, and especially the revelation with Karl, definitely nails the coffin that his stories are based off of real life people he has met and loved. And the numbers that accompany this scene just gets me all the time. I really love "What's Next", and "How It Ends."
(SIDENOTE: Recently, Buzzfeed released a list called "59 Broadway Numbers That Will Devastate You", songs from musicals that make everybody cry, and I couldn't help but freak out a little when I saw "How It Ends." The description for it?
"OK, here’s how it ends — Edward dies. And yes, he lives on in his stories, but it’s not the same. Let it out." *Link to said page below)
But 'How It Ends' is just such an emotional number, and it's Edward's swan song, it's his final story to tell his family, the audience. He's surrounded by the people he had loved and met in his life, and it's all he's ever wanted, to maybe be told as a little bigger then he really was. I'll go more into the song itself in my next post, but really, that number gets me every time.
Real quick, before we get into the metaphorical meanings, I'm just going to say right here it doesn't quite help me get into character, but it's nice to know Amos was a real man in Edward's life, and helped him find the woman of his dreams, even if his methods are a little unorthodox. I really believe Amos had been a good man, overall, even if he is kind of a big jerk to Edward in the story he tells.
But here, we get into the deep stuff. What 'Big Fish' means, the metaphor behind it. It's a bit tough to understand, especially for me, it took me awhile to get it. Also, note, I may have a different interpretation of this metaphor then others, because well, interpretation. Unless someone goes up to me and tells me exactly what everything represents, I'm going to interpret it the way I see it, and someone else may interpret it another way.
The entire story, Edward is telling his son these stories, these strange, outrageous stories of how he met a giant, met a witch, worked in a circus. Will sees these as smoke and mirrors that his father uses to hide who he really is to his son. That there is something much more sinister underneath these happy and lovely stories where Edward is constantly the hero. But in the end, we figure it out. Edward has used these stories to mask the true story he'd rather not tell anyone, the deed with Jenny Hill, and saving Ashton. I bet you anything Edward would have loved to tell that story, to tell his boy about how he saved a town from drowning, but he couldn't because he couldn't risk Will telling his wife that once upon a time, Edward Bloom promised a girl his love to save her life.
But in the devastating end, we realize that he did everything just to portray himself as a bigger man then he was, driven by this by his own farmer father, who had barely spoken a word. Edward had grown up with a man who paced the earth lightly, who'd rather not leave a mark. Edward wants to leave a mark on the world, wants to be remembered.
And who doesn't? We all want to be remembered as someone great, and Edward's stories were the incentive to do that. Maybe they weren't such solid footprints in the end, with his stories having been a little made up, but they were stories. He wanted to leave something behind before he died, because if you read the director's notes, Edward is afraid of death. He is afraid of being forgotten. And that is a natural human instinct, we all want to be remembered. We all want someone in some near distant future to say our name with awe and respect. The problem is, there is about 7,3 billion people alive on this planet, (according to an astounding website I found that counts how many people have been born, how many people have died today, and per year as well.) And there are about 108 billion people have ever lived, and the number probably steadily growing. So there are about (roughly following a research I found but it's probably inaccurate) 16 or 17 dead people per one living person. It's impossible for all of us to be remembered. Literally impossible.
Oblivion is inevitable, to quote best-selling novel by John Green, "The Fault In Our Stars", (** Link to the exact quote below) but the thing is, what I believe Big Fish is telling, it only matters WHO you're remembered by, not if you're remembered at all. Yeah, sure, we're all gonna die and it's gonna suck. You disappear to wherever you believe in and you're not around to ask questions, it's gonna suck. But Edward, fully knowing this, wants to leave a mark for his son. Not for anyone else, for his son. He found the incentive to do this when his own father died, and not having left anything for his son, so Edward wants to do that for Will. Give him stories to stand on, to support him and help him understand what's coming. I believe Big Fish tells us that it doesn't matter how big of a mark you left on the world, but on the mark you left of those who love you.
Edwards wanted to be remembered by everybody, but only comes to terms that it only matters with which people remembers you. To the people that matter to you the most in this world, before you leave it. And that's a pretty darn good message, especially in this world we got, where everybody is struggling to make their mark. Famous people, politicians, activists. Some of us get to be remembered by our accomplishments, others by the ones they love. And personally, I would love to be remembered by both, but beggars can't be choosers. And at this point, I'd rather I be remembered by the ones I had loved the most in this world, then some random person I would never, ever know. Getting in too deep, here, so I'll leave it with this brilliant quote I found, quoted by apparently a lot of people because I couldn't find the original person who said it. ***Link to said page is below
"To the world, you may just be one person, but to one person, you may just be the entire world."
DFTBA,
Emily Villanueva
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LINKS
*http://www.buzzfeed.com/louispeitzman/broadway-songs-that-will-make-you-sob-uncontrollably#.vfWKpAwQY
** http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/480596-i-m-in-love-with-you-he-said-quietly-augustus-i
***http://www.quoteyard.com/to-the-world-you-may-be-just-one-person-but-to-one-person-you-may-be-the-world/
