Luke Taylor Student Choosing 4 Myth Adds Colot via the movie Big Fish

In life there are many levels and definitions to what a myth is. To some, a myth is often times a fictional story that has if not some, absolutely no truth in it at all. Others would describe myth to be something that makes a truth more understandable, more relatable. In fact, in supporting that point, Walter Fisher (1984) states that the “most compelling, persuasive stories are mythic in form, stories… that give meaning and significance to life” (The Narrative Paradigm and Related Theories, 1984). In this (secondary) world we crave meaning and truth, and in a desperate plea to feel fulfilled in this craving we become content with symbols as a substitute to make sense of the world we live in. However, when myth, along with a manifestation of a holy Other, is involved in the secondary world we are able to transcend and see pieces of reality in the primary world; we are able to live and understand a life of meaning and significance.

In the film, Big Fish, a man named Will Bloom has a frustrating relationship with his dying Father, Edward bloom. The relationship between the duo is complicated because Will never understands his father’s imaginative stories and myths and views him as a liar when in reality his father is simply trying to teach him how to live and love life. Ernesto Grassi states in his work, Why Rhetoric is Philosophy that in an imaginative world it is allowed to “not be rational.” The point Grassi makes is very significant to the elder Bloom’s lifestyle because in all that he does, more times than not he is irrational. That irrationality is what leads him to so many opportunities in life and is what makes him a ‘Big Fish.’ Sometimes in life, going against the current is the best way to go and that is the influence that Bloom has on his son. I believe that myth adds color to our lives. A story can have truth in it but a myth adds color to that truth and makes it all the more enjoyable is listen to and easier to comprehend.