Tim burton's film, Big Fish is both a narrative driven story but also one that is made more interesting by the exaggeration and imaginative structure of characters. The story revolves around the life of Edward Bloom and the recalling of events that took place in his life. Furthermore, the film fluctuates between the present, where we are introduced to a rather ordinary family drama style to a completely fantasy storyline where characters exhibit majestic and inhumanly acts that are obviously hyperbolic illusions or exaggerations of real people. Big Fish relies upon this distant and rather vague relationship between both father (Edward) and son (Will) in the hope of restoring friendship and to ultimately realise his fathers success. Will and his wife are expecting a baby and have come to Will's parents house after news that Edward is terminally ill. The son, however, is resentful of his father and is unable to believe his stories because he has heard them so many times that he deems them untrue and so labels his father as a "fake". The story finally ends after the completion of Edwards telling of his life and the progression of his illness. Edward is then taken into hospital where he continues to hallucinate and imagines what his death would be like. This scene is particularly emotional and we gage an understanding that the son has changed opinion of his father and finally realises that Edwards life was just an extreme fantasy made true by the telling of the story and the enthusiasm of the stories. Edward then dies and the funeral scene takes place where all the characters seen throughout the story are made visible as ordinary people. For example, the giant is just tall not massive like a giant would be and Amos Calloway (the circus-man) was just very short and looked like a werewolf. The ceremony takes place and events that have happened develop the narrative of the story and the entire film begins to make sense.
Firstly, the characters seen throughout the film are obviously fantasy. Without these interesting and seemingly mysterious characters the film would not be half as effective nor encourage us to watch on. As the name suggests, "Big "Fish" is a metaphor in itself; hinting on the genre of film before viewers even begin watching. As Edward explains, he is a "big fish living in a small pond" which suggests that Edward is someone of complete ambition which develops this message that things are always much better told differently and dramatized as reality is not as intriguing or exciting; this is an obvious message that Tim Burton is trying to get across.
Additionally, as the story progresses we are introduced to each character at different points of Edward's life. The chronological characters appearance within each part are crucial to the effect on Edward as they help progress a certain scene or point in his life and help him establish connections e.g. Jenny as a little girl and as a senior character later on.
Edward often retells the stories to every small detail and really builds each scene up vividly which is portrayed fantastically regarding the visual effects and scenery on stage. However, perhaps one reason, he may be exaggerating, to begin with, could perhaps be when he told his stories to Will as a child. At this point Will would have believed him but later began to falsely believe that they were true but in actual fact, his father was merely emphasising his life a fraction to help please his son and explain the successful life he had.
Moreover, Burton also focuses on the narrative of the film, looking closely into the order of events and the effect of this. This narrative is driven by both Edward Bloom but also the rest of the characters to build a background story and ultimately make it seem more believable. This is particularly apparent as Bloom appears as a primary figure, at the start we understand that he is extremely popular and is well-known around his town for the things he has done. Conversely, characters such as Karl and Norther Winslow are slightly more subtly introduced. Their character profile is not as important as Edward's but there background story is interesting, Norther is ironically appalling at writing poems but is known as a famous poet. This idea suggests that Tim Burton has put a lot effort into the personality and thought of each character which only gives the film more diversity as a whole but also makes the narrative flow better. Even the death scene is an exaggeration which only adds to the raw enthusiasm Edward has to his stories, an enthusiasm that Will Bloom understands at the very end where he chooses to play along with his fathers dream one final time.
To conclude, I think the film "Big Fish" is a character-driven narrative based on the fact that it revolves mainly around Edward Bloom and his life events. When you consider the storyline, the characters help propel the narrative therefore giving more depth and reality to an otherwise complete fantasy. The characters do not simply fit in with the story and real time and effort has been paid to bring this idea forward as each character makes an emotional connection with the audience, distinctively adding detail and purpose to the events that follow.
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