Big Fish and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” are two pieces of art that display incredible adventures at the hands of their protagonists. On the surface they both seem to be fantastic stories that children would enjoy, but when digging deeper, it is possible to see they have allude to something stronger. The use of archetypes, which determine the form and function of a particular work, only help further this meaning to new heights.
One archetype that both of these pieces of works have that plays a major role, is the “quest”. In both Big Fish and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, the protagonists, Edward and Alice respectively, had a destination but did not know how to reach it. This both allowed them to take an unbelievable path, which eventually took them to their point of destination. For Edward, it was to find the girl of his dreams. For Alice, it was just to get home. “The Quest”, is more than just what the end result is, it is about the process in which they take to get there. Its what the “hero” discovers about themselves, and is also a growing process. When Alice is called to the stand to deliver her evidence in the case, she then comes to the realization that this world makes no sense and that she has the power to control it. In a sense, it displays a loss of innocence which came about through the process. For Edward, his path to his goal showed him that anything he wanted, as long as he worked for it, he could achieve it and his growth as a person. Both “heroes” had similar results with very different roads.
Both pieces of art didn’t just have similarities; they also had archetypes with very different meanings. Both protagonists had a connection to the archetype: water. In Big Fish, Edward had a connection with water. His son told a story, as Edward was dying, about how Edward would be sent off in the water where he would be able to roam constantly without an end and to be the big fish in a big pond representing his connection. Water was a metaphor for his thirst for more. He wanted more. After he obtained the girl of his dreams, he continued on to become rich and get the “perfect” house. Even after that, he just continued on. He always wanted more. This is the exact opposite to Alice. There was a point when she first entered Wonderland where she just wanted to give up; so she began to cry until she created a lake of tears. Even in this fantasy world, she still wanted to go back to reality, to what was real. For Edward, he wanted to keep going; for Alice, she wanted to give up. These are two completely different stances, a thirst for more and the will to give up, which helped further their meanings.
The theme behind Big Fish was to show the relationship between a father and son, and show that through all the years, through all of Edwards tall tales, that he was telling the truth. Through is thirst for more, and his process in doing that created an unbelievable story that eventually had the father and son come together at the very end. In Alice, the meaning has a broad spectrum and could mean many things. But one idea is that our world is one that’s simple and does not create very many complexities; very much unlike Wonderland or a persons imagination. That are imagination is a place with no limits or boundaries. The “quest” and “water” were two archetypes that these works incorporated into, creating a strong meaning.
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