Unit 3 Film Analysis

Big 

"When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things." 1 Corinthians 13:11

“The natural man is an enemy to God… unless he … becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”  Mosiah 3:7

12-year-old Josh Baskin wishes to be “big” and wakes up the next day day in the body of a 30-year-old man. Penny Marshall’s Big (1988) is an accelerated coming-of-age story, operating at a place where childhood and adulthood meet, an intersection of the innocent and the corrupted, the imaginative and the restricted, the carefree and the world-weary. Naturally, nostalgia is an important theme and in part, the sentiment the film tries to call forth from its audience (at least, in those beyond the age of 12). As a fantasy/comedy film, Big is unapologetically idealistic, but it doesn’t treat childhood as inherently superior to any other time of life. Rather, Big is about how childlike ideals are both accessible and fundamental for anyone, of any age.

Feeling restricted by his parents and invisible to the girl he likes, Josh Baskin thinks being “bigger”—maybe subconsciously, not so much in stature as in status and respect—will be the solution to all his pubescent woes. Once his wish is fulfilled however, Josh has to deal with a reality that is qual parts hilarious (for the audience, anyway) and heartbreaking. Josh’s mother naturally panics at the strange, seemingly insane man, and before he can explain himself fully, Josh runs for the hills. After enlisting the help of his best friend Billy, Josh settles in a run-down New York apartment and decides to try living a normal, adult life until they can straighten everything out.

A common trope of the kid’s fantasy genre, namely, parents always remaining out of the loop, is put to interesting use here. The fantastic scenario is too much for Josh’s mother to accept. But Billy, after using a special song only the two of them know to test the truth, quickly comes to terms with the fact that his best friend has turned into Tom Hanks.  So from Act I, a child’s mentality—in this case, his best friend’s—proves Josh’s salvation.

Using his computer skills, Josh gets a data-entry job at a toy company—hardly different from fighting ice wizards in text-based game, right? But it’s not long before Josh has a fortuitous encounter with Mr. MacMillan the CEO, which is when the film starts getting really interesting. MacMillan is just the first of many characters Josh meets at the company, with romantic interest Susan and (one-sided) rival Paul to follow. Each of these characters is missing something fundamental for their happiness, each is looking in the wrong places, and each has to access their inner-kid to get it. Josh is the catalyst to make that happen, and though the overarching story remains about him, just as interesting is the progression of the others as Josh acts as a sort of mystical, accidentally benevolent stranger, passing briefly through their lives and (at least in MacMillan and Susan’s case) changing them in the process.

MacMillan is jaded after a lifetime of meetings and consumer reports, and after a few hours with Josh in the toy store, promotes him to Vice President in charge of research and development. Through Josh, MacMillan is reminded that the toys he has dedicated his life to are much more than statistics—they are things he can actually play with. Susan is similarly  dissatisfied but thinks she can find some kind of fulfillment with sex. She comes home with the oblivious Josh to his recently-upgraded toy paradise of an apartment, and an initially awkward encounter gives way for an innocently sweet one. After being coerced into jumping on the trampoline, she waits expectantly in bed for Josh—only to realize that when Josh had asked to be on top, he meant the top bunk. Her bewilderment gradually gives way to a smile, and she falls asleep, realizing she might be beginning to gain something more permanent than temporary satisfaction (while she and Josh eventually do begin a sexual relationship, the bizarre implications of that are a can of worms better saved for a different kind discussion).

Paul meanwhile, is resistant to change. He invites Josh to a game of paddleball in an attempt to upstage him, and in a hilarious role-reversal, ends up looking like the more childish of the two, erupting in a "give me the ball!” tantrum. This is where the film makes the distinction between being childlike and childish. It’s not childhood, per say, that saves these characters—Billy wants to take advantage of Josh’s age to buy “beers and dirty magazines,” and might not have had the same effect on MacMillan and Susan as Josh did. It’s Josh’s imagination, altruism, and uncomplicated philosophy on life that is needed. The “take-home message” of Big isn’t just nostalgia. It’s that staying faithful to your inner-kid is an essential part of staying fulfilled in a crazy adult world.