How much will you believe when a wonderful person tells you all the hilarious stories about his/her life? Is it possible that it’s simply a version of truth of that person’s another life in his/her own fantasy?
Not long before I wrote an entry about a young lady who tirelessly portrays herself as glamorous and charming as she could. Here I have to make myself clear; I had NO intention to devalue her. I do believe there IS some truth in what she said. It’s hard to make up stories without any real-life experience, or simply out of imagination.
Like everybody else in Big Fish, I was always one of those people, including the son, who like gathering around her bed and listened intently to her stories. There’s no denying that her stories are full of adventures, fantasies, and memories. But there was a point at which those stories stop working as entertainment and segue to disguise or pretense. As someone who has known the same jokes more than once, it’s best to avoid the joke-teller(storyteller) who earnestly recycles her memories, just as the son does to his dad in the film.
Many times as I grow tired of the lady’s stories and just once would like to hear the truth and how she feels, I was annoyed by her insistence in telling those fake stories. Hypocrisy! I thought at first. Yet it turned out that she is amused to indulge herself in her self-created version of world.
But isn’t it true that we often have our own version of “truth” when we tell our own stories? How many times do we prefer to tell the more exciting versions than the deadly dull but plainly real ones? It simply feels good to have some sparks in those stories- life suddenly becomes elevated! Lies, assertions, swallows to one's pride, denials, addiction to fantasies ... whatever you perceive it! We depend on legends of our lives to give them meaning. Perhaps- sometimes we have been telling those stories not only to others but to ourselves. There is some truth here.
The lady, as I conclude, is only a manifestation of this mentality.
Big Fish(2003)
*****
To: Christina
I’m not sure if you’ve been following my blog. Still - wanted to thank you for your long email (just in case you read it in silence and dismiss quietly… hehe…). It was just a couple of months ago but it feels much longer than that. And you bet- I have never talked that much again! So much has been going on since I left you and I have so much to tell you. I think I’m gonna reply you with a HUGE email very soon. Love you!
P.S. I’ll definitely be mad at you if you wait till expire date of the phone card to call and tell me about your already-2-year-old little Chris! ;-)
*****
This is weird. I thought I would feel sad as everybody was leaving in the next week. It turned out that I’m accepting it as the way it is – at least in the meantime. Or is it just that the feeling has yet to become afloat? It’s hard to imagine how it feels like to have my emotional outburst when the time to go has come. Oh man I’m always pathetic to my own feelings (Think about my apathy at the airport when I left ... ). I used to think it was to retain my composure and rationality when everybody’s gone far too emotional. But now I find it means more than that. I know it’s nothing shameful to be honest to your own feelings. Yet I insist a balance of emotion and rationality is vital when one moves from one life-stage to the next. It's the emotion that keeps the moment real and it's the rationality that enables you to reflect on what it means to you.
As clichéd as it may seem - c’est la vie!
(which i find SO true!)
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