KEISHA MARIE G.

SEGUI LIT 13 RO1

10/12/12

MAGIC REALISM ILLUSTRATED IN BIG FISH AND LUKA AND THE FIRE OF LIFE According to Wendy Farris in her essay entitled Scheherazades Children: Magic Realism and Postmodern Fiction, magic realism combines realism and the fantastic in such a way that magical elements grow organically out of the reality portrayed (Farris, 163). There is no doubt that people often confuse magic realism to other literary genres that involve magic and the fantastic such as fantasy, surrealism and science fiction. But magic realism has certain elements that make it different from the other genres. In her essay, Faris explains these elements by giving nine generalizations on magic realism. These generalizations are illustrated in the film, Big Fish, and the Rashman Salman Rushdies novel, Luka and the Fire of Life. One of the generalizations illustrated in the film Big Fish is Faris 3rd generalization which states that: The narrative appears to the late-twentieth-century adult readers to which it is addressed as fresh, childlike, even primitive. Wonders are recounted largely without comment, in a matter-of-fact way, acceptedpresumably as a child would accept, without undue questioning or reflection; they thus achieve a kind of defamiliarization that appears to be natural or artless. (Faris, 177) In Big Fish, whenever Edward Bloom recounts tales of his life, no one, other than his son Will, seems to question him no matter how crazy or outrageous his stories sound. For example, in the scene where Edward tells the story of how he caught an enormous uncatchable fish using a wedding ring during his sons wedding, the wedding guests laugh and take in the story like t here is nothing weird about it, like catching a giant fish using ones wedding ring is a normal thing.

Another scene in the movie that illustrates this generalization is the scene where Edward tells Wills wife, Josephine, the story of how he met his wife, Sandra. Here he talks about working in the circus, finding out his boss is a werewolf, time stopping when he first saw Sandra, and all these other strange and un-real events, but through it all, not once did Josephine stop and question Edward. This is exactly what Faris meant when she said, wonders are recounted largely without comment [] without undue questioning or reflection (Faris, 177). Another generalization illustrated in Big Fish is the occurrence of metamorphoses. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, metamorphosis is a striking alteration in appearance, character, or circumstances (Metamorphosis, n.p.). Throughout Big Fish, Will had a bad relationship with his father because he did not believe that the stories Edward told were the truth. In the end, he discovered that the stories were in fact true, just a little bit exaggerated by Edward. He mostly exaggerated the physical appearances of the people in his stories such as the twins he met in South Korea and the giant, Karl Edward. Although he did not alter Karls appearance that much, he did alter his character by making him a giant when in reality he was just very tall. The twins, on the other hand, were greatly altered by Edward by describing them as conjoined in the hip. Faris generalizations on magic realism are also present in Salman Rushdies novel, Luka and the Fire of Life. Probably one of the most evident elements of magic realism is the intertextual magic in the novel. According to Faris: The linguistic magic, which runs through magic realism, thrives on the pervasive intertextual nature of much postmodern writing and the presence of intertextual bricolage. Intertextual magic in which characters from other fictions appear is relatively common. (Faris, 16).

Throughout the novel, many references to other fictional works are made such as in Lukas speech where he mentions other Magic worlds: Im sure there are other Magic Worlds dreamed up by other people, Wonderlands and Narnias and Middle-earths and whatnot (Rushdie, 182). But intertextuality is most evident in the presence of the gods and goddesses in the novel from different myths and stories from all over the world. Amaterasu, the Japanese sun goddess, emerged from the cave where she had sulked for two millennia after quarrelling with her brother, the storm god, with the magic sword Kusanagi in her hand, and rays of sunlight flying outwards from her head like spears. Beside her was the flaming child Kagutsuchi, whose burning birth had killed his mother, Izanami the Divine. And Surtr with his fiery sword and at his elbow his female companion, Sinmara, also bearing a lethal sword of fire. And Irish Bel. And Polynesian Mahuika with her fingernails of flame. And lame Hephaestus, the smith of Olympus, with his pale Roman echo Vulcan at his side. And Inti of the Incas, the Sun with the Human Face, and the Aztec Tonatiuh, thirsty for blood, Tonatiuh the former Lord of the Fifth World, to please whom twenty thousand people used to be sacrificed each year. And towering above them all like a giant pillar in the sky was falconheaded Ra of Egypt, his piercingly sharp bird-eyes searching for the would-be thieves, with the Bennu bird sitting on his shoulder, the grey heron that was the Egyptian phoenix, and his mighty weapons, the wadjets, the disks of the sun, held urgently in his hands. (Rushdie, 150) Another generalization illustrated in the novel is that many of these texts take a position that is antibureucratic, and so they often use their magic against the established social order [] magical realist texts are written in reaction to totalitarian regimes (Faris, 179). The

characters of the Respecto-Rats and the Otters. The Respecto-Rats were described as Rats who hated the colour yellow because of its, well, cheesiness were confronted by the Rats who disliked the colour red because of its similarity to blood. In the end all colours, being offensive to someone or other, were banned by the Rathouse thats the parliament, by the way, although nobody votes for it, it votes for itself, and it basically does what the Over-Rat says (Rusdie, 72). The Respecto-Rats, in a way, symbolize a lot of totalitarian regimes known in our history such as communist societies and the Nazis. The Otters led by the Insultana of Ott symbolize the rebels or the people who went against these regimes. In the context of the world war, the Otters could represent the Americans and the throwing of the pepper bombs is like the bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The elements and generalizations stated are what differ magic realism from other literary genres. Im sure that many more of the generalizations made by Wendy Faris on magic realism are illustrated in Big Fish and Luka and the Fire of Life, but these four generalizations are the most evident. SOURCES: [1] Big Fish. Dir. Tim Burton. Perf. Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Marion Cotillard, Alison Lohman, Steve Buscemi, Danny DeVito and Helena Bonham Carter. Columbia Pictures, 2003. [2] "Metamorphosis." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2012. Web. 11 October 2012. < http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metamorphosis> [3] Rushdie, Salman. Luka and the Fire of Life: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2010. Print. [4] Zamora, Lois Parkinson., and Wendy B. Faris, eds. Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1995. Print.