Big

Title: Big

Writer(s): Gary Ross, Anne Spielberg

Director: Penny Marshall

Year: 1988

Actors: Tom Hanks (as Josh), David Moscow (as Young Josh), Jared Rushton (as Billy), Mercedes Ruehl (as Mrs. Baskin), Josh Clark (as Mr. Baskin), Elizabeth Perkins (as Susan), Robert Loggia (As MacMillan), John Heard (as Paul), and John Lovitz (as Scotty Brennan).

Story: A young boy, Josh makes a wish on an old carnival machine to be big. He wakes up the following morning the same child just in an adult’s body. With the help of his best friend, Billy they set out to find the machine and change Josh back into a kid. Their journey leads them to New York City where Josh gets a job at a major toy company. He meets a girl and becomes successful almost forgetting his whole mission. He finally realizes what he really wants and makes another wish to be a kid again. The story ends where it began with Josh as a normal kid with a normal adolescent life, maybe just a little wiser.

Sound: There are three basic categories of sound found in films. The first is dialogue. Dialogue is simply characters speaking to one another. The second is sound effects. Sound effects are various sounds used to enhance the film and draw the audience’s attention in to the film and hold it. The last category is music. There are two types of music used in films, they are the score and the soundtrack. From the ENG 225 course textbook, Goodykoontz and Jacobs (2011) contend that the score of a film plays in the background while the action happens and the soundtrack is just a list of songs used in or inspired by the film (Section 6.4, Score, para 1).

In Big, we can see effective use of these sounds. For example, the incorporated dialogue helps to enhance the story and develop the plot. In addition, it helps establish  relationships between the characters and gives us an insight into the nature of those relationships. Take the silly string scene for instance, this particular conversation reinforces Josh and Billy’s closeness in this scene. It’s silly and raw, the epitome of best friend rapport.

The sound effects used, particular in the carnival scene in the beginning of the film really set the tone for the moment when Josh decides he doesn’t want to be small anymore. As he sulks from just being embarrassed in front of the girl he likes, the sounds of the carnival go on around him. We can hear laughter, joyful yelling, music, rides in motion, and various other noises common to a carnival. These sound effects add intensity to Josh’s feelings of separation from the world around him.

The score of this film compliments the different scenes and is stylistic to the era in which the movie was made. For example, in the scene where Josh is alone in his NYC hotel room for the first time, the music is subtle, soft, and sad. A very fitting choice for this particular scene. This consistency can be found throughout the film.

The use of sound overall in Big has an enormous impact on the mood of the film. The dialogue, sound effects, and music all provide the perfect accessories to the specific emotion of each scene. As far as genre is concerned, there is only one scene that is accompanied by sound effects that suggests that this film is a fantasy film. That scene is when Josh approaches and uses the Zoltar machine at the carnival for the first time. The sound effects are eerie and reminiscent of something other worldly. Other than that, the sounds that can be found throughout the rest of the film are natural sounds that you would expect to hear from a certain action: a door closing, an elevator gate opening, a skateboard on pavement, etc.

The scenes and sequences of Big would be extremely different if one or more of the above mentioned sound components where removed. For example, if dialogue were removed, the audience might not be so blatantly aware of Josh’s child innocence still present after he is transformed into an adult. If the sound effects were removed, the audience might lose the feeling of being involved or feeling as a part of the scene that those sounds often provoke. If the music were removed, there might be less emotion associated with each scene and less relation to the characters and their experiences.

Resources

Bag Log. (2012, November 9). Big 1988 Original Trailer. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbeAihy-ru8.

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C.P. (2011). Film: From watching to seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

[Tom Hanks & Jared Rushton in Big, the silly string scene]. Retrieved July 9,  2014, from: http://www.iamnotastalker.com/2009/11/05/the-hotel-st-james/.

[Tom Hanks in Big, the carnival scene]. Retrieved July 9, 2014, from: http://cometoverhollywood.com/2013/06/26/movies-in-music-videos-1983-by-neon-trees/.

[Tom Hanks in Big, the NYC scene]. Retrieved July 9, 2014, from: http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/6-scenes-we-love-from-big.php.