MovieChat Forums > The Whale (2022) Discussion > So whats the moral or point of this? I d...

So whats the moral or point of this? I dont get it.

posted a year ago by [deleted]
5 replies | jump to latest

Theres a guy. He's fat. In simple cat terms, he's ultrachonker. He teaches students how to write, supposedly. He didn't really say anything useful about writing. But anyway.

He works. And he's fat. And I think 300 kilo humans can still walk but don't quote me on it. Also he has a weak heart so maybe that's why he can't. Ok he can't. And umm he doesn't spend the money because it's for his daughter.

And he hadn't seen the daughter for about 10 years. Even when he wasn't fat, he didn't visit her. He didn't even know they moved, despite talking to the mother. And the mother also didn't stop him from visiting her. But he's still saving up money for her. He could probably make more money for her if he wasn't also about to eat himself to death.

Hm.

There's this christian guy who's completely useless for the plot. And the asian woman who also doesn't add much to the plot exactly but she's nice. And the pizza delivery guy who also adds nothing to the plot. Hm I'm beginning to see a pattern here.

And then he starts flying and dies.

Is he just the ultimate abusive asshole? How much is his daughter going to enjoy this money? Did he help anyone? Probably his writing lessons were crap and the daughter will probably just overdose on drugs anyway the way she acted, and the mother, well I dont know anything about her after watching the movie.

Umm.

Am I missing something?

[–] Hans-Wilhelm (1356) a year ago

Take care of yourself physically.
Eat healthy most of the time.
Take marriage seriously and don't marry if you can't commit. If you marry stay committed to your mate....cut any people out of your life if you feel like you are developing feelings.
Don't walk out and abandon your kids.
It is never too late to try and reach out of you've wronged someone in the past.

[–] [deleted] a year ago

I dont know, that's some average healthy advice, but they're pretty broad points for such an oddly specific plot. If we went for "the opposite of what this guy was doing" it would be more like "dont kill yourself in front of your daughter in the weirdest way possible", "go into a hospital if you accidentally pushed yourself 99% the way to death", "start locking your door once you notice people walk in and out of your house like its a stage play", "wash your f***ing hands", "how do you even take a $h!t anymore" and stuff like that

Since 99.9999% of people dont have any use for this type of advice, there must be another moral hidden in the subtext.

[–] Puvwall (1373) 6 months ago

That list of lessons make me wanna watch this flick.

[–] spanners163 (76) a year ago

I was coming here to post something similar - this movie really missed the mark in having a bigger message than how isolating it is to be that massive.

The biggest problem I had was with Charlie. From the promo stuff I heard his defining trait was he saw the best in everyone. By the third time he's going through a monologue about how amazing his daughter is after she's performed a cruel or nasty act you realise how superficial his commentary is. Perhaps the point is about how self delusional Charlie is, but then he recognised he was dying which contradicts that message. Anybody could always see the best in others if their standard response to any news is "you're amazing".

[–] [deleted] 6 months ago

I believe its time that I ask about the moral again.