Big Movie Analysis

The film Big was released in 1988. It is a comedic, family movie written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg and directed by Penny Marshall. The movie begins in New Jersey, a 13-year-old boy, Josh Baskin (David Moscow) is told he is not big enough to get on a ride. So he wishes on a carnival machine, Zoltar, to be big. The next morning he turned into a 30-year-old man (Tom Hanks). He heads to New York City with his best friend Billy Kopecki (Jared Rushton) and gets a job at MacMillen Toy Company. Josh runs into the owner of the company Mr. Macmillan (Robert Loggia) at one of his toy stores. Mr. McMillan then gives Josh a new job of testing toys. One of Josh’s coworkers Susan Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins), takes a romantic interest in Josh and a

In the beginning of the movie Josh’s masculinity is confronted. Josh goes to a carnival with his family one night and he is playing the game where you test your strength by seeing how hard you can hit a lever with a hammer to see how high a weight goes up. He got wimpy and that really hurt his ego. So to boost his ego he told his parents he wanted to go on a scary roller coaster. To his surprise Josh saw the girl he has a crush in line, so he cuts in line to be next to her so she can be impressed that he is going on the rollercoaster. But to Josh’s surprise once again her date comes up to them and she mentions her date can drive, whereas Josh can not which makes him feel small. Once it is their turn to get on the ride the the ride operator says Josh is not “big” enough to get on the ride. Josh is humiliated and walks around the carnival and stumbles upon an isolated carnival game, Zolar. He goes up to it and on the sign it says to make a wish, so he makes a wish to be “big”. The next day he wakes up and discovers that he is an adult, which was not what he wanted. He just wanted to be big, tall, so he can impress the girl he has a crush on. In this movie masculinity is defined as someone who is tall, mature, and big. Josh is none of those things and he feels impelled to do it to get the girl. But all goes wrong when he turns into a 30-year-old man with the mind of a 13-year-old.

In the beginning of the movie Josh and Billy are hanging out playing baseball and then in the next scene they are talking about Josh’s crush and Billy says he will find out if she is available for Josh. In the next scene Josh and Billy are walking down a street and singing and dancing to a rap that only they know. They are also neighbors and use a walkie talkie to communicate. Once Josh becomes an adult he goes to the school and tries to convince Billy who he is by singing the rap that they know and Billy believes him. So Billy tries to help Josh by bringing Josh his dad 's clothes and taking his dad 's money. They go to New York together and try to find out where Zoltar is so they can switch Josh back, but with no luck they go to the licensing bureau, where they are told they will get a paper with all the information about Zoltar’s whereabouts in a couple weeks. Feeling discouraged they go to a diner and get food and discuss what job Josh should apply for and Billy helps Josh write his resume. When Josh gets a job Billy and him are still friends, Billy comes down to New York to hangout with Josh at his job. But when Josh starts to develop a relationship with Susan, one of his coworkers, he becomes busy. Billy even asks Josh what they are gonna do for Josh’s birthday but Josh is busy with Susan. Their friendship starts