The effect of Herman Melville novel ‘Moby Dick’ on Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Whale’
Brendan Fraser’s performance in Darren Aronofsky’s recent film The Whale earned widespread critical acclaim, as well as its fair share of criticism. The actor delivers a fantastic performance as a morbidly obese English literature lecturer who tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter in his final days.
The film was based on Samuel T. Hunter’s 2012 play of the same name and drew a standing ovation from the audience when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year. One significant facet of influence on the film/play is Herman Melville’s excellent 1851 novel Moby Dick, which tells of a sailor named Ishmael joining the crew of a ship in the hunt for a giant white sperm whale.
Perhaps the first apparent influence of Melville’s novel on Aronofsky’s film is the fact that its protagonist is an absolute behemoth of a human being, representing the titular whale in Moby Dick. The 600lb Charlie ‘swims’ about his ruinous house, although without the grace of the extraordinary mammal. However, there is something deeper at play if we consider Charlie to be analogous to Moby Dick. The whale in the novel is what has eluded Captain Ahab of the good ship Pequod ever since he claimed the use of both his legs. In this light, if Charlie is the whale, then who is Ahab? Well, the answer is likely his daughter, Ellie.
Charlie greatly impacted Ellie’s life when he abandoned her and his wife for another lover. As Ahab has grown furious, embittered with rage at Moby Dick for maiming him, so too has Charlie caused a great sense of hurt in his daughter. Moby Dick has proven elusive from Ahab’s search, and Ellie has equally become obsessed with causing hurt to her father. While Moby Dick has eluded capture from Ahab, Charlie has always been there in his house for Ellie to come by. But she hasn’t, and what has eluded her instead is the act of reconciliation and forgiveness. When Ellie finally forgives her father for his abandonment, Charlie is no longer the whale that Ellie once saw him as. He has finally been emancipated into his new role (which Ellie always wished for) as her father, even though he is just moments from death.
Another way that Aronofsky’s film directly confronts Melville’s novel is by discussing how it is written. While there are several moments of poignancy within Moby Dick, one frequent complaint is that several sections are incredibly tedious to read, particularly the pages in which Melville goes into detail about whales and whaling practice in general.
Charlie, meanwhile, has been on the brink of death for some time when we are introduced to him at the film’s beginning. Yet something is keeping him alive – to make sure he can do “one good thing” in his life. For him, this is reconnecting with his daughter and letting her know that he has always loved her despite his abandonment.
Whenever Charlie has a moment of near-death, he recites an essay on Moby Dick that Ellie wrote when she was in the eighth grade. She has never understood the clarity and beauty with which she wrote the work, but Charlie, as an English literature lecturer, appreciates it so dearly that it has the power to bring him back to life. In the essay, Ellie explains that the “boring chapters” of Moby Dick, as she calls them, hold valuable significance, as they are present so Melville can try and save us from his “sad story”. Without Aronofsky writing this into the film, Charlie wouldn’t have had the means to return to life with such thematic vitality. It’s a stroke of genius from Aronofsky and Samuel T. Hunter.
Check out the trailer below.
