1) Are there any prominent symbols in the story--what are they and how are they used?
The main symbols in "The Aquatic Uncle" were land and sea. Land represented modernity and evolution. Sea symbolized tradition and simplicity. These symbols worked to build up the theme of identity, because throughout the story, Qfwfq and other characters are either grappling with or accepting their identities. Qfwfq idolized the animals who grew up on land, because they were so new and different to him. Lll was interested in Uncle N'ba N'ga because he was so different because what she was used to. This is pretty similar to most younger people; they want to be different from what they're used to and be rebellious. The author also did an accurate portrayal of a lot of old people, who are the opposite: they don't want to change, even a little; they're very set in their ways. In some ways they are wise (like when the uncle was predicting how land animals would have to experience a lot of natural disasters and the natural disasters would possibly strip them of what originally made life worth living) and in other ways they seem a bit crazy... (like when he said random phrases such as "Lower your fins there, youngster!"). The author seemed to really understand humanity and portray it in this story, even though it took place thousands of years ago with fish and evolving fish. Oftentimes, in our society, we think that finding a gray area is what will make us happiest. For example, a lot of people believe that it's not healthy to spend all of one's time in a city, constantly surrounded by technology, but they also don't want to live completely off the grid and fully embrace nature. This contradicts what happens in "The Aquatic Uncle," where the uncle fish is happy to spend his life as a fish, and Lll is happy to "convert" to fishdom, but Qfwfq is never happy in the end because he doesn't feel like he's found his "thing;" he doesn't have a strong sense of identity because he is kind of anti-fish but the character he cares about most is a fish, and his ancestors were fish, so he doesn't feel quite right as a land animal either. In the last paragraph, he says,
It was a hard blow for me. But, after all, what could I do about it? I went on my way, in
the midst of the world's transformations, being transformed myself. Every now and then, among the many forms of living beings, I encountered one who "was somebody" more than I was: one who announced the future, the duck-billed platypus who nurses its young, just hatched from the egg; or I might encounter another who bore witness to a past beyond all return, a dinosaur who had survived into the beginning of the Cenozoic, or else -- a crocodile -- part of the past that had discovered a way to remain immobile through the centuries. They all had something, I know, that made them somehow superior to me, sublime, something that made me, compared to them, mediocre. And yet I wouldn't have traded places with any of them.
To me, this is the part of the book that illustrates this point most strongly--he talks about other types of animals that he says "were somebody." He says, "And yet I wouldn't have traded places with any of them," but to me this kind of sounds like denial. Even though he claims he's happy the way he is, he doesn't seem as happy as Lll or the fish uncle. In a way, he's as stubborn as the fish uncle is, just in a different way... so stubborn that he loses his fiancé. Maybe becoming more fishy wasn't the answer for him, but I think he needed to find a way to feel that he "was somebody."
2) What connections did you make with the story? Discuss elements of the story with which you were able to connect.
The story reminded me of some other stories and articles I had read previously. Have you seen the movie
Big Fish? In this movie, three of the main characters were an old dying grandpa, his son, and the son's wife, who he had recently married. The grandpa is really chatty and grates on the son's nerves because he's always trying to tell stories from his past. At the son's wedding, the grandpa tells a story that annoys the son because 1) he's already heard it 50 times, 2) it feels like his dad is trying to steal the attention from his son at his son's own wedding, 3) it's not a true story. The wife is much more open to the grandpa's stories; she is really patient and appears interested in what he has to say. Lll reminded me of the wife, Uncle N'ba N'ga reminded me of the grandpa, and Qfwfq reminded me of the son. Lll was much more open than Qfwfq to what Uncle N'ba N'ga said, which really surprised Qfwfq, who was expecting her to be appalled. This could be because she hadn't had to put up with him all her life, so she wasn't embarrassed or tired of him. On the contrary, she found what he had to say new and interesting, the opposite of how Qfwfq saw it, similar to the characters in
Big Fish. Coincidentally, at the end of
Big Fish, the grandpa turns into a fish and swims away; he identifies with fish. It feels very natural for him to do this, as opposed to dying on a hospital bed, which is similar to the difference between fish and non-fish in "The Aquatic Uncle." In the end of
Big Fish, the son starts to see things his dad's way, and in the end helps him and accepts him, so it's different from the ending in "The Aquatic Uncle."
3) What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?
I would adapt this story into a short computer-animated film about 20 minutes long with a team of about 15 people to work on it. I have chosen this because I don't think the story is detailed enough to make a full-length movie out of, or simple enough to make a really short film, but 20 minutes seems about right. I chose computer animation over another type of animation because I think if it were done really well as a computer animation, there could be really nice lighting and texturing and effects that would enhance people's appreciation for the story that you couldn't have in another medium. It seems like a story that would do well with a stylized realism look like the look of
The Croods perhaps. I would leave the title the same. Though I could also see this story being adapted into a folk song. The benefits of folk songs over animations is that it's easier to incorporate internal dialogue into folk songs because you can just sing your internal dialogue. I can see this being a super long folk song that's around 15 minutes in length and has banjos. This adaptation might give it a bit of a bias towards the uncle fish's side, since banjo folk music has an earthy, traditional feeling, much like the uncle fish. With computer animation, I don't think there'd be as much of a bias towards either side, especially since as I said, there'd be less internal dialogue in favor of the main character.
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Uncle N'ba N'ga also kinda reminded me of Kapp'n from Animal Crossing!
Don't ask me why... I guess it was because they were both aquatic and said weird things... |
