The Secret life of Walter Mitty was directed by Ben Stiller. It focuses on the main character Walter Mitty, played by Ben Stiller himself, as a middle aged man who is a negative asset manager at Life Magazine that has trouble stepping out of his comfort zone and adapting to change until Life throws an adventurous curveball at him. The movie is alluding to a contemporary issue of Life Magazine downsizing and turning over to an online platform in the 70's. The film is based on James Thurber's short story
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It reveals not the challenge of being fired from a company that is downsizing, but the challenge of continuing to find a purpose without digging yourself a hole in seclusion.
Walter is not the adventurous type, he is someone who daydreams about the impossible and expects the unexpected in his awkward situations. Walter tends to keep to himself and doesn't over share about things he loves, hence his "Secret Life". He never had the means to pursue anything past his steady income career and a small apartment. The irony in this is that he worked at Life Magazine, which centered around beautiful photographs of the world to appreciate what life is about, but Walter himself struggles to find his own way in life: after a life altering death in his family.
He does want more out of life like love, traveling and friendship, but doesn't know how to reach it himself. That is why "Life", the magazine company and the reality kind, pushes him into challenges, carving a path for him so he can find a purpose. It wasn't until when Life Magazine downsizing that he actually found a purpose in his life. Life's job is to throw challenges at you so you can carve your own path to a greater purpose. That was the whole beauty of the movie. At no point did Walter back down from a challenge that he encountered, he pushed himself forward following a crazy adventure that relit the fire inside of him: finding the quintessence of life. Ben Stiller was very clever in how he approached the quintessence of life. He provided two characters that don't know what the quintessence is: The egoistic boss Ted Hendricks played by Adam Scott, who doesn't give a rats ass about anyone and is the antagonist, and Walter Mitty who is a humble man with very little ambition. They reflect the common phrase "There are two types of people in the world", and that is, when presented with a question the characters don't know the answer to, one will seek the quickest way to answer it using their peers and move on if not found--Ted Hendricks--and the other will go out of their way to find the answer on their own and endure the challenges they encounter--Walter Mitty. Both characters essentially find the answer but Ted doesn't fully understand it and ends up using the word "quintessence" the wrong way. Walter is the one who grasps the true meaning of quintessence. Ben Stiller wanted these two characters to be highlighted; without those two types of people, Stiller would not have the same effect in showing the audience the quintessence of life through Walter's journey.
During the first daydream, or his zoning out moment, Walter is sitting on the bench, near the train tracks, talking on the phone with the dating app's customer service operator figuring out why his account isn't working. When he is asked "Walter have you done anything noteworthy?" he goes into his "zone". Walter was once sitting one the bench like a stiff loser and in a split second the camera follows Walter sprinting and executing a grand leap off the bridge into a building in slow motion, just like a superhero would do. The music is fast and tense, creating a sense of panic and danger alerting the audience that something catastrophic is happening. Then Walter exits the building with a dog in hand and it just so happens to be the dog that his crush Cheryl owns. Walter claims he lives by the "ABC's", the Adventurous Brave and Creativity. The choice of dialogue by the script writers Ken Englund and Everett Freeman, signifies that it's exactly what Walter imagines himself being. But because it is specifically said in a daydream we know that isn't true. In fact his reality is the opposite. Then boom, an explosion is erupted behind him and Walter zaps back into reality missing his train. I think the this first daydream is perfectly staged to introduce what Walter is like and the conflict he is going to overcome. He is someone who wants to be a hero, a confident person, and someone who wins the girl every time.
Throughout the film, Walter's daydreams are specifically placed in accordance to what is happening, but I believe the first one is the most significant because it reveals his inner conflict the strongest. It has a smooth transition between reality and fiction.
The film also perfectly executes color correspondence in relation to how the main character feels and the organization of his life. At the beginning of the movie, Walter's apartment and lifestyle is very neat, simplistic, and has grey monotone colors painted on the walls, furniture and even his clothing. After Walter's life is drastically changed, his life is now filled with an assorted rays of color and there is no organization to his surroundings. The colors are used in a way that it takes the audience on the journey to finding the purpose of life with Walter.
In addition to color, the music choice made by David Raksin was simplistic and wholesome. It captured the true feeling of what it is like to wonder about the unknown, dream about your crush, or take your first wandering steps into the chaotic world called life. The little tiny tinks of a chime or a few key notes of a piano helped the audience understand what Walter was thinking all the time. Especially when Walter went into one of his daydreaming modes.
To remember life's simple pleasure will always bring happiness to anyone. And that's why Walter Mitty will shine light on remembering life's greater purpose to those who need it most.
