Escaping Escapism: Cinematic Technique and Cumulative Message in 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' Jeremy Bischoff 10th Grade

Are forms of escapism like technology and social networks hindering us from living a fulfilling life or enhancing the experience of it? Many would argue that technology has started to distract us from reality and inhibit us from living in the present. In the movie, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Walter Mitty is an average middle-aged editor of Life magazine. He often zones out and daydreams of wild adventures that contrast his boring everyday job. He gets the opportunity to travel to Greenland and Iceland in search of a highly respected photojournalist, Sean O’ Connell, and learns about what it really means to live and experience life fully on this trip. Ben Stiller, in his movie, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, communicates to the audience, through the story of Walter Mitty and the use of symbolism, allusions, repetition, and characterization, his message that living primarily in reality rather than fantasy will lead to a more rewarding and fulfilling life.

Stiller uses the symbol of a ghost cat to describe Walter Mitty towards the end of the film as a man with a pure heart that doesn’t beg for attention. When Walter meets Sean O’ Connell in the mountains, Sean talks about the beauty of the the ghost cat they both see...