4 Deep Messages In ‘The Whale’ You Might’ve Missed

Brendan Fraser is likely to win the Oscar for Best Actor this year. He did a phenomenal job as Charlie in The Whale, and after seeing the movie in theaters this past weekend, I wanted to write an article about the film’s hidden visual motifs and themes.

Here’s a video version of this breakdown if you want to watch it:

Let’s get straight into it.

1. Charlie’s weight as a visual metaphor for guilt

Fraser plays a morbidly obese man named Charlie in The Whale. For me, his weight plays a significant role not just literally but figuratively.

Charlies says “I’m sorry!” a lot to other people and it becomes clear throughout the movie that he’s carrying around a lot of guilt.

Guilt for leaving his daughter when she was eight years old. Guilt that he couldn’t save his partner Alan. Guilt for harming himself by overeating.

Guilt in general is shown many times throughout the film by most of the main characters. Like Thomas…