Terminal Monotony
Words by Will Sikich
Ben Stiller declares his love for the everyman in his film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013). It follows Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller), a photo developer for Life, who does more in each of his waking dreams than in each day of his real life. Stiller places Walter in the seat of the classic hero, using a romantic style of cinematography and dialogue to convey him as a dreamer who dives, fearless, into the realest adventure of his life.
It’s just another day at Life magazine, when a beard in a suit (Adam Scott) decides to take over Walter Mitty’s life. Walter’s a simple, lofty man with an inert match.com account and a painful crush on his coworker, Cheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig). Eccentric photographer Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn) was supposed to send him the cover for Life’s final issue—something he refers to as “the quintessence of life”—but things start looking grim for Walter when he can’t find the negative. The new boss gets impatient, forcing Walter to head across the world and find the man he’s hitherto seen through photographs and written word.
Up until the point where Walter leaves for Greenland in search of Sean O’Connell, he lives between daydreams. His boss mocks him, calling him “Major Tom” in reference to David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” He struggles to find anything interesting to put on his online dating profile and instead imagines himself doing dramatic things as he mills about his daily life. Lazy, blue tones color his office and, by extension, his life. His mother calls him her little “worker bee,” something that sounds endearing but effectively completes Walter’s dreary prognosis: terminal monotony.
“He hears what people say—two different interpretations of the same song—and chooses what to believe. He chooses how to live his life, and it works out for him. ”
In Greenland, however, Major Tom finds new meaning. Before he leaves, Cheryl tells Walter his boss didn’t know the meaning of the Bowie classic he referenced. She tells him it’s a song about courage; it’s cooler than his boss could ever know, and Walter is, too. Walter takes this sentiment with him to Greenland. He imagines Cheryl serenading him with the song and uses the strength it gives him to leap onto a moving helicopter and take the first step towards tracking down Sean O’Connell.
Unlike the indifferent, loveless Walter he appears to be at work, we now see a man much closer to the one in his daydreams. “Space Oddity” swells, color fills the Greenland countryside, and Walter’s face reflects it all. He’s attentive and sure of his actions, looking outward at his goal. It feels like his dreams, but for the first time, it looks like Walter.
This transformation doesn’t just strike the audience though, it strikes everyone Walter meets. He talks easily and makes fast friends, and all it took to cast this spell was the shaping pressure of one decision: the decision to act. This is Stiller’s primary message for the Walter Mitty’s of the world. He hears what people say—two different interpretations of the same song—and chooses what to believe. He chooses how to live his life, and it works out for him.
He may be a spacey, from-afar admirer of the world, but he need only step into that world to find that it’s already waiting to love him back.
