Ghost Cat

This post contains spoilers for 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' (2013). I suggest you watch this film or read the synopsis before scrolling down any further.

'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' came out in 2013 but I didn't know about the film until around 2017-2018.

My first impression of the film was that it was enough. It has adventures and brilliant framing of such beautiful landscapes, some comedy, and a lesson to learn; that nobody can change your life but you.

But after rewatching it for the hundredth time, I've gained more perspective about the film and what the "quintessence of life" actually is.

Walter Mitty

First of all, the film revolves around the life of Walter Mitty, a guy who likes to daydreams and his real journey to the unknown. The character is based on a short story by James Thurber with the same title first released in the New York Times in 1939.

You can read the original story here.

Though the film took a different approach, the characteristic of Walter's severe daydreaming is pretty much the same.

So Walter is a guy in his forties living a tedious and mundane life who had been working as a negative asset manager at LIFE Magazine for 16 years.

Despite his rather interesting work dealing with--according to his co-worker Hernando--millions of pictures from around the world, Walter had never traveled, never seen the world.

"To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That's the purpose of LIFE."

was the motto of LIFE magazine that Walter knew by heart but ironically never actually adhere to.

The film didn't really show many details about his day-to-day routine but the atmosphere of his apartment, his work environment, as well as his demeanor clearly depict how Walter and the life he owns rested on the opposite side of exciting.

Walter's first appearance on the film shows him sitting at his apartment.

While others would choose a short getaway in order to escape and refresh their head, Walter chose to daydream. He frequently zoned out to the fictional world he created. The world where he was way cooler, happier, and awesome. Where he'd become the kind of guy who could engineer a prosthetic for his crush's three-legged dog while running down the stairs of an apartment building or the one that's so famous to get interviewed by Conan O'Brien on his late-night show.

Walter fantasizes about himself becoming a hero he can't ever be (or so he thought).

This 'hobby' is in fact a real medical condition called maladaptive daydreaming and it takes a toll on the people who suffer from it including Walter. He can completely be lost in a situation and faces consequences on account of being caught up in his fantasies.

A maladaptive daydreamer spends most of their days daydreaming and get so hooked on it. They get absorbed into the alternate realities they prefer to enjoy over the real one. This film is about how Walter escapes that to change his real life and live it like he wished it to be.

Plot

One day, after arriving at work on his 42nd birthday, Walter learned that the company was facing a huge transition to an online dot-com thing. A new boss came and in a week, the magazine would be releasing its final issue.

Later on, Walter found a package on his desk sent by a notable freelance photographer, Sean O'Connell, who'd been working with the company for quite some time.

It came with a note:

"Heard rumbling LIFE's done. Wanted to say thank you. Take a look inside, a gift for all the years of hard work. Sorry about the neg roll, spilled some blood on it while self-stitching a gun wound to my abdomen. But 25 is my best ever, The Quintessence of Life, I think. I trust you'll get it where it needs to go. You always do. SO"

There was a neg roll inside the package and a gift for Walter; a leather wallet with LIFE's motto written on it.

After Hernando processed the neg roll, they found #25's spot to be empty. It wasn't there. And to make the situation even worse, they found out that #25 was chosen to be the cover for the final issue.

Considering the transition would 100% mean downsizing, Walter felt himself on a tough spot. But he was also professional. He knew Sean had trusted him so he committed to finding #25. Whatever it takes.

It would be super easy if Walter could just call Sean and ask about the negative from his phone, right? But Sean was old school. He didn't use a phone and always moved around. So the only thing Walter could do was to track him down.

Some times later, with the help from his crush, Cherryl Melhoff from Photo Accounts, and a clue from some other photos of the roll, Walter found out that Sean could be in Greenland.

Cherryl encouraged Walter to follow that clue and search for Sean but Walter was unconfident about it.

After coming back to his desk disappointed, an epiphany came to Walter through the photo of Sean. For Walter, Sean's hand suddenly moved in slow motion, gesturing "come".

A second later... Arcade Fire's Wake Up plays as Walter ran to the airport, heading to Greenland.

This time, it wasn't daydreaming.

Sean O'Connell (played by Sean Penn) gesturing to Walter to come and find him.

If you're wondering about whether Walter found Sean, the answer is yes. But not in Greenland.

Walter followed Sean's trace to Iceland and didn't find him there either.

He didn't find Sean and eventually found out where the negative had been until he searched Sean in the place his mom said Sean would be.

Because Sean told her himself when he was visiting.

Confused? Don't be.

Sean visited Walter's mom when he was in town asking about Walter's schedule. He even let Walter's mom take a picture of her piano using his camera. The picture that also included in the same roll.

So as it turned out, the action-packed adventure in Greenland and Iceland wasn't necessary at all. The jumping on to a flying helicopter, wrestling with a shark in the open sea, and surviving the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull (ay-yah-fyad-layer-kuh-tel), all of that was unnecessary if only Walter wasn't lost in his thoughts when his mom was telling him about Sean.

Walter's daydreaming was the reason he embarked on a real adventure.

Walter "Major Tom" Mitty

One of the soundtracks of this film was Space Oddity by David Bowie. Though many had presumed that the song was about drugs, let's just agree with Cherryl's interpretation that it is a cool song "about courage and going to the unknown".

For me, the song played more roles than complementing the story. It also represented Walter's spirit.

In the film, the song was first hinted by Ted Hendricks the managing director of the transition a.k.a the bearded boss when he teased Walter during his zoning out session about being a cool adrenaline junkie who charmed Cherryl.

"Ground control to Major Tom. Can you hear me, Major Tom?"

(FYI, Major Tom is the name of the astronaut mentioned in Bowie's song who lost contact with the earth and drifted in space.)

Cherryl then reminded Walter about this song later on and said that Ted didn't know what he was talking about. The song is--I repeat--about courage and venturing to the unknown.

When he was in Greenland, the song made Walter jump onto the flying helicopter with a drunk pilot after imagining Cherryl singing it to him.

It took Walter where he needed to be.

Walter just jumped to the helicopter a second before it got too high. The person standing on the ground was Cherryl.

Apart from the song was recommended by his crush, the reason this song played in Walter's mind was that Major Tom's adventure resonated to his. They're both lost in an adventure they have no idea about. Their soul fueled with courage and the thirst for adventure.

In an interview, Ben Stiller the director who also played Walter Mitty explained why he thought Space Oddity was perfect for the film.

“I felt like the way it fits into the story... we got to this point and this scene which was sort of how the fantasy and reality come together for Walter, and that was what that came out of. That song, and what he mentioned in his head, and what he imagines and what he does, it all just seemed to come together over that song."

On the scene when Walter was heading off to the airport, Walter's face could be seen on one of the covers wearing an astronaut suit. A gesture presumably to hint the similarity of Walter's journey with the one of Major Tom from Space Oddity.

Number #25

What I like about a good film is how it uses symbolism to represent the intended message. There's always a reason for every aspect.

When I started to inspect every detail of this film, I figured that number 25 is used with a purpose considering it's importance to the plot. When I looked it up, I knew that I was right.

Number 25 represents curiosity and personal freedom. So as Walter was searching for the#25, he was metaphorically searching for his curious adventurous self and--of course--his freedom.

"Which adventurous self?" you may ask.

It was explained later in the film that Walter lost his dad when he was 17. They were really close. His dad gave him a travel notebook when he planned to travel to Europe which couldn't be realized because his dad passed away that same year and Walter had to start working to support his mom and his sister. Since then, Walter held the responsibility of the man of the house.

Walter spent most of his life supporting his mom and unemployed sister. I think that's why he never went anywhere and had fun or even married. He loved the family he got left and dedicated his life to them. And with #25, he learned to give himself the life he deserved.

When he continued to look for Sean in the Himalayas, Walter took his old duffel bag and the travel notebook with him. He finally took them to the adventure that's long overdue.

The Quintessence of Life

When Walter found Sean on the Himalayas, he was waiting for a snow leopard, an animal the locals called 'the ghost cat' because it never let itself be seen. Seas added that

"beautiful things don't ask for attention".

After a brief moment, Walter asked about the missing negative that cost him his job (Walter got fired a few days prior for not being able to provide the required negative).

Sean replied that Walter is sitting on it because it was in the wallet Sean gave him.

"I told you to look inside."

...

All this time, the photo Walter had been looking for to Greenland, Iceland, and Afghanistan was with him from the beginning. It was never lost.

But Walter didn't have the wallet with him anymore. He threw it away when he got back home from Iceland and lost his job.

Though disappointed, Sean said that it was a shame that Walter didn't know what it was.

A few moments later, Sean spotted the snow leopard. Perfectly framed.

(Yep. The same one you see on this post's cover.)

But when Walter asked why Sean didn't press the camera's button to capture the rare moment, Sean responded with:

"Sometimes I don't. If I like a moment. I mean me, personally, I don't like to have the distraction of camera. I just want to stay.. in it." "Stay in it?" said Walter. "Yes. Right there. Right here."

The scene ended with both of them joining a group of people playing football nearby.

When he's home again, Walter handed over the negative to Ted without even checking it.

Ghost Cat

"What was the picture?"

"Let's just call it a ghost cat, Walter Mitty."

Life is the center of Walter's entire story. He worked in a company named LIFE with a motto that emboldened the 'purpose of life', but Walter never actually lived his life.

Not until he went on an adventure looking for 'the quintessence of life'.

Walter couldn't live his life because he already gave it to others. He sacrificed it to serve his family.

He was committed to his family for his love to them. He was committed to his job for his professionalism and love for it.

Walter lived a life, yes. But he needed to learn that he didn't live it right.

Remember the thing Sean said about the camera's distraction? The camera is a metaphor for Walter's daydreaming.

His adventures told Walter that he has worth. He could still be anything and do anything and not betraying his commitment to his family and his job. It showed Walter that he didn't need to fantasize about being awesome. He just needed to wake up and move.

In the end, Sean and #25 helped Walter realize that he had always been noteworthy. With that big of a heart, he had never been invisible. He's part of life in a bigger picture as well as in a smaller picture which Sean took and named 'the Quintessence of Life':

Final statement

I love this film because it shows the epic journey of finding the value of oneself.

I love how Walter's daydreaming was the reason for him to go out and venture. It taught him that he didn't need it to enjoy his life. What he needed was to live the moment. Right there. Without distraction. It showed Walter that he didn't need it to distract him from his life and the happiness he could create.

Man, that message struck really close to home. Because all of us daydream. It doesn't matter if we didn't do it as Walter does, the point is, we often use it to help us cope with the harsh reality.

We fantasize about our successful carrier, fancy house, fun holidays, loving spouse, or wonderful children and often forget that we could use the time to realize them instead. We forget that hoping, imagining our life to change is never enough. We have to go out and do something to make it real.

Or they will always remain a daydream.

And this film taught me just that.

It's simple but presented in such a beautiful way.

The last thing I want to point out is this: the tone different from the first and the last scene.