A fish out of water theme in fiction is a story paradigm that places the main character in a world that is completely different from the one to which he or she is accustomed. It’s most commonly used for comedies, but it can also be used for drama, romance, action, and science fiction.
Eddie Murphy plays Billy Ray Valentine, a street hustler begging for spare change, in Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd’s 1983 film Trading Places. Louis Winthorpe III, played Dan Aykroyd, is a successful commodities broker who works for two eccentric millionaires, Mortimer and Randolph Duke. One brother wagers with the other that if Billy Ray is replaced with Winthorpe, the former will become a successful businessman, while the latter, deprived of his wealth and status, will turn to crime. Billy Ray is plucked from the streets and given Winthorpe’s position and opulent mansion, while Winthorpe finds himself back on the streets, accused of crimes he didn’t commit. The result is one of the most well-known fish-out-of-water comedies in history.
Perry King plays Steve Brooks, a lying, chauvinist womanizer who is murdered three of the women he wronged in the 1991 comedy Switch. He’s given a second chance in the afterlife to redeem himself winning the genuine love of just one female, but there’s a catch: he has to return as a woman without his manly charms. As “his sister,” Amanda Brooks, Ellen Barkin portrays the reincarnated Steve Brooks. While struggling to save his soul, Steve, now as Amanda, finds himself on the receiving end of the same chauvinistic behavior he once perpetrated. The comedic fish out of water theme is expressed in this case through a shift in gender rather than a change in environment.
In a different take on the theme, Jim Carey stars as Fletcher Reed, a successful defense lawyer, in the 1997 film Liar Liar. A birthday wish that “Dad won’t lie for 24 hours” comes true after he has broken too many promises to his young son. Fletcher discovers, to his horror, that he is unable to tell a lie, whether to the receptionist about her new haircut or to the judge about his client. Fletcher, who rose to the top of his profession flattering, conniving, and lying, now finds himself dealing with life in a completely unexpected way while trying to save his sanity, client, career, and family.
The Rock, starring Nicolas Cage as Dr. Stanley Goodspeed, a biochemical weapons specialist, and Sean Connery as John Mason, an ex-con, is an example of an action movie that successfully used the theme to heighten tension. Goodspeed plays a meticulous FBI lab geek with no field experience in this 1996 film. He’s called up chance to team up with Mason to save San Francisco from a chemical weapon, which is being threatened ex-military dissidents holed up on Alcatraz Island. Only Mason and Goodspeed have the ability to break into Alcatraz, and only Goodspeed has the ability to disarm the highly dangerous chemical weapon. Because of Goodspeed’s complete lack of field experience, the mission is a terrifying experience for both his character and the audience.
To create interesting dynamics, many films mix story paradigms. The classic 1979 Alien film, for example, featured elements of the fish out of water theme. When a ship of homebound miners awakens from cryo-sleep, they discover they are far from Earth. Instead, “The Company” used the ship’s computer to send orders to the crew to wake up in order to investigate an S.O.S. coming from a nearplanet. The blue-collar workers are completely unprepared for what they discover and incapable of dealing with it.
The fish out of water theme has been a successful story paradigm that speaks not only to our funny bones, but also to the anxieties we feel when forced to step outside of our comfort zones. From a boy trapped in a man’s body (Big) to a lovable alien trapped on Earth (E.T. ), the fish out of water theme has been a successful story paradigm that speaks not only to our funny bones, but also to the anxieties we feel when forced to step outside of our comfort zones. Because of the creativity of capable writers who use it to its full potential, the paradigm can create suspense and tension, as well as laughter and lightness.