The film “Big Eyes” is a biography from the 1950s and early 60s, based on a true story of a man named Walter Keane known as Christoph Waltz who achieves insane fame from drawings and paintings of saucer-eyed waifs as they were called. His fame came from his wife’s paintings. Margaret Keane, Walters wife, is terrified when she comes to find out that her husband has been selling her artwork and taking credit as if it were his own. She is horribly upset but is too scared to loudly protest about it.
Margaret draws and paints kids, such as her daughter, as well as adults and animals on canvases, the figures have regular sized bodies, yet big, abnormal sized eyes, which is what makes her paintings so different and unique compared to others. Just like many artists, every drawing and painting that Margaret makes has a story behind what is going on when you look at it. In the film, when the camera shows Margaret painting, they show all the little detail that she puts into her paintings and drawings that make them look so visually realistic and very nice to look at in my opinion. As you see her paintings in the movie, you see how she puts so much detail into the background of her artwork. She blends certain colors of paint so she can get the right color she needs for the painting she is working on. You can visually see very detailed figures such as creases in their skin, along with most of her paintings having a very serious face, almost as if the child and or adult is angry or going through something personal or tragic. Walter takes credit for all his wife’s paintings and refuses to let her put her mark on her own work.
There are many artistic techniques shown in this film, such as the detail and shadowing in Margarets paintings. The detail in the skin and the outfits of the children and adult figures are wearing in each painting, along with the animals that Margaret paints next to the kids in some of her paintings where the dogs even look sad because their faces are straight with no emotion or expression. When Margaret paints her children with big eyes, it is clear that each child looks different, each has a different appearance and the children are a mixture between boys and girls. Some have long hair, some have short hair, but two of the things that the children have in common are how serious they are, and their posture is straight and firm. Although, the movie was well produced and directed, credit should be given where it is due. For example, Margaret paints every painting that Walter decides to sell or give away. During these actions, the people he would talk to about the paintings would tell him that they were very nice and he would take full credit for paintings that were not even his. Therefore, he should have given Margaret credit for her paintings that he is selling and giving away.
A few things that I really enjoyed about this film were how the audience could visually see how passionate Margaret was about her paintings. The audience could tell that if she was credited, she could have been famous for her artwork, which technically she was because she painted the paintings, but everyone knew them as her husband Walter’s works. Margaret was passionate about her painting and liked the way she did what she loved because when Walter would suggest a new style to her, she would brush it off and continue to do the style she was comfortable and familiar with. Now, when it comes to aspects of the movie that I did not like, that would include, Walter not giving Margaret any credit for all the hard work that she put into the paintings that she would spend months working on. Along with not realizing how passionate she was about painting. He would sell or donate her paintings, like they were nothing at all just to make money from them. He sold one of her paintings that he claimed as his own and got a $5,000 check for one of the paintings that Margaret had painted. While watching this film, I did not agree at all with the fact of Margaret not getting any credit due to her for everything she had worked hard for. Everyone deserves credit for their work that they had created. Walter should have given Margaret credit for the paintings he would ask her to make for him to sell and give away, but he did not. He would tell everyone that he is the one who painted everything he sold and gave away.
In the end, Walter never accepted the facts. He went on for the rest of his life insisting he was the true artist of the big eyes paintings and the other paintings that Margaret had made. He said that he only took credit for the paintings because he needed money and Margaret’s paintings sold for a lot so he would sell them without her consent. He kept the money for himself but later on, gave the money to Margaret because it was supposed to be hers for the paintings she made for him, after she had filed for a divorce from him. Walter passed away in 2000, angry, homeless and broke because he did not want to be honest with the people he was lying to his whole life. He never made another painting after that. After Walter passed away, Margaret found happiness within herself and remarries. After living in Hawaii for many years, she decided to move back to San Francisco where she previously lived and decided to open a new art gallery. To this day, she still has the passion to paint every single day despite what she went through with Walter.
I feel as though in some ways, Margaret is a role model to young artists. I say that because even though she went through a lot in her marriage, with her husband taking all the credit for the work she would spend countless hours and months working on, she never found the need to give up or stop standing up for what she had a passion for. She proved her point after so long that she was the one telling the truth and that she was the one behind all these paintings that Walter was taking the credit for, selling and donating. I feel as though most artists back then would not have stood up for painting the way Margaret did, and for that a lot of people should look up to her if they don’t already. The movie made me feel this way because I feel as though most artists back then would have let people criticize and take credit for their work then give them credit for what they had created with their talent. As shown in this film, Margaret chooses to stand up for herself and bring Walter to court because he refuses to give her credit for the beautiful paintings she has made and to divorce him because he was a drunk and physical with her. There is a scene in the film when Margaret is in her painting room and Walter walks in and sees that she is painting in a completely different style. He asks her why she decided to change it up and she tells him she wants to try something different. In this scene if you watch Margaret’s hands carefully while she is painting, you can see how she uses this brush strokes to make the outline of the faces.
