MovieChat Forums > Big (1988) Discussion > Josh Did Not Get That Job By Dumb Luck. ...

Josh Did Not Get That Job By Dumb Luck. It Was The Wish

posted 10 years ago by Darkon007
12 replies | jump to latest

I just watched this movie today because it was on AFI's top 100 comedies.

And I have a theory as to why he got such a good job and everything else in such a short time. Josh's reason to be big was to have everything he ever wanted. Although he did not verbalize it to the machine; that desire and its fulfillment must have been carried over with him becoming an older person. I offer the following observations with my theories:

Exhibit A:

The Social Security number did not get checked. Now the woman said that they would receive the location of that carnival in 6+weeks. But somehow his Social Security number did not raise any alarm bells in all that time? I am not sure how long it takes for an American company to verify the Social Security so not sure 100% about this point.

Exhibit B:

Josh got the job because the woman was in the office complaining about one of the workers. I do not believe he got "lucky". It was the wish. Because of that complaining he got the job.

Exhibit C:

"Coincidentally" he meets the company boss at a toy store. The wish seems to modify his innocence and nature of fun to something that his more jaded boss missed about his own youth.

So the wish made Josh encounter the boss at the toy store. Remember Josh wanted to be big to have everything he ever wanted. And this was the way the wish was going to work out.

Exhibit D:

I am not sure why the jaded girlfriend first wanted to seduce him. I kinda missed that part. But clearly Josh did run into her earlier and was attracted to her. And it is shown that earlier he did want to be in a relationship with that blonde girl who was slightly older than him.

So again the wish used his innocent/non jaded nature (which is shown to be one of his greatest strength) to win the girlfriend over because that is one thing that Josh does want. In other words Josh got set up by the wish.

Naturally, the wish needed to remove the previous boyfriend from the equation. So the boyfriend's jealous nature was used to remove the girl from his grasp and set her up with Josh instead.

Exhibit E:

The girlfriend and Josh go to a dance and they walk past the Zoltar machine. A coincidence? Somehow I doubt it.
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Just my thoughts on the matter.

[–] Doc80 10 years ago

His wish was to be bigger though, not to grow up or to be a grown up.

[–] rap31264 10 years ago

I don't believe the title Big means being an adult. At the carnival he was denied to ride the ride because he was too short. While he was at the Zoltar machine, a bunch of big kids were teasing a little kid playing keep away with him. I believe Josh just wants to be bigger not necessarily older.

Exhibit A:

I've always thought that the Social Security number was a plot hole but I don't think he was at the job very long. It seemed like a matter of months so it could be plausible that the SS number might not have been flagged.

Exhibit B:

His future girlfriend was complaining about her own secretary due to the fact that ever since she got engaged she was spacing out about becoming married. He was hired due to his knowledge of computers and he was hired into data processing and not a secretary for his future girlfriend, Susan.

Exhibit C:

I think this was a pure coincidence. Josh is still a kid. He went to a toy store to see and play with toys as he was doing that. That's how is boss found him on the floor "dying" after being shot by another kid he was playing with. He asked if he worked for him and if he was there with his kids and his boss said he goes there every Saturday to check on the competition.

Exhibit D:

Susan apparently seduced every up and coming executive in the company. When she has the argument with the last executive and returns his things in his office, he names a list of other executives before him and he tells her that Josh is just another link in the chain.

At the beginning of the movie when Josh and Billy are talking, Billy tells Josh that if you get close to their teacher you can look down her blouse. Just like any young boy would be curious. He wasn't attracted to Susan when he first met her. He was helping he pick up files that he/she dropped when he ran into Mac and her blouse was open and he was looking at her bra. Curiosity. The reason he didn't want anything to do with the blonde was that his co-worker told him that just by talking to her, she could be his. Apparently, she was the office floozie. He told her that she would wrap her legs around him so tight that he would be begging for mercy and Josh says I'll stay away from her not understanding what he really meant because he's a kid.

Josh and Susan bonded the night of the party and she stayed over at his apartment. She told him she would sleep with him because that is what she did but he thought she meant to sleep over as in slumber party or something. She started having fun on the trampoline and was obviously was "relived" when Josh didn't sleep with her. He saw her for something else because of his naivety. He won her over after he played handball with her then boyfriend executive and he punched Josh and she patched him up. She broke up with him after that.

When she broke up with the boyfriend, he asked her what's so special about Baskin and she replied he's a grownup. So she was starting to change due to Josh's honesty and naivety. She was probably that way once.

Exhibit E:

I think the Zoltar machine being there was just one of those things. Here he wants to find the machine but he's out on a date and walks past it because his mind is on Susan now. His mind starts to turn towards being an adult after he sleeps with Susan. The next day he starts wearing a jacket and tie and wants to coffee and after that suits and going to dinner parties with Susan's friends.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] roadbyrd 10 years ago

Not his real one, he didn't know it

[–] willydoe71 10 years ago

FYI, even today, people are still using bogus social security numbers at jobs. So that point is moot.

[–] mikeyg24 10 years ago

Do you not need it to pay your taxes?

There's a moral to this story Del Boy but for the life of me I can't find it!

[–] Splarne 10 years ago

no.

if you don't file a return or do any other business that relates to having a social security number, you don't really need it at all.

there are millions of people in this country who do not have one, and will basically run on a cash only lifestyle.

***

Go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!

[–] mikeyg24 10 years ago

Well here in Ireland and Britain too if it were a cash in hand deal but here a company like McMillan's would organise to have your taxes taken out of your paycheque before you even see it. Except for organising a rebate I've never had to do anything about taxes in my life.

There's a moral to this story Del Boy but for the life of me I can't find it!

[–] EightiesKid 10 years ago

Stuff like this is really part of the magic of the old school days. I mean even in 1988 it would've been far fetched and unlikely, but it was easier to fudge or lie about stuff when you were applying for jobs, or to "get lucky" and chance across it (like Josh dancing on the piano drawing his boss' attention). You could NEVER get away with that in the totally connected social media days since the late 2000s.

I love modern tech and social media, but I do kinda miss stuff like that about the old days. Sorta takes the fun out of it now, lol.

And back to the OP's point, I tend to agree. I mean I doubt he would've wanted to be an aimless 30 year old drifter or something! Even back then, he had tremendous luck in everything working out almost immediately in terms of him finding a perfect job and an apartment and a girlfriend.

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 9 years ago

I love modern tech and social media, but I do kinda miss stuff like that about the old days. Sorta takes the fun out of it now, lol.

Totally agree.

R.I.P. Rick Ducommun and Tony Longo

[–] Helenlaurence 9 years ago

It all worked perfectly and quickly because it's a film and that's how it needed to go for the film to work!
Its a fantasy...

[–] residentevil6901 7 years ago

He got that job because it's a fictional story based on something that could never happen in reality so to compare it to reality is a double negative. Hint: It was written like this to happen that way so we could suspend our disbelief for a few hours and just enjoy it. Lol these types of posts are so funny, thanks again.