MovieChat Forums > Rockfish (2007) Discussion > The ending (SPOILERS)

The ending (SPOILERS)


Wondering if anyone got this interpretation of the ending & the overall message. We see a man set down on a barren planet with his giant ATV and his dog. He drills a hole probably a few miles deep and drops a line. Then he sits back and falls asleep.

It's a very embellished, scifi story of a man who goes fishing, only his catch is way beyond his wildest dreams. What's interesting is the ending. He doesn't eat the fish, he doesn't even take the fish back as a trophy. He simply chalks up another dead fish on his scorecard, a giant one.

My interpretation is that the story is satirical. Or maybe it's a cautionary tale of hunting in the future. Cavemen hunted for survival. Modern men hunt for trophies. The future man hunts just because it's something to do. This short shows us the story of a man who invades another creature's territory, snares it and kills it, then walks off with simply his self-satisfaction. If I'm right in my interpretation, it reminds me of the brilliant scifi satire "Starship Troopers" which, on the surface, is about humans fighting against alien monsters, but the point is that we humans are the monsters for killing things for no reason other than they look like bugs. In both cases the irony is very subtle. But if it's intentional, then "Rockfish" is a lot more than just a big fish tale.

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