Walter Mitty and the Man “Fully Alive”

Walter Mitty lives his life through a series of fantasies, which show him being the person he wishes he was and doing the thing he wishes he could.

The movie, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is all about discovering the meaning and value of the regular, real life.

Let’s move past the cliched elements first. Mitty is looked down upon, or overlooked completely, by his professional superior and patronizingly described by his mother as “my little worker bee.” She is not malicious in this appraisal and it is revealed throughout the film that this hyper-focused, possibly over-diligent, attitude is not entirely Mitty’s “fault,” but it is certainly presented as an imperfection of character, perhaps a deficiency in courage.

One’s sense of vicarious embarrassment for Mitty is overwhelming early when he talks with the eHarmony representative about his lack of profile.

He could not engage with the interest because he had not “Been There” nor had he “Done That” and so had nothing to add in the appropriate sections. The story isn’t that Mitty says “yes” to life, puts the bully in his place and gets the girl, though, of course he does, but that even if he hadn’t had all those satisfying moments, there was something more, something quintessential (groan), to his life. 

The plot of the movie is largely driven by Mitty’s search for this missing negative taken by a famous photographer that was meant to be used for the last ever print issue of Life magazine.

The photo, titled “The Quintessence of Life,” becomes much more than simply the film’s macguffin but also that which drives home the main theme of the movie.

Interestingly, “quintessence,” made up of the Latin words “quinta,” or fifth, and “essentia,” essence, refers to the ancient notion of the four elements of earth, fire, air and water, followed by the immaterial, ethereal fifth element that enlivens all of these (think also of the eponymous 1997 Bruce Willis sci-fi movie that catapulted, as well as typecasted, Milla Jovovich).

This quintessence has always been associated with the aether and the heavenly bodies. One will also find it on Medieval alchemy charts as a sort of convergence between the four elements, and yet also transcendent of them.

This perfectly captures the transcendence of humanity, representative of one singly, and at least at first, un-noteworthy, person. 

One of meme-iest, self-helpy sounding (though theologically accurate) quotes from the Church Fathers comes from our Church’s first systematic theologian and recently-named Doctor, St. Irenaeus of Lyon, who says that “The glory of God is man fully alive.”

Anyone who knows this admirable saying cannot help but think it, and really see it in Mitty’s eyes, as he skateboards down the Seyðisfjarðarvegur. No, it is not the technically correct application of the quote, but unless you wanted Ben Stiller to start giving a homily about the Resurrection or theosis, of course it wouldn’t be, but you’d be missing the point.

He is not only nearing the end of his external search for “The Quintessence of Life,” he is experiencing it in a way he never had tried before.

For the “fully alive” Christian, this is brought about through cooperation with God’s grace, which is the necessary Source of life itself.

All contingent living things just participate in Life itself, which is God, and the unique participation offered, but not necessarily limited, to Christians is the grace of Jesus Christ. However, God’s grace builds upon the nature already provided to us in our humanity.

In Mitty’s case, he had the virtues within himself, but needed something extrinsic, transcendent, to pull him outside of his fantasies and into a greater depth of reality. Yes, it would be simple for everyone to just know that God is the Ultimate Source of Being, Goodness, Truth, Beatitude, and that the search for this becomes a part of that goodness.

But until everyone becomes a perfect little disciple, be encouraged by the goodness you can find in Mitty’s search being a sort of ascent up the mountain. 

Mitty here is actually a more complex character than his surroundings, and we the audience, give him credit. While it is certainly problematic that he appears to be fantasizing his life away, unable to approach the girl he likes for fear of rejection, he is also the subject whom our famous photographer secretly chose to illustrate the quintessence Walter just spent the last two hours seeking.

We get the closest thing to an “on the nose” moral of the story in Walter’s conversation with the famous photographer whom Mitty has finally tracked down. He is about to photograph the elusive snow leopard, stops and backs away from his camera.  When Mitty asked him why, he simply states, “If I like a moment…I stay…in it.”

This moment of contemplation is not eternal for O’Connell and Mitty, but is followed by action ordered towards relationship as they both play soccer with the locals in the village, giving us another interesting example of the two ways of the spiritual life not in competition but in harmony.

It is finally revealed, *spoiler, but the movie is ten years old* that the photo “The Quintessence of Life” is actually a photo of Mitty, not simply working hard but finding joy in the dignifying and beautiful work with which he was engaged. He was actually fully present, and it was no longer a secret.