Tom Hanks Ocean Index

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Tom Hanks has embraced many roles where his characters haplessly struggle in the modern condition, to ultimately find themselves. Were it not for Hanks’ subtle charm and humane generosity as an actor, such “Hollywood endings” might be trite, but they are not; rather, they mark the journey of common man. That many of them somehow involve the ocean, and its vicinity, will be examined herein.

Splash (1984)

Ocean sequence: Tom Hanks, having “blacked out” (for reasons which allude this contributor and perhaps some viewers), wakes up on a beach to encounter the same mermaid who saved him from drowning when he was a child, an experience he dismissed as hallucination in his adult life. Upon kissing the mermaid, who brings him back into the ocean, Hanks is immediately reminded of his childhood experience, and must consolidate the addendum, this time around, of a hard-on.

Relationship with ocean: Virile

Estimated time: 20 minutes

Metaphor(s): Birth of Venus; eggs/fertility on the beach.

Overall, good times or bad?: Awesome