By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Human disconnect, social


isolation and the transition to an increasingly digital era come

crashing together in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,"

actor-director Ben Stiller's personal take on a classic story.

"Walter Mitty," out in theaters on Christmas Day, finds

Stiller not just reimagining the character made famous from

author James Thurber's 1939 short story of the same name in The

New Yorker magazine, but redefining what Walter Mitty has come

to represent in popular culture.


Walter Mitty is described by the Merriam-Webster dictionary

as "a commonplace unadventurous person who seeks escape from

reality through daydreaming," and is often used to describe

people who imagine themselves greater than they are in reality.


Stiller's Walter Mitty is different. A middle-aged man

trapped by financial responsibility, Walter is a photo archivist

at the dwindling Life magazine, a job that is being replaced by

machines. Shy, sheltered and reserved, he is isolated from the

environment around him.



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