Ideas And Techniques In Wes Anderson's Film
1) Childhood revolves around renewed inquiry into heartbreak, mourning, violence and failure. Along the way in our lives, these discoveries get shattered. The first instance, when that happens, is the moment in which we transcend from the realm of childhood into adolescence. The phase where we question what to do with these broken pieces.
2) Slowly we piece the jigsaw together. Whilst building this world from the broken pieces, through experience and observation we build our own world. These worlds made of fragments are merely approximations of our vanished past. Each of Anderson’s films is a box filled with the shards of an individual’s fragmented history. Let us take a look into the boxes of Wes Anderson!
3) Wesley Wales Anderson is a …show more content…
filmmaker born on the first of May in 1969. His parents were divorced when he was eight; Anderson would later describe the event as one of the most crucial events in shaping his childhood years. He enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, where he met co-writer Owen Wilson who worked on Anderson’s first short Bottle Rocket.
4) Impressed by the short, filmmaker Kit Carson gave Anderson his breakthrough with a feature version of Bottle Rocket, leading to Anderson’s subsequent films.
Over the years Anderson has developed as a filmmaker capable of producing independent looking films under the eyes of the big studios.
5) Wes Anderson is also part of a current arts movement known as New Sincerity. An arts movement describing concepts that challenge the notions of postmodernist irony. Other film director’s part of this movement include Paul Thomas Anderson, Charlie Kauffman and Lars Von Trier.
Mis En Scene:
6) Anderson composes his frames with precise neatness. The elements that are present in his Mis en scene are not there merely to fill up the background, but resonate with the viewer on a subconscious level. These objects allow the audience to easily identify the character and their traits.
7) It has often been said that Anderson’s style is his substance. The intricate style does not just imply artificiality, but aims to emphasize naivety, through its childlike miniature aesthetic, and the use of the dollhouse …show more content…
shots.
8) Anderson’s specific color palettes invites the audience into the unrealistic and surreal worlds that he creates. This alienation through the precise aesthetic address frequently lures the audience into detachment from the common investment in fiction and introduces an orderly, miniature childlike aesthetic.
9) The miniature and tableaux qualities of Anderson’s Mis en Scene are often related to Joseph Cornell’s boxes. Similar to the sculptor, Anderson forces a relationship between the elements in the box, yet also restricts the relationships to the confines of the box. This framing ultimately aims to alienate the audience, as it clearly defines that the characters are contained within the diegesis of the film.
10) Anderson’s cinematography is significant of his auteurs’s mark. His stylized worlds are mostly shot flat frontal, as if onstage and presented to a theatre audience. This compositional technique goes back to the origins of film, from the time when Tom Gunning’s ‘Cinema of attractions’ was popular.
11) Anderson is also well known for using symmetrical framing for many of his shots giving particular attention to evenly balancing the shot, thus making the character prmoninent.
12) In addition to the symmetry, Anderson places an emphasis on depth to make his subject stand out. He layers the different grounds of the frame with varying distances and plays with the impression of depth, which adds on to his children’s storybook like aesthetic address.
13) Anderson use of the overhead shot gives the audience a first person view of the character. The shot is specifically used at intimate moments when the character looks at personal items, or goes through rituals.
14) Another characteristic of Anderson’s films would be the frequent use of long takes. Anderson uses the long take to establish the world his characters live in, or the new community that they are a part of, for example in The Aquatic life with Steve Zissou and Royal Tenebaums.
15) Other in cam edits that are common in his films would be the use of whip pans, crash zooms and lots of lateral movement. These techniques allow the camera to probe the character and involve the audience in the scene, yet it also alienates the audience and adds to the artificiality of the world he creates as it may be considered unnatural.
16) Anderson has a cinematic trademark that ends most of his films; the slow tracking shot at the end is an elongated theatrical moment, which establishes a new diegetic balance within the realm of the film.
SOUND
17) Anderson is a filmmaker who gives great importance to music as key thematic element of his films. The music is often integrated with sound effects and dialogue.
18) The characters often get temporary control of the soundtrack when they play music diegetically. The source of the music is anchored visually in the form of records, CD’s and radios.
19) At times, music replaces the character’s inarticulacy by imposing a strong sense of inner complexity. For example, when Max brings a cassette to Miss Cross’s home in an attempt to woo her. The cassette helps Max convey his feelings to Miss Cross, as he is unable to do so through words.
20) Sound effects are used to introduce habitual practices within certain characters. For instance Dignan calls out like a bird during their robbery, Ash spits when he is frustrated and Mr. Fox has his signature whistle.
21) Anderson’s verbal aesthetic also includes rhyming and alliteration.
His films also heavily consist of songs from Britpop artistes such as The Zombies, The Kinks and The Rolling Stones. The choice of music can also be attributed to the themes of nostalgia.
Andersonian Characters:
22) Wes Anderson’s films are character driven films, consisting of well-layered and distinctive characters. Andersons’s films have come under scrutiny from critics and viewers for often consisting of a loose and digressed plot. But I believe that the plot is given an organic touch as the director places an emphasis on the journey the character goes through instead of the obstacles he overcomes. Through this journey we are allowed to engage with the characters and their choices more than the goal they have to fulfill.
23) The characters are cinematically constructed to a specific manner, which confines them to the realm of the film, but does not prevent from identification with real world representations. The intricate presentation evokes awareness amongst the audience that encourages the audience to form a temporary emotional investment with the
characters.
24) They can be compared to auteurs, as they believe that they are in complete control of their surroundings, even if they are not. The characters are precisely well developed that the absence of certain characteristics restricts the formulation of logical action reaction linkages, which then forces the audience to accept the absurdity of the character’s decisions during their quixotic journeys.
25) The theme of existentialism is a recurring motif amongst his characters. For example, In Rushmore, Max avoids his future beyond his academic years and uses the private institution as a form of escapism from the world beyond the gates of Rushmore. Fantastic Mr. Fox faces an existential crisis when he is forced into switching career paths due to familial concerns.
Lastly we have the Grand Budapest Hotel where a certain Monsieur Gustav micromanages practically every aspect of his guests, he even picks lovers based on attributes which reflect his inner self. A man stuck in a period way beyond his own.
26) The next noteworthy trait amongst all of Anderson’s films and characters would be the coexistence of irony and truth. Characters speak in nihilistic tones that balance ironic detachment with honest moments to alienate the audience. Fluctuations between theses modes of expression serve to reveal the sub textual layers of the characters. This coexistence of fluctuating modes of expression can also be termed as the use of normative believability juxtaposed with eccentric possibilities.
27) A sequence that best represents the use of this technique would be the montage sequence in The Royal Tenenbaums when Royal goes on a rebellious spree with his grand kids Ari and Uzi. Their acts fluctuate from what is possible such as go-karting and jay walking, as opposed to over the top acts such as riding on the back of a garbage truck.
28) Other techniques used to accentuate the fluctuation between the various tones include the deadpan expression. The straight tone dialogue delivery of the deadpan expression correlates to the characters attempting to suppress their emotions, and allows the minute details of the characters to be amplified due to the absence of an emotional reaction. An example would be when Sam tells Suzy that he loves her but she does not know what she’s saying. The deadpan expression here acts as mask protecting Sam from the world around him.
FAMILY
29) Moving on, I’ll be looking at the families in a Wes Anderson film. Anderson’s films revolve around the obstacles within a family and the forming of social bonds. Anderson establishes that the family is a system of cultural relations that is restaged and reformed through the acts of the character, and not a fact of nature. The characters in the family are often delicately balanced on the edge of narcissism and communal engagement.
30) An example of forming a social bond through framing would be the frequent use of the medium two shot in Bottle Rocket, consisting of Anthony and Dignan. When juxtaposed against the other shots without these characters, Anderson draws our attention to the events that happen without these characters. The absence of these characters in those events and the frequent use of the medium two shot for these characters highlight the social bond between Anthony and Dignan.
31) Anderson uses the forming of a social bond as the genesis for his films and explores the conflicts that arise throughout the course of this journey. In Royal Tenenbaums we have a family of child prodigies who have not progressed from their childhood glory days and struggle to reunite upon their father’s return from his long absence.
32) In the Darjeeling Limited, Anderson signifies the memory of the dad through the constant obstacle the luggage poses as, which is an inheritance from their father. They discard the bag at the end of the film signifying that they have moved on from their past, and formed a new family.
33) The long tracking shot at the end of the film that passes through a series of train cars in a dollhouse manner represents a new family created out of the diegetic space of the film. This indicates that the brothers could possibly be unaware of the new community that they are a part of.
34) Familial competition is also prevalent in Anderson’s films. In Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ash’s insecurities make him resent his Cousin Kristofferson who has natural athletic talent. His insecurities deepen as the athletic talent leads to a bond between Mr. Fox and Kristofferson. This is an example of Anderson’s representation of dysfunctional kinship that is based on the discomfort of conventional social roles.
THEATRE
35) Since young, Anderson has had a strong affinity with theatre, and this affinity is strongly reflected in his works. Anderson’s stage like compositions gives each moment a sense of theatricality, as if it is being performed on a stage. Such composition emphasizes the depth that represents the interiority of the characters, and how they are looking for memories of their inner selves.
36) Anderson toys around with the idea of how the stage is a place where mourning is amplified, this theatricality translates those moments into narrative materiality, thus bringing the past back to the present, and turning it into a spectacle. This ideology is most notably present in films such as Rushmore and Moonrise Kingdom.
37) Rushmore constantly interplays between the different character’s theatrical grieving processes. Max mourns his mother’s demise, whilst Miss Cross is unable to move from her husband’s death and Mr. Blume is stuck between his expensive divorce and his two unloving sons. The film follows each character’s journeys concurrently like acts from a play.
38) The protagonist’s breakthrough in the film is achieved through him staging a play titled Heaven and Hell, based on the Vietnam War, which brings back past events and puts it under the current spotlight, a direct representation of the new community that Max, Miss Cross and Mr. Blume are a part of, and how they have moved on.
39) The theatre is also evident in Moonrise Kingdom; Sam and Suzy’s love is first initiated backstage during the school play, and the consequent events that follow are staged like acts from a play.
40) In the very beginning of the film and at the end, the narrator establishes the settings similar to a stage manager setting out the scenes before a play.
41) Another theatrical element that is within the film itself would be Captain Sharp and Laura’s old withered love acting as a backdrop to Sam and Suzy’s young love.
42) The climax flood sequence of the film mirrors and magnifies the miniaturized version that was in the church play at the start of the film, this represents a form of foreshadowing. The flood also represents bringing the community together in the church, very similar to the root inspiration for the film, which would be Noah’s Ark.
43) This theatrical reenactments of memories on screened stages makes the fragmented pasts present enough for the characters to move on.
INNOCENCE AND CHILDHOOD
44) Finally, we will be looking at the themes of innocence and childhood in Anderson’s films. His films consist of a simplified sense of artificiality portrayed through a fastidious aural and visual style. Childlike innocence is present through the frequent celebration of misguided or shortsighted protagonists on extremely idealistic and unrealistic adventures. Such as Sam and Suzy’s adventure to Moonrise Kingdom, Ash and Kristofferson’s mission to get back Mr. Fox’s tail and Dignan’s robbery attempts.
45) Childhood is also an unpleasant absence felt by most of Wes’s characters. In the life aquatic with Steve Zissou, in the climatic animated scene where the characters meet the jaguar shark, Jane proclaims that, “The Zissou of my childhood represents all the dreams I’ve come to regret”, followed by Zissou proclaiming, “11 and a half was his favorite age”. A sense of alienation is also created through the highly artificial underwater environment with the stop motion shark and the small submarine.
46) Childhood is depicted, as an idealized past that exists away from all the complication that adulthood presents. The children of the Tenebaum family are dolled up in a manner very similar to their younger selves, Margot’s fur coat, Chas’s bob haircut and Richie’s tennis headband all represent a yearning for their nostalgic glory days when they meant something to the world and themselves.
47) Anderson’s films allow us to acknowledge the limitations that the characters are blind to; the audiences are encouraged by the tireless enthusiasm that fuels the protagonist’s ambitions. The films also explore the manner in which enthusiasm itself is a form of innocence, and how the characters are undaunted by the probability of failure. In bottle rocket, Dignan’s lack of cynicism pays off in the film’s climatic robbery attempt, when he has an exchange of words with Anthony.
48) Those moments in the film represents what innocence means to an Andersonian character.
49) That resilient verve that we are all trying to reignite within ourselves, that ignorance to the possibility of failure, the acceptance that our new memories will only be approximations of the innocence we once had.
2) Slowly we piece the jigsaw together. Whilst building this world from the broken pieces, through experience and observation we build our own world. These worlds made of fragments are merely approximations of our vanished past. Each of Anderson’s films is a box filled with the shards of an individual’s fragmented history. Let us take a look into the boxes of Wes Anderson!
3) Wesley Wales Anderson is a …show more content…
filmmaker born on the first of May in 1969. His parents were divorced when he was eight; Anderson would later describe the event as one of the most crucial events in shaping his childhood years. He enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, where he met co-writer Owen Wilson who worked on Anderson’s first short Bottle Rocket.
4) Impressed by the short, filmmaker Kit Carson gave Anderson his breakthrough with a feature version of Bottle Rocket, leading to Anderson’s subsequent films.
Over the years Anderson has developed as a filmmaker capable of producing independent looking films under the eyes of the big studios.
5) Wes Anderson is also part of a current arts movement known as New Sincerity. An arts movement describing concepts that challenge the notions of postmodernist irony. Other film director’s part of this movement include Paul Thomas Anderson, Charlie Kauffman and Lars Von Trier.
Mis En Scene:
6) Anderson composes his frames with precise neatness. The elements that are present in his Mis en scene are not there merely to fill up the background, but resonate with the viewer on a subconscious level. These objects allow the audience to easily identify the character and their traits.
7) It has often been said that Anderson’s style is his substance. The intricate style does not just imply artificiality, but aims to emphasize naivety, through its childlike miniature aesthetic, and the use of the dollhouse …show more content…
shots.
8) Anderson’s specific color palettes invites the audience into the unrealistic and surreal worlds that he creates. This alienation through the precise aesthetic address frequently lures the audience into detachment from the common investment in fiction and introduces an orderly, miniature childlike aesthetic.
9) The miniature and tableaux qualities of Anderson’s Mis en Scene are often related to Joseph Cornell’s boxes. Similar to the sculptor, Anderson forces a relationship between the elements in the box, yet also restricts the relationships to the confines of the box. This framing ultimately aims to alienate the audience, as it clearly defines that the characters are contained within the diegesis of the film.
10) Anderson’s cinematography is significant of his auteurs’s mark. His stylized worlds are mostly shot flat frontal, as if onstage and presented to a theatre audience. This compositional technique goes back to the origins of film, from the time when Tom Gunning’s ‘Cinema of attractions’ was popular.
11) Anderson is also well known for using symmetrical framing for many of his shots giving particular attention to evenly balancing the shot, thus making the character prmoninent.
12) In addition to the symmetry, Anderson places an emphasis on depth to make his subject stand out. He layers the different grounds of the frame with varying distances and plays with the impression of depth, which adds on to his children’s storybook like aesthetic address.
13) Anderson use of the overhead shot gives the audience a first person view of the character. The shot is specifically used at intimate moments when the character looks at personal items, or goes through rituals.
14) Another characteristic of Anderson’s films would be the frequent use of long takes. Anderson uses the long take to establish the world his characters live in, or the new community that they are a part of, for example in The Aquatic life with Steve Zissou and Royal Tenebaums.
15) Other in cam edits that are common in his films would be the use of whip pans, crash zooms and lots of lateral movement. These techniques allow the camera to probe the character and involve the audience in the scene, yet it also alienates the audience and adds to the artificiality of the world he creates as it may be considered unnatural.
16) Anderson has a cinematic trademark that ends most of his films; the slow tracking shot at the end is an elongated theatrical moment, which establishes a new diegetic balance within the realm of the film.
SOUND
17) Anderson is a filmmaker who gives great importance to music as key thematic element of his films. The music is often integrated with sound effects and dialogue.
18) The characters often get temporary control of the soundtrack when they play music diegetically. The source of the music is anchored visually in the form of records, CD’s and radios.
19) At times, music replaces the character’s inarticulacy by imposing a strong sense of inner complexity. For example, when Max brings a cassette to Miss Cross’s home in an attempt to woo her. The cassette helps Max convey his feelings to Miss Cross, as he is unable to do so through words.
20) Sound effects are used to introduce habitual practices within certain characters. For instance Dignan calls out like a bird during their robbery, Ash spits when he is frustrated and Mr. Fox has his signature whistle.
21) Anderson’s verbal aesthetic also includes rhyming and alliteration.
His films also heavily consist of songs from Britpop artistes such as The Zombies, The Kinks and The Rolling Stones. The choice of music can also be attributed to the themes of nostalgia.
Andersonian Characters:
22) Wes Anderson’s films are character driven films, consisting of well-layered and distinctive characters. Andersons’s films have come under scrutiny from critics and viewers for often consisting of a loose and digressed plot. But I believe that the plot is given an organic touch as the director places an emphasis on the journey the character goes through instead of the obstacles he overcomes. Through this journey we are allowed to engage with the characters and their choices more than the goal they have to fulfill.
23) The characters are cinematically constructed to a specific manner, which confines them to the realm of the film, but does not prevent from identification with real world representations. The intricate presentation evokes awareness amongst the audience that encourages the audience to form a temporary emotional investment with the
characters.
24) They can be compared to auteurs, as they believe that they are in complete control of their surroundings, even if they are not. The characters are precisely well developed that the absence of certain characteristics restricts the formulation of logical action reaction linkages, which then forces the audience to accept the absurdity of the character’s decisions during their quixotic journeys.
25) The theme of existentialism is a recurring motif amongst his characters. For example, In Rushmore, Max avoids his future beyond his academic years and uses the private institution as a form of escapism from the world beyond the gates of Rushmore. Fantastic Mr. Fox faces an existential crisis when he is forced into switching career paths due to familial concerns.
Lastly we have the Grand Budapest Hotel where a certain Monsieur Gustav micromanages practically every aspect of his guests, he even picks lovers based on attributes which reflect his inner self. A man stuck in a period way beyond his own.
26) The next noteworthy trait amongst all of Anderson’s films and characters would be the coexistence of irony and truth. Characters speak in nihilistic tones that balance ironic detachment with honest moments to alienate the audience. Fluctuations between theses modes of expression serve to reveal the sub textual layers of the characters. This coexistence of fluctuating modes of expression can also be termed as the use of normative believability juxtaposed with eccentric possibilities.
27) A sequence that best represents the use of this technique would be the montage sequence in The Royal Tenenbaums when Royal goes on a rebellious spree with his grand kids Ari and Uzi. Their acts fluctuate from what is possible such as go-karting and jay walking, as opposed to over the top acts such as riding on the back of a garbage truck.
28) Other techniques used to accentuate the fluctuation between the various tones include the deadpan expression. The straight tone dialogue delivery of the deadpan expression correlates to the characters attempting to suppress their emotions, and allows the minute details of the characters to be amplified due to the absence of an emotional reaction. An example would be when Sam tells Suzy that he loves her but she does not know what she’s saying. The deadpan expression here acts as mask protecting Sam from the world around him.
FAMILY
29) Moving on, I’ll be looking at the families in a Wes Anderson film. Anderson’s films revolve around the obstacles within a family and the forming of social bonds. Anderson establishes that the family is a system of cultural relations that is restaged and reformed through the acts of the character, and not a fact of nature. The characters in the family are often delicately balanced on the edge of narcissism and communal engagement.
30) An example of forming a social bond through framing would be the frequent use of the medium two shot in Bottle Rocket, consisting of Anthony and Dignan. When juxtaposed against the other shots without these characters, Anderson draws our attention to the events that happen without these characters. The absence of these characters in those events and the frequent use of the medium two shot for these characters highlight the social bond between Anthony and Dignan.
31) Anderson uses the forming of a social bond as the genesis for his films and explores the conflicts that arise throughout the course of this journey. In Royal Tenenbaums we have a family of child prodigies who have not progressed from their childhood glory days and struggle to reunite upon their father’s return from his long absence.
32) In the Darjeeling Limited, Anderson signifies the memory of the dad through the constant obstacle the luggage poses as, which is an inheritance from their father. They discard the bag at the end of the film signifying that they have moved on from their past, and formed a new family.
33) The long tracking shot at the end of the film that passes through a series of train cars in a dollhouse manner represents a new family created out of the diegetic space of the film. This indicates that the brothers could possibly be unaware of the new community that they are a part of.
34) Familial competition is also prevalent in Anderson’s films. In Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ash’s insecurities make him resent his Cousin Kristofferson who has natural athletic talent. His insecurities deepen as the athletic talent leads to a bond between Mr. Fox and Kristofferson. This is an example of Anderson’s representation of dysfunctional kinship that is based on the discomfort of conventional social roles.
THEATRE
35) Since young, Anderson has had a strong affinity with theatre, and this affinity is strongly reflected in his works. Anderson’s stage like compositions gives each moment a sense of theatricality, as if it is being performed on a stage. Such composition emphasizes the depth that represents the interiority of the characters, and how they are looking for memories of their inner selves.
36) Anderson toys around with the idea of how the stage is a place where mourning is amplified, this theatricality translates those moments into narrative materiality, thus bringing the past back to the present, and turning it into a spectacle. This ideology is most notably present in films such as Rushmore and Moonrise Kingdom.
37) Rushmore constantly interplays between the different character’s theatrical grieving processes. Max mourns his mother’s demise, whilst Miss Cross is unable to move from her husband’s death and Mr. Blume is stuck between his expensive divorce and his two unloving sons. The film follows each character’s journeys concurrently like acts from a play.
38) The protagonist’s breakthrough in the film is achieved through him staging a play titled Heaven and Hell, based on the Vietnam War, which brings back past events and puts it under the current spotlight, a direct representation of the new community that Max, Miss Cross and Mr. Blume are a part of, and how they have moved on.
39) The theatre is also evident in Moonrise Kingdom; Sam and Suzy’s love is first initiated backstage during the school play, and the consequent events that follow are staged like acts from a play.
40) In the very beginning of the film and at the end, the narrator establishes the settings similar to a stage manager setting out the scenes before a play.
41) Another theatrical element that is within the film itself would be Captain Sharp and Laura’s old withered love acting as a backdrop to Sam and Suzy’s young love.
42) The climax flood sequence of the film mirrors and magnifies the miniaturized version that was in the church play at the start of the film, this represents a form of foreshadowing. The flood also represents bringing the community together in the church, very similar to the root inspiration for the film, which would be Noah’s Ark.
43) This theatrical reenactments of memories on screened stages makes the fragmented pasts present enough for the characters to move on.
INNOCENCE AND CHILDHOOD
44) Finally, we will be looking at the themes of innocence and childhood in Anderson’s films. His films consist of a simplified sense of artificiality portrayed through a fastidious aural and visual style. Childlike innocence is present through the frequent celebration of misguided or shortsighted protagonists on extremely idealistic and unrealistic adventures. Such as Sam and Suzy’s adventure to Moonrise Kingdom, Ash and Kristofferson’s mission to get back Mr. Fox’s tail and Dignan’s robbery attempts.
45) Childhood is also an unpleasant absence felt by most of Wes’s characters. In the life aquatic with Steve Zissou, in the climatic animated scene where the characters meet the jaguar shark, Jane proclaims that, “The Zissou of my childhood represents all the dreams I’ve come to regret”, followed by Zissou proclaiming, “11 and a half was his favorite age”. A sense of alienation is also created through the highly artificial underwater environment with the stop motion shark and the small submarine.
46) Childhood is depicted, as an idealized past that exists away from all the complication that adulthood presents. The children of the Tenebaum family are dolled up in a manner very similar to their younger selves, Margot’s fur coat, Chas’s bob haircut and Richie’s tennis headband all represent a yearning for their nostalgic glory days when they meant something to the world and themselves.
47) Anderson’s films allow us to acknowledge the limitations that the characters are blind to; the audiences are encouraged by the tireless enthusiasm that fuels the protagonist’s ambitions. The films also explore the manner in which enthusiasm itself is a form of innocence, and how the characters are undaunted by the probability of failure. In bottle rocket, Dignan’s lack of cynicism pays off in the film’s climatic robbery attempt, when he has an exchange of words with Anthony.
48) Those moments in the film represents what innocence means to an Andersonian character.
49) That resilient verve that we are all trying to reignite within ourselves, that ignorance to the possibility of failure, the acceptance that our new memories will only be approximations of the innocence we once had.