The Films of Wes Anderson

The Films of Wes Anderson

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The Films of Wes Anderson Critical Essays on an Indiewood Icon Edited by Peter C. Kunze

the films of wes anderson Copyright Peter C. Kunze, 2014. Corrected Printing 2014 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-40311-7 All rights reserved. First published in 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe, and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-48692-2 ISBN 978-1-137-40312-4 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137403124 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The films of Wes Anderson : critical essays on an indiewood icon / edited by Peter C. Kunze. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-349-48692-2 1. Anderson, Wes, 1969 Criticism and interpretation. I. Kunze, Peter C. (Peter Christopher), editor of compilation. PN1998.3.A526F57 2014 791.4302'33092 dc23 2013045031 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Amnet. First edition: May 2014 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents List of Illustrations vii Introduction: The Wonderful Worlds of Wes Anderson 1 Peter C. Kunze Part 1 1 The Short Films of Wes Anderson 13 Nicole Richter 2 Cast of Characters: Wes Anderson and Pure Cinematic Characterization 25 Kim Wilkins 3 The Jellyfish and the Moonlight: Imagining the Family in Wes Anderson s Films 39 Steven Rybin 4 Max Fischer Presents : Wes Anderson and the Theatricality of Mourning 51 Rachel Joseph 5 Who s to Say? : The Role of Pets in Wes Anderson s Films 65 C. Ryan Knight 6 American Empirical Time and Space: The (In) Visibility of Popular Culture in the Films of Wes Anderson 77 Jason Davids Scott Part 2 7 From the Mixed-Up Films of Mr. Wesley W. Anderson: Children s Literature as Intertexts 91 Peter C. Kunze 8 A Shared Approach to Familial Dysfunction and Sound Design: Wes Anderson s Influence on the Films of Noah Baumbach 109 Jennifer O Meara

vi CONTENTS 9 Bill Murray and Wes Anderson, or the Curmudgeon as Muse 125 Colleen Kennedy-Karpat 10 Life on Mars or Life on the Sea: Seu Jorge, David Bowie, and the Musical World in Wes Anderson s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou 139 Lara Hrycaj Part 3 11 The Andersonian, the Quirky, and Innocence 153 James MacDowell 12 I Always Wanted to Be a Tenenbaum : Class Mobility as Neoliberal Fantasy in Wes Anderson s The Royal Tenenbaums 171 Jen Hedler Phillis 13 Objects/Desire/Oedipus: Wes Anderson as Late-Capitalist Auteur 181 Joshua Gooch 14 Systems Thinking in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Moonrise Kingdom 199 Laura Shackelford Notes on Contributors 215 Index 219

List of Illustrations Figure 11.1 Bottle Rocket: The Hurricanes don t let defeat get them down. 163 Figure 11.2 Bottle Rocket: Dignan is fuckin innocent. 163 Figure 11.3 Fantastic Mr. Fox: Raised-first salutes. 165 Figure 13.1 Figure 13.2 Figure 13.3 Figure 13.4 Figure 13.5 Figure 13.6 Figure 13.7 Figure 13.8 The Darjeeling Limited: Adrien Brody outruns Bill Murray s metatextual paternal figure. 184 The Darjeeling Limited: Sons shed their paternal baggage. 184 The Darjeeling Limited: The paternal figure anchors a desiring chain of train cars. 185 Moonrise Kingdom: The an-oedipal objects of Sam s costume. 192 Moonrise Kingdom: Sam s costume acts as an assemblage. 192 Moonrise Kingdom: Suzy s objects are largely those of passive consumption like this portable record player. 193 Moonrise Kingdom: As part of the film s thematics of policed desire, Sam swaps his Scouts uniform for that of his adopted father. 194 Moonrise Kingdom: In place of his earlier painting of adolescent desire, Sam substitutes a representation of its scene in the film s concluding sequence. 195

viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 13.9 Figure 14.1 Figure 14.2 Moonrise Kingdom: To emphasize the connection between art, cinema, and the capture of desire, the film ends with a dissolve from Sam s painting to this shot of the beach. 196 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: Communicating with cybernetic albino dolphin scouts. 200 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: Underwater in the Deep Search. 209