The Cinema of Wes Anderson: Bringing Nostalgia to Life

257 Pages·2017·3.382 MB·English

by  Whitney Crothers Dilley

the cinema of W E S A N D E R S O N
bringing nostalgia to life
whitney crothers dilley
the cinema of WES ANDERSON
DIRECTORS’ CUTS
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the cinema of ROBERT ALTMAN:hollywood maverick
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the cinema of HAL HARTLEY:flirting with formalism
STEVEN RYBIN (ed.)
the cinema of SEAN PENN:in and out of place
DEANE WILLIAMS
the cinema of CHRISTOPHER NOLAN:imagining the impossible
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the cinema of THE COEN BROTHERS:hardboiled entertainments
JEFFREY ADAMS
the cinema of CLINT EASTWOOD:chronicles of america
DAVID STERRITT
the cinema of ISTVÁN SZABÓ:visions of europe
JOHN CUNNINGHAM
the cinema of AGNÈS VARDA:resistance and eclecticism
DELPHINE BÉNÉZET
the cinema of ALEXANDER SOKUROV:figures of paradox
JEREMI SZANIAWSKI
the cinema of MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM:borders, intimacy, terror
BRUCE BENNETT
the cinema of RAÚL RUIZ:impossible cartographies
MICHAEL GODDARD
the cinema of AKI KAURISMÄKI:authorship, bohemia, nostalgia, nation
ANDREW NESTINGEN
the cinema of RICHARD LINKLATER:walk, don’t run
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the cinema of BÉLA TARR:the circle closes
ANDRÁS BÁLINT KOVÁCS
the cinema of STEVEN SODERBERGH:indie sex, corporate lies, and digital videotape
ANDREW DE WAARD & R. COLIN TATE
the cinema of TERRY GILLIAM:it’s a mad world
JEFF BIRKENSTEIN, ANNA FROULA & KAREN RANDELL (eds)
the cinema of TAKESHI KITANO:flowering blood
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the cinema of THE DARDENNE BROTHERS:responsible realism
PHILIP MOSLEY
the cinema of MICHAEL HANEKE:europe utopia
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the cinema of JAN SVANKMAJER:dark alchemy
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the cinema of LARS VON TRIER:authenticity and artifice
CAROLINE BAINBRIDGE
the cinema of WERNER HERZOG:aesthetic ecstasy and truth
BRAD PRAGER
the cinema of TERRENCE MALICK:poetic visions of america (second edition)
HANNAH PATTERSON (ed.)
the cinema of ANG LEE:the other side of the screen (second edition)
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the cinema of TODD HAYNES:all that heaven allows
JAMES MORRISON (ed.)
the cinema of DAVID LYNCH:american dreams, nightmare visions
ERICA SHEEN & ANNETTE DAVISON (eds)
the cinema of KRZYSZTOF KIESLOWSKI:variations on destiny and chance
MAREK HALTOF
the cinema of GEORGE A. ROMERO:knight of the living dead (second edition)
TONY WILLIAMS
the cinema of KATHRYN BIGELOW:hollywood transgressor
DEBORAH JERMYN & SEAN REDMOND (eds)
the cinema of
WES ANDERSON
bringing nostalgia to life
whitney crothers dilley
WALLFLOWER PRESS london & new york
A Wallflower Press Book
Published by
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
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Cover image of Wes Anderson from the set of Fantastic Mr. Fox(cid:1)(cid:9)(cid:19)(cid:17)(cid:17)(cid:26)(cid:10)(cid:1)(cid:170)(cid:1)(cid:39)(cid:80)(cid:89)(cid:1)(cid:52)(cid:70)(cid:66)(cid:83)(cid:68)(cid:73)(cid:77)(cid:74)(cid:72)(cid:73)(cid:85)(cid:1)(cid:49)(cid:74)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:83)(cid:70)(cid:84)
contents

Acknowledgments vii
1 Introduction: Wes Anderson as Auteur – A History 1
2 Wes Anderson: His Position in American Cinema and Culture 33
3(cid:1) (cid:40)(cid:70)(cid:79)(cid:69)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:13)(cid:1)(cid:58)(cid:80)(cid:86)(cid:85)(cid:73)(cid:13)(cid:1)(cid:66)(cid:79)(cid:69)(cid:1)(cid:85)(cid:73)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:38)(cid:89)(cid:81)(cid:77)(cid:80)(cid:83)(cid:66)(cid:85)(cid:74)(cid:80)(cid:79)(cid:1)(cid:80)(cid:71)(cid:1)(cid:46)(cid:66)(cid:84)(cid:68)(cid:86)(cid:77)(cid:74)(cid:79)(cid:74)(cid:85)(cid:90)(cid:1)(cid:74)(cid:79)(cid:1)Bottle Rocket 60
4 “Sic Transit Gloria”: Transgressing the Boundaries of Adolescence
in Rushmore 78
5(cid:1) (cid:616)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:42)(cid:79)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:81)(cid:77)(cid:66)(cid:90)(cid:1)(cid:80)(cid:71)(cid:1)(cid:47)(cid:66)(cid:83)(cid:83)(cid:66)(cid:85)(cid:74)(cid:87)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:53)(cid:70)(cid:89)(cid:85)(cid:13)(cid:1)(cid:45)(cid:66)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:66)(cid:72)(cid:70)(cid:13)(cid:1)(cid:66)(cid:79)(cid:69)(cid:1)(cid:39)(cid:74)(cid:77)(cid:78)(cid:27)(cid:1)(cid:45)(cid:74)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:66)(cid:83)(cid:90)
(cid:42)(cid:79)(cid:236)(cid:86)(cid:70)(cid:79)(cid:68)(cid:70)(cid:1)(cid:66)(cid:79)(cid:69)(cid:1)(cid:42)(cid:79)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:83)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:89)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:66)(cid:77)(cid:74)(cid:85)(cid:90)(cid:1)(cid:74)(cid:79)(cid:1)The Royal Tenenbaums 97
6 Opposition and Resolution: The Dissonance of Celebrity in The Life Aquatic
with Steve Zissou 121
7 Fragmentary Narratives/Incomplete Identities in The Darjeeling Limited 137
8 Adaptation and Homage: The World of Roald Dahl and Fantastic Mr. Fox 151
9 Reconstitution of the “Family” and Construction of Normalized Gender in
Moonrise Kingdom 168
10 Literary Influence and Memory: Stefan Zweig and The Grand Budapest Hotel 183
11 Wes Anderson’s Short Films and Commercial Work 200

Conclusion: Memory and Narrative in the Works of Wes Anderson 213
Filmography 224
Bibliography 228
Index 239
v

acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank Jennifer Crewe, Director of Columbia University Press, and
Yoram Allon, Commissioning Editor and Editorial Director at Wallflower Press, for
their invaluable support and counsel throughout the course of this volume’s creation.
Thanks are also due to editor John Atkinson for his meticulous attention to detail,
and to production manager Tom Cabot and the entire production team at Wallflower
Press for applying their consummate professional skills to this project. Thanks to
Meredith Howard at Columbia University Press for her assistance to the author, and
to Kathryn Schell at Columbia for her early enthusiasm. And one more thank you to
Yoram Allon at Wallflower Press for promoting and sustaining the project.
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regarding the manuscript, as well as to two anonymous reviewers commissioned by
Wallflower Press whose trenchant comments helped shape the early structure of the
work.
The author would like to thank Morgan Everett, David Ludwig, and Jonathan
Klassen for serving as readers for the manuscript in its various stages. In addition,
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Weiner, Stephen O’Rourke, Barbara Kline, Timothy Conkling, Lynne Sandsberry,
and to Columbia University Press former senior manuscript editor Roy E. Thomas for
directly and indirectly inspiring this book. Also, many thanks to Kevin Healam, who
has continuously read the author’s work and offered timely suggestions and support.
Much gratitude goes to colleagues at Shih Hsin University who have always
enthusiastically supported the author’s research projects, especially the chair of the
English Department Yuan-Jung Cheng and departmental secretary Kelly Weng for
their gracious warmth and care. Shih Hsin University generously awarded the author
several research grants and a year’s sabbatical leave to complete the manuscript
and ready it for publication. Finally, the author owes a continued scholarly debt to
Frederick P. Brandauer, Ching-hsien Wang, and R. Kent Guy at the University of
Washington, Douglas Kellner at UCLA, and Jerome Silbergeld at Princeton for their
unfailing brilliance, an inspiration always to the author.
vii

For my family