What Is This Music? Auteur Music In The Films Of Wes Anderson

263 Pages·2015·1.16 MB·English

by  Lara Rose Hrycaj

Wayne State University
Wayne State University Dissertations
1-1-2013
What Is This Music? Auteur Music In The Films Of
Wes Anderson
Lara Rose Hrycaj
Wayne State University,
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Hrycaj, Lara Rose, "What Is This Music? Auteur Music In The Films Of Wes Anderson" (2013).Wayne State University Dissertations.
Paper 662.
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WHAT IS THIS MUSIC? AUTEUR MUSIC IN THE FILMS OF WES ANDERSON

by

LARA HRYCAJ

DISSERTATION

Submitted to the Graduate School
of Wayne State University,
Detroit, Michigan
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

2013

MAJOR: COMMUNICATIONS

Approved by:

Advisor Date

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© COPYRIGHT BY
LARA HRYCAJ
2013
All Rights Reserved
DEDICATION
I dedicate this to:
Judy, Steve, and Nick
Wes, Mark, and Randall
and
Mandy and the boys

ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my advisor Jackie Byars. I am indebted to all the wisdom, hard
work, and encouragement she has shared on my journey in earning my PhD. I would like to
extend my gratitude to my committee. Hayg Oshagan and Juanita Anderson have been part of
my entire dissertation process and have always kept me on my toes. I am grateful for Steven
Shaviro and Pradeep Sopory for joining my committee late in the process. While Robert
Burgoyne had to leave my committee, the genesis of this dissertation is due him sharing one of
the earliest academic articles on Wes Anderson with me, and for this I am extremely grateful.
This dissertation would not be possible without the many people who have read various
sections and drafts of my dissertation. I appreciate all the work, comments, and insights provided
by Antal Zambo, Dennis Rymarz, and Sarah Boyce. I would like to thank all of the various
members of the PhD writers group for their support throughout the years, and I would like to
single out Nick Schlegel, Christopher Gullen, and Debbie James Smith from this group for all of
their input and friendship.
Maria Luiza Cardoso de Aguiar translated Seu Jorge’s Portuguese lyrics of the David
Bowie songs from The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. I knew Jorge’s renditions were not
faithful covers, and Aguiar’s translations revealed this and beautiful lyrics that contributed to the
film more so than Bowie’s original lyrics.
There are several people who extended their moral support and encouraged me to
complete this dissertation: Windy Weber, Jay Korinek, Susan McGraw, and Nicole Binder.
Amanda Walz was my go-to-gal when I needed help or just someone to bounce off ideas.
Finally, this dissertation would not be possible with the loving support of my parents, Judith and
Stefan Hrycaj, and specifically all the times my mother told me to “get it done.”
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication ___________________________________________________________________ ii
Acknowledgment _____________________________________________________________ iii
INTRODUCTION ____________________________________________________________ 1
CHAPTER 1 – Bottle Rocket ___________________________________________________ 36
CHAPTER 2 – Rushmore ______________________________________________________ 71
CHAPTER 3 – The Royal Tenenbaums __________________________________________ 108
CHAPTER 4 – The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou ________________________________ 150
CHAPTER 5 – The Darjeeling Limited __________________________________________ 196
CONCLUSION _____________________________________________________________ 233
Bibliography _______________________________________________________________ 242
Abstract ___ _______________________________________________________________ 256
Autobiographical Statement ___________________________________________________ 257
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1
INTRODUCTION

“This is an adventure.”
– Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

In Wes Anderson’s short film Hotel Chevalier (2005), Jack Whitman (Jason
Schwartzman) plays Peter Sarstedt’s 1969 track “Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)” from his
iPod just as his ex-girlfriend (Natalie Portman) arrives at his hotel room. The song begins with
an accordion, and then we hear the lyrics “You talk like Marlene Dietrich” as Jack opens the
door to his ex-girlfriend talking on her cell phone. Once she hears the song she asks, “What’s
this music?” Jack just shrugs, slightly shaking his head. Jack, unable to explain the music even
though he is responsible for playing it, grasps her in an awkward embrace as she enters the room.
“Where Do You Go To” plays three times in this short film and plays again in
Anderson’s feature-length film The Darjeeling Limited (2007). In both films, this song is played
when Jack tries to woo women and to express musically how he feels about them at that moment.
He is also the “DJ” of The Darjeeling Limited; he brings his iPod with him on his trip across
India with his brother, and is seen playing music at key emotional moments. Furthermore, Jack
as the DJ represents Wes Anderson, who by utilizing seemingly deeply personal choices of
music to score his films, embodies what Slate writer Adam Baer calls “the film director as DJ”
(“Lord of the Recordings”). What is this music Anderson uses in his films? Why does he not
pick the latest Top 40 Billboard hits and instead choose mostly music from the 1960s and 1970s
or originally composed music by Mark Mothersbaugh? Why does this music seem to evoke so
much more than what the characters in Anderson’s films can confess, convey, or articulate? This
music is “auteur music.”
In her 2007 essay “Auteur Music,” Claudia Gorbman defines a certain group of
contemporary film directors as auteur mélomanes, or directors who have a passion for music.
2
Gorbman describes this type of director as having their own musical “worldview” and
controlling the music of their films rather than the music supervisor or the composer (149-150).
For Gorbman, these auteur mélomanes and auteur music have come about because advances in
digital technology and music storage make it possible for directors to have more control over the
music in their films, though some of these directors have incorporated the music they are
passionate for prior to the use of digital music technology. This control allows them to impart
their personal musical taste to their films, creating an authorial signature (149-150). Gorbman
lists a pantheon of auteur mélomanes – Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick,
Jean-Luc Godard, Jim Jarmusch, and Sally Potter, to name a few – to which I would add Wes
Anderson (151).
As noted by Adam Baer, music is an authorial signature in Anderson’s films with
Anderson being the DJ of his films. Nancy Miller of Entertainment Weekly also states that he is
“cinema’s hippest DJ.” Wes Anderson’s soundtracks fill the role of mix-tapes for film
audiences. This reference is carried on in popular blogs and discussion boards devoted to
discussing Anderson’s musical style (The Playlist; IMDb.com; The Rushmore Academy). To
establish Anderson as a mélomane, it is important to look not only at the different types of music
found in his films but also the different ways that the music is used within the films. Anderson’s
films feature several different ways that music is used, but there are three specific uses that
contribute to his overall authorial signature: the songs associated with montage sequences, the
songs and original score used to accompany scenes featuring slow-motion sequences, and finally
the songs that emanate from musical devices – iPods, record players, and radios. As such, the
purpose of this dissertation is to place Anderson within Gorbman’s pantheon by demonstrating
how his choice and use of music is indicative of an auteur mélomane.
3
For this dissertation, I will explore and expand on the different types of music used in
Anderson’s first five films – Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums
(2001), The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004), and The Darjeeling Limited (2007) – along
with two of his short films – Bottle Rocket (1992) and Hotel Chevalier (2005). Each chapter will
focus on one of the five feature length films. Through these chapters I will establish the distinct
ways that Anderson joins music with cinematic production techniques such as slow-motion and
montage sequences and how he incorporates music emanating from musical devices. It will be
important for this study of Anderson’s film music to include attention not only to the different
types of music found in each film, but also to the collaboration between film director Anderson,
composer Mark Mothersbaugh, and music supervisor Randall Poster in order to fully understand
Anderson’s musical style, aesthetic, and what this music means. The end of each chapter will
discuss the importance of music within Anderson’s work and Anderson as a mélomane, and the
conclusion of the entire dissertation will illustrate how his soundtracks are like personal mix-
tapes to his audience and fans.
The films of Wes Anderson include recurring themes, characterizations, and styles.
Family, authorship, loss, dependence, lost glory, quirky love stories, nostalgia, and childhood
feature prominently in his films. There is a recurring cast of actors and crewmembers who help
Anderson with his pictures. While many of the themes, characterizations, and styles might be
apparent visually, there is also an aural element to the music in the films that works with in the
recurring themes, characterizations, and styles.
In analyzing the music in Anderson’s films, I will provide insight into the meaning of his
films by exploring how music is used and what this music means. Throughout this analysis I will
uncover different musical codes and musical signatures found in all of his films plus I will
4
establish a specific musical signature for each film on its own. I believe Wes Anderson is an
auteur, and the music used in his films is a significant part of his overall authorial signature. He
is able to establish this musical signature through his long-term collaboration with music
supervisor Randall Poster and composer Mark Mothersbaugh. This collaboration might seem to
go against the idea of auteur as individual, but I believe Anderson’s collaborations make him an
auteur, or what Devin Orgeron calls a “dependent auteur” (41). Anderson’s films utilize several
different types of music – original score, popular music, classical music, performance – and this
makes his musical soundtracks ripe for analysis. Music is very important to Anderson, and
because of this he might be what is called an “auteur mélomane” or a director who has a passion
for music, and Anderson’s film music can be referred to as “auteur music” (“Auteur Music”
149). I will focus on the use of popular music in his films and the pop scores created by
Mothersbaugh. Popular music can provide intertextual and extratextual meaning that cannot be
achieved with a traditional score. Mothersbaugh’s pop scores, which are film scores using
popular music idioms, aid in creating the overall sound of each film and complement the other
music used. Each film has a unique overall sound design that can be called “Wes Andersonian.”
In order to explain what “Andersonian” music is, there needs to be an understanding of how
music functions in film, the difference between pop score and traditional classical film score, and
the definitions of the concepts “auteur music” and “dependent auteur.”
The broad goal for studying the music in the films of Wes Anderson is to establish the
themes, styles, and characterizations created by the music in these films. Also, I will establish
there is a meta-narrative created by this music. Other goals are to create more scholarship on the
relationship a director may have with a specific composer and music supervisor, to further