The film director Wesley Anderson was born on May 1st of 1969 to his father Melvin and his mother Texas; May 1st also happens to be my birthday. According to Biography.com, Wes Anderson’s parents got a divorce when he was only eight years old, which may have led to him being disruptive as an adolescent. He then went to high school at St. John’s in Houston where he was known for putting on elaborate plays. Much of what he experienced in his life can be seen through his films. After high school he attended the University of Texas in Austin where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. This is also where he happens to meet Owen Wilson who ends up being a major part of his career. It will be important to discuss their relationship in detail.
When Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson met, they were both college students. Owen Wilson was not the famous actor that he is now known to be but was actually going to college in pursuit of a Bachelor of Arts in English. While both were not going to college to make films, they both did have a passion for them. This led to Wes and Owen teaming up to write the movie Bottle Rocket which at first ended up being a short film instead of a full length feature. The movie starred both Owen Wilson and his younger brother Luke Wilson. It is one of the few movies where Owen Wilson has short hair and Luke Wilson has long; it sort of gives a person a weird feeling. Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson would continue to write and work together but Luke Wilson now also had a relationship with him. Wes and Owen would go onto write the films Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. Rushmore would be nominated for a Golden Globe and receive critical acclaim. The Royal Tenenbaums then won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar under the category of Best Writing for a Screenplay written directly for the Screen. After Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums the two stopped writing together, although they continued working with one another. Owen Wilson played major roles in both The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Darjeeling Limited. He also played a small role in the films Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Grand Budapest Hotel. In fact, the only full length feature film of Wes Anderson’s collection that Owen Wilson does not have a role in was Moonrise Kingdom.
A common theme that comes up in some of Wes Anderson’s films is a father’s relationship with his family. As previously stated this may be because Wes Anderson had to deal with his parents breaking up at a young age. The Royal Tenenbaums would be the most obvious example of this. The father in the film is Royal Tenenbaum who basically left his kids but now returns as they are grown up to smooth things over and have a relationship with them. He gets the most fight back from Chas Tenenbaum who wants nothing to with his dad. By the time he finally does work it out with his kids he passes away. Wes might connect with this as he could have similar feeling about want to hash things out with his own father. In the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou it is sort of the opposite thing going on. Instead of a father trying reconnect with his kids, it is a son that has now grown up and wants to get to know his father. His father, Steve Zissou, knew about his son and even wrote a letter back to him when he was a kid. Despite being aware of his kid, he didn’t want to be a part of his life. Now that they are both grown up, Steve Zissou wants to be a part of his son’s life. They have their ups and downs but in the end they both like each other and have reconciled. Unfortunately, Steve Zissou and his son wreck the ships helicopter and his son dies. So in both of these early Wes Anderson movies, they both have a father and son attempting to reconcile and they do but one of them soon dies after. Maybe the message being that people need to get over past discrepancies because they are wasting time that could be spent to build their relationship; life is short. Another example of a father and son relationship or lack thereof is the film Moonrise Kingdom. Sam is a khaki scout and doesn’t have a father or a mother. Also, he happens to be a rambunctious young man who is always getting into trouble at school; remind you of anyone? When they try to return him to the people who had been raising him they say they are not interested in having him back. Through his adventures he struggles to get along with people and does not know exactly where he fits. He eventually does build a relationship with Captain Sharp who becomes the male role model that he needs. Captain Sharp ends up adopting Sam and this time no one ends up dying. In the same movie Suzy has two parents who are almost certainly heading for divorce or an unhappy marriage. It seems as if the parents have chosen to stick it out at the end of the movie but there is no true resolution as far as that goes. Wes Anderson must have decided to stay away from that angle as far as Moonrise Kingdom is concerned.
Another popular film theme is kids being thrust into adulthood or kids that act like adults and adults that act childish. The Royal Tenenbaums is a perfect example of this; especially sense the kids are prodigies. Chas as a kid is holding press conferences and runs a business. His room is an office and he takes his meals at his desks with coffee. Margot is a playwright and develops her own photos along with designing her own sets. Richie is an amazing tennis player who ends up turning pro at the age of 17 and is a failed painter. In Moonrise Kingdom this is also used in a humorous way. Sam acts like an adult in many ways. Sure, he does run away from “home” like a kid would but instead of coming right back he is able to handle surviving in the wilderness like it is nothing at all. Suzy as well acts very mature for her age. When a dog is killed in front of them they don’t cry or react like a child might. Instead, Suzy says, was he a good dog?” and Sam replies, “Who’s to say? But he didn’t deserve to die”. Which is a pretty mature reaction considering I know adults who cry over much less. As well the adults in Moonrise Kingdom are quite childish. When the parents get into an argument on the dock, Bill Murray’s character throws a shoe when he reaches his peak of anger; I mean who throws a shoe, honestly? In Rushmore Bill Murray’s character purposefully runs over Max Fischer’s bike with his car. Overall, Wes Anderson’s male characters are quick to action and don’t think things through; but to be fair that describes a lot of men in real life.
Wes Anderson directs amazing movies and puts a lot of himself into his films. He tells interesting stories and has characters that develop from the beginning all the way until the end. Though a lot of his films may be similar there are also a lot of differences. Wes Anderson movies will continue to be the top movies that I suggest to my friends. Hopefully, he keeps making movies for years to come.
Work Cited
Wes Anderson. (n.d.). Retrieved May 02, 2016, from http://www.biography.com/people/wes-anderson-20617561#-career-breakthroughs
(n.d.). Retrieved May 02, 2016, from https://www.imdb.com/
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