We explore the 13 most Wes Anderson things about Wes Anderson films.
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Transcript provided by Youtube:
00:00
[Are you listening to me?]
00:01
[I look into your eyes,]
00:02
[and I cant tell whether you’re]
00:03
[getting anything I’m saying.]
00:04
You know you’re watching a Wes Anderson film if…
00:07
There’s a rich microworld with a focus on art direction.
00:10
Wes Anderson’s films have become synonymous
00:13
with unique and idiosyncratic production design.
00:15
that makes us feel like we’ve entered inside
00:18
a human dollhouse.
00:19
The dense overabundance of detail
00:21
gives the impression that this world
00:23
is home to any number of peculiar adventures
00:26
we’re not currently seeing on camera.
00:29
These worlds he builds make Anderson’s films
00:32
uniquely Anderson.
00:33
And that testifies to the power of
00:35
production design.
00:37
In nine feature films,
00:38
Anderson has worked with four different
00:40
production designers,
00:41
so it’s clear that the director himself
00:43
exercises a great deal of control.
00:46
According to critic Matt Zoller Seitz,
00:49
Anderson also uses “material synecdoche” —
00:51
and Seitz finds that as showcasing objects,
00:54
locations and articles of clothing
00:56
that define personalities,
00:58
relationships or conflicts.
01:00
For example, Gustave H’s perfume.
01:03
[L’air de Panache.]
01:06
Chas and his boys red jumpsuits.
01:08
[Fire alarm!
01:09
Let’s go!]
01:11
Or Susie’s binoculars.
01:12
[She left her binoculars]
01:13
[on a hook in the chapel tent.]
01:15
[Just leave them!]
01:16
[We can’t.
01:17
It’s her magic power!]
01:19
Anderson’s production design or costumes
01:21
actually develop his stories and characters.
01:25
Before we go on, we want to talk a little bit
01:27
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01:30
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Stay tuned at the end,
01:50
to find out which Wes Anderson collaborator
01:52
is teaching a class on Skillshare.
01:56
Children act like adults and adults act like children.
01:58
[You’re a married man, Blume,]
02:01
[and you’re supposed to be his friend.]
02:04
Anderson has said Charles Schulz
02:06
is a significant influence on him,
02:08
and critics have noted that
02:09
Charlie Brown-like articulate nature of
02:12
Wes Anderson’s child characters,
02:14
the way they talk and think
02:15
like well-educated grown-ups.
02:16
[I admit, supposedly,]
02:18
[he’s emotionally disturbed,]
02:20
[but he’s also a disadvantaged orphan.]
02:23
Sam and Suzy’s sophisticated romance
02:25
in Moonrise Kingdom is serious and sober
02:27
in its total devotion to whimsy —
02:30
their relationship feels like
02:31
it come out of a Godard movie,
02:33
but starring 12 year-olds.
02:35
The adults in Anderson’s films
02:36
never talk down to children —
02:38
they treat them like equals or in some cases
02:41
as intellectually or emotionally superior.
02:43
[You’re probably a much more]
02:45
[intelligent person than I am,]
02:47
[in fact I guarantee it.]
02:50
And, in this universe
02:51
where children act like adults,
02:53
[Excuse me, everyone.]
02:54
[I’m gonna go meditate for half an hour.]
02:56
it only stands to reason that adults
02:58
would act like children.
02:59
[People say that when someone says something like that,]
03:02
[it’s because they’re jealous.]
03:03
[But it still hurts.
03:04
It hurts bad.]
03:06
[You dropped some cigarettes.]
03:09
[Those aren’t mine.]
03:15
The inverse of the couple in Moonrise Kingdom,
03:17
adults Margot and Richie Tenenbaum feel like
03:20
two teens wrestle with a first love.
03:22
[I think we’re going to have to be secretly]
03:24
[in love with each other]
03:26
[and leave it at that Richie.]
03:27
And the “manchild” is a recurring trope.
03:30
Anderson’s manchild is unable
03:32
to cope with his realities.
03:33
He tries to resolve his issues
03:35
through juvenile means,
03:37
like in Darjeeling Limited
03:38
when Peter travels to India
03:40
instead of being with his pregnant wife
03:42
because he’s not ready to be a father.
03:43
[It’s a boy.]
03:45
[It got born already?]
03:47
or in Rushmore when Herman
03:48
runs over Max’s bike to get even.
03:51
But in Anderson’s stories,
03:52
it’s not a bad thing to be a manchild.
03:55
Take the lesson Royal Tenenbaum teaches his family,
03:58
how to recover that joy
03:59
of being irresponsible like a kid.
04:02
Overall, Anderson’s characters teach us
04:03
that adults can learn to relax
04:05
and have a little more fun like children,
04:08
while children can be a lot more directed,
04:10
serious and ingenious than we tend to think.
04:14
We meet characters who become “unglued”.
04:17
Anderson has said he thinks there is humor
04:19
in a character becoming “unglued”
04:20
and that falling apart can be funny.
04:23
Matt Zoller Seitz observes the influence
04:25
of Orson Welles and Anderson’s focus
04:28
on impressive men who are deteriorating.
04:29
[Hey, are you okay?]
04:30
[Mmm, I’m a little bit lonely these days.]
04:37
Seitz wrote: Anderson’s films…
04:39
are filled with loquacious, combative,
04:41
often hyper achieving individuals…
04:43
[She was a playwright and won a Braverman Grant]
04:45
[of fifty-thousand dollars in the ninth grade.]
04:48
…who seem fully formed and secure in their identities…
04:51
[It’s okay, I’ll tell you.]
04:52
[I’m adopted.
04:53
Did you know that?]
04:54
…who reveal themselves to be deeply damaged
04:56
by class anxiety, social expectations
04:59
and family dysfunction.
05:01
[She was known for her extreme secrecy.]
05:03
[For example, none of the Tenenbaums knew]
05:06
[she was a smoker, which she]
05:07
[had been since the age of 12.]
05:08
[You’re really complicated, aren’t you?]
05:11
[I try not to be.]
05:13
And even if characters aren’t always
05:15
wealthy or upper-class,
05:17
they tend to be culturally refined
05:19
and intellectually superior.
05:20
But they often suffer as a result of:
05:24
Dysfunctional or fractured family relationships.
05:26
The Tenenbaum children are the product
05:28
of one parent who cares a lot
05:30
[Etheline Tenenbaum kept the house]
05:32
[and raised the children]
05:33
[and their education was her highest priority.]
05:36
and another who cares too little.
05:38
[Well, did you at least think]
05:39
[the characters were well-developed?]
05:40
[What characters?]
05:41
[This is a bunch of little kids,]
05:42
[dressed up in animal costumes.]
05:44
[Good night, everyone.]
05:46
Max Fischer spends most of Rushmore
05:48
embarrassed of his father’s profession as a barber
05:50
and attracted to Herman Blume’s success.
05:52
[What’s your dad do, Max?]
05:53
[He’s a neurosurgeon…]
05:54
[at, uh, St. Joseph’s Hospital.]
06:01
The Whitman brothers feel abandoned by their mother,
06:03
and take a cross-India train trip
06:05
to rehash family issues
06:07
while carrying around the literal
06:08
and figurative baggage of their deceased father.
06:11
Moonrise Kingdom’s Bishop family showcases
06:14
an entire host of issues from
06:16
lack of respect and disinterest
06:18
[I hate you.]
06:19
to infidelity.
06:20
It’s within the dysfunction of family
06:22
that Anderson derives entertainment,
06:24
and he presents family as not only
06:26
the source of conflict,
06:27
but also the source of resolution–
06:29
the Whitman brothers work through their issues
06:31
through their relationship
06:32
[Why don’t you hang onto mine?]
06:36
once Royal Tenenbaum re-engages with his family,
06:38
the Tenenbaums start to heal.
06:40
[I’ve had a rough year, Dad.]
06:42
[I know you have, Chassie.]
06:44
and when Max accepts where he’s come from
06:46
[I’d like for you to meet my father, Bert Fischer.]
06:49
[He’s a barber.]
06:50
he truly flourishes.
06:51
In the end Anderson’s films celebrate that family,
06:55
in whatever form, is a special bond,
06:57
and we don’t need to force everything
06:59
to fit into a conventional formula.
07:02
It’s escapism with meat.
07:04
[These guys are trying to escape!]
07:06
At first glance it seems
07:07
that Anderson’s work is escapist —
07:10
and it is, in certain ways.
07:12
It invites us to disappear
07:13
into these carefully curated tableus
07:16
and idiosyncratic characters.
07:18
But within that escape,
07:19
we’re surprised to encounter
07:20
dark topics and tender humanity.
07:23
[The story itself is something]
07:25
[of a confection but when you cut into it]
07:29
[there’s meat there.]
07:32
[You see there are still faint glimmers]
07:36
[of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse]
07:39
[that was once known as humanity.]
07:40
[Indeed that’s what we provide]
07:42
[in our own modest, humble, insignificant…]
07:45
[oh, (beep) it.]
07:49
There’s a distinct pattern of speech.
07:51
[To the north, a long rickety causeway]
07:53
[over a noxious sludge marsh]
07:54
[leading to a radioactive landfill]
07:56
[polluted by toxic chemical garbage]
07:57
[that’s our destination.]
07:59
[-Great.
08:00
-Got it.]
08:01
[Get ready to jump.]
08:03
[Sharp little guy.]
08:05
[He’s one of the worst students we’ve got.]
08:07
A dry, exacting deadpan delivery
08:10
brings out Anderson’s particular brand of humor.
08:12
[Was he a good dog?]
08:15
[Who’s to say.]
08:18
The world is full of peculiarities,
08:20
but the actors deliver their lines
08:22
like they’re dead serious,
08:23
[Is it dark?]
08:24
[Of course it’s dark, it’s a suicide note.]
08:27
completely unaware of any potential comedy
08:30
in what they’re discussing.
08:31
So the combination of the writing and acting styles
08:34
leads to a tone that’s equal parts sincerity
08:37
[How long have you been a smoker?]
08:45
[22 years.]
08:46
[I think you should quit.]
08:47
and absurdity.
08:48
[You’re looking so well, darling.]
08:49
[You really are.]
08:50
[They’ve done a marvelous job.]
08:51
[I don’t know what sort of cream they’ve]
08:52
[put on you down at the morgue,]
08:53
[but I want some.]
08:56
There’s a recurring cast.
08:58
For example, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman,
09:02
Wally Wolodarsky, Luke Wilson, Anjelica Huston,
09:05
Willem Defoe, Jeff Goldblum, Waris Ahluwalia,
09:08
Edward Norton, and the list goes on.
09:11
There’s an art nouveau color palette.
09:14
Colors tend to be a shade or two
09:16
off of the most obvious rendering:
09:18
not yellow, but “mustard”;
09:20
instead of blue, “navy”;
09:22
instead of green, “moss.”
09:24
These colors contribute to
09:25
the overall flatness of the image —
09:27
it feels like a pastel storybook illustration
09:30
or a monochromed theater set.
09:32
Meanwhile each film has its own chromatic language.
09:36
Think the pacific blues with a pop of coral
09:38
in the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
09:41
or the earthy browns and rich yellows of Fantastic Mr. Fox.
09:45
And of course, there’s a distinctive camera language.
09:48
Anderson’s visual language is influenced
09:49
by Orson Welles and Francois Truffaut,
09:52
and it’s executed through the cinematography
09:54
of Robert Yeoman.
09:56
One of Anderson’s most recognizable trademarks
09:58
is the wide-angle lens,
10:00
combined with symmetrical, center-framed shots.
10:02
He uses a lot of rectilinear shots,
10:05
meaning frames that contain straight lines.
10:08
And the prominent lines in the frame
10:09
highlight the symmetry of the shot.
10:11
So the two techniques work together
10:13
to organize a composition,
10:15
create movement, and direct our eye in the scene.
10:18
They also create a sense of forced perspective,
10:20
as if we are looking at something
10:22
that has the illusion of depth
10:24
rather than actually possessing it —
10:26
so this adds to the feel of theatricality.
10:29
Extensive tracking shots display
10:31
Anderson’s crafted worlds like a intricate diorama.
10:35
The precise movement showcases all of
10:37
the incredible detail of the microworld,
10:39
and again it gives the impression
10:40
that we are moving through a set
10:42
on a stage aware of the playful artifice,
10:45
as opposed to pretending any of this is reality.
10:48
And we get Anderson’s very recognizable shots
10:50
from above looking directly down onto
10:53
his meticulously crafted and arranged props.
10:57
There’s slow motion,
10:58
to highlight symbolically loaded moments,
11:00
like in the bookend scenes
11:02
of The Darjeeling Limited.
11:04
In the beginning,
11:05
we see a businessman running for the train,
11:06
until he is overtaken by Peter.
11:08
The slo mo makes us feel the tension
11:10
of whether or not Peter will make it,
11:12
we sense how important it is
11:14
that he takes this trip.
11:15
Then at the end, the Whitman brothers
11:17
chase after their train home,
11:19
shedding the literal and metaphorical baggage
11:21
they inherited from their father.
11:24
The slow motion celebrates the triumph
11:26
of the brothers’ revelations and renewed closeness,
11:29
they’re now ready to face their home lives.
11:31
So it’s also really urgent that they catch this train.
11:35
There’s a mid to late 1960s and early 1970s soundtrack.
11:38
We hear music from popular artists of the 60s and 70s,
11:42
but they’re deep cuts.
11:43
Anderson’s films had made mainstream hit songs
11:46
like These Days by Nico,
11:54
Strangers by The Kinks,
12:00
and Ooh La La by the Faces.
12:08
Rolling Stone songs underscore
12:09
a number of important moments in Anderson’s films,
12:12
like when Richie and Margot
12:13
express their feelings for each other
12:19
and when Max Fischer feels his life has fallen apart.
12:27
The trailer for Isle of Dogs
12:28
features “I Won’t Hurt You,”
12:29
by West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
12:32
debuted in 1966.
12:37
Frequently a Wes Anderson film
12:39
will feature a performance of some kind.
12:41
This production within a production
12:43
has the same psychological effect
12:45
as a dream within a dream —
12:46
it’s the film’s way of conveying information
12:48
to the audience about the movie we’re watching,
12:51
whether that’s foreshadowing,
12:52
characterization or bringing more attention
12:54
to a specific detail.
12:56
Take Margot Tenenbaum’s first play.
12:58
It features a zebra
13:00
who has been shot by a bear.
13:01
So young Margot’s writing
13:03
turns light childlike imagery
13:05
into dark, traumatic stories,
13:07
which expresses how she feels about her childhood.
13:10
The performance in Moonrise Kingdom,
13:12
foreshadows the actual flood
13:14
that will ravage the island of New Penzance.
13:17
Suzy is dressed as a raven,
13:18
another symbol of foreboding.
13:20
Anderson’s creations are creators themselves.
13:23
Presumably like the director,
13:25
his characters are obsessively detail-oriented
13:27
and trust in their own “weird” visions.
13:30
Max Fischer manages his plays in Rushmore
13:32
down to every last elaborate detail,
13:35
and both Anderson and his creation/creators
13:38
believe that all the details matter.
13:40
[What happened to the cannoli line?]
13:41
[You’re supposed to say,]
13:43
[‘forget about it Sanchez the old man likes his cannolis.]
13:46
[Look I made a mistake, alright.]
13:47
[It didn’t make any difference, anyway.]
13:49
[Hey.
13:50
I’m letting it go,]
13:51
[but don’t say it doesn’t matter.]
13:52
[Every line matters!]
13:53
It’s also co-written by Wes Anderson.
13:55
Wes Anderson has co-written every film he’s directed.
13:58
This speaks to Anderson identity as an auteur,
14:01
he has great control over every aspect of his filmmaking.
14:04
[The text is his.
14:06
He writes all of that.]
14:07
But it’s striking that he also
14:08
always collaborates with a writing partner.
14:11
Either Owen Wilson, Noah Baumbach or Roman Coppola.
14:14
So maybe this spirit of collaboration
14:16
is part of what produces the sense
14:18
of fun and joyful playfulness in many of his films.
14:22
And before we finish,
14:23
a few more Anderson trademarks for the road:
14:25
The Futura font,
14:27
binoculars,
14:28
sudden bursts of abrupt violence,
14:31
and a chapter-like structure.
14:32
An Anderson film shows us cinema’s power
14:34
to whisk us off to another world,
14:37
we discover a place more charming
14:39
and creative and perfectly curated
14:41
than anything we’ve known.
14:43
But in the midst of that fantasy,
14:45
we also discover something earnest,
14:47
sad, even tragic–
14:49
and by the end we might learn to
14:50
find comfort in our relationships,
14:52
in our own individuality,
14:53
and the act of choosing
14:55
to be elegant and civilized —
14:57
why not be the best version of ourselves.
15:00
[How was that?]
15:02
[That was a good toast.]
15:05
This is graphic designer Jessica Hische.
15:08
Jessica designs the typeface for Moonrise Kingdom,
15:11
she also happens to be a teacher on Skillshare,
15:14
where she teaches in depth classes on
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lettering and local type design.
15:18
Look at that beautiful logotype,
15:20
it’s totally done–
15:21
absolutely not, there’s lots of work to do.
15:23
Jessica is the perfect example
15:25
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15:29
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In fact, we use Skillshare to learn more
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