Today I will be discussing the similarities between three of Wes Anderson's films: Bottle Rocket, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Anderson has a strong voice that passes through each of his narratives. The most apparent theme between these films is the desire to escape the ordinary world. In Moonrise Kingdom, main characters Sam and Suzy desire to, quite literally, leave everything behind them and start anew in the wilderness. In The Grand Budapest Hotel, young Mr. Moustafa willingly drops his life to live and breathe The Budapest Hotel as a simple Lobby Boy. Lastly in Bottle Rocket, Anthony and Dignan decide to steal from Anthony's parents and create new lives for themselves as criminals.
Another couple themes seems to stand out as well. The "Buddy Story" as well as the "coming-of-age" genre. Sam and Suzy are clearly a duet from the beginning, slowly falling in love and finding crafty ways to stay together. On a lesser level, the Lobby Boy and his mentor Mr. Gustave befriend each other quickly. They even end up stealing a priceless painting within the first couple days. We follow them for most of the film in a flashback. Lastly, Anthony and Dignan are childhood friends and both has similar social issues, but they learn and build from each other. Regarding "coming-of-age", all these stories exhibit a young protagonist running through trial and tribulation, becoming more mature by the end of the piece.
Here are some more minor similarities that may not be comparable to all three films. Anderson LOVES actor Edward Norton. He plays the scoutmaster in Moonrise Kingdom and a Sargent in The Grand Budapest Hotel. To add, Anderson seems to love color, reds and yellows in particular. It's clear that production design is very important to him. Lastly, Anderson's directing scheme seems quite theatrical with characters making big and bold movements, complimented with camera movement.
No comments:
Post a Comment