The Films of Wes Anderson: Critical Essays on an Indiewood Icon

Front Matter....Pages i-viii
Introduction....Pages 1-9
Front Matter....Pages 11-11
The Short Films of Wes Anderson....Pages 13-24
Cast of Characters: Wes Anderson and Pure Cinematic Characterization....Pages 25-37
The Jellyfish and the Moonlight: Imagining the Family in Wes Anderson’s Films....Pages 39-49
“Max Fischer Presents”: Wes Anderson and the Theatricality of Mourning....Pages 51-64
“Who’s to Say?”: The Role of Pets in Wes Anderson’s Films....Pages 65-75
“American Empirical” Time and Space: The (In) Visibility of Popular Culture in the Films of Wes Anderson....Pages 77-88
Front Matter....Pages 89-89
From the Mixed-Up Films of Mr. Wesley W. Anderson: Children’s Literature as Intertexts....Pages 91-107
A Shared Approach to Familial Dysfunction and Sound Design: Wes Anderson’s Influence on the Films of Noah Baumbach....Pages 109-124
Bill Murray and Wes Anderson, or the Curmudgeon as Muse....Pages 125-137
Life on Mars or Life on the Sea: Seu Jorge, David Bowie, and the Musical World in Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou....Pages 139-150
Front Matter....Pages 151-151
The Andersonian, the Quirky, and “Innocence”....Pages 153-169
“I Always Wanted to Be a Tenenbaum”: Class Mobility as Neoliberal Fantasy in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums....Pages 171-180
Objects/Desire/Oedipus: Wes Anderson as Late-Capitalist Auteur....Pages 181-198
Systems Thinking in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Moonrise Kingdom....Pages 199-213
Back Matter....Pages 215-226