Wes Anderson’s portrayal on characters that seem lost and isolated.
Presenter: Wes Anderson had quite a normal up bringing except for being abandoned by his father as a young child. In interviews Anderson states this “The most crucial event of my brothers and my growing up” this statement is referring to his parent’s divorce. I believe this is a big aspect to how he creates his characters because I feel he would have been experiencing isolation and defiantly feeling extremely lost. Firstly I have chosen to focus on the character Max Fischer who is an eccentric 15 year old.
Projector: (image of Max Fischer Portrayed by Jason Schwartzman)
Presenter: Max Fischer is very enthusiastic about his after school curriculum but cares very little about his grades and targets in his school subjects I think this makes very isolated from his class mates who are focused on their futures and lessons seen as they attend a very highly ranked prep school. However because of Max’s actions he is later expelled from Rushmore.
Projector: (Image of Rushmore)
Presenter: Max is then moved to his first ever public school “Grover Cleveland High” Max also becomes involved in an argument with Herman Blume portrayed by Bill Murray. I feel this will make Max feel even more lost and isolated because Herman was the closest thing to friend for him and now they are no longer talking he will feel so lost and alone.
Projector: (Image of Herman Blume portrayed by Bill Murray)
Presenter: I will now discuss how I feel the character Herman Blume is lost and isolated. Herman is the type of character that sees through rose tinted glasses he is extremely delusional. Herman is also lost because he feels very disappointed with his family and wife. Because his marriage is failing he feels isolated because he doesn’t have his wife for support.
Presenter: The next film I will talk about is Bottle Rocket (1996) this was the first film Wes Anderson had real success with. Bottle Rocket was premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Anderson’s good friend Owen Wilson featured in this short film. The first character I will be focusing on is Antony
Projector: (image of Antony portrayed by Luke Wilson)
Presenter: Antony is rescued right at the start of the film from a psychiatric ward I feel is would make him feel very lost due to mental health issues plus he would feel isolated because he wouldn’t have friends and his family with him in the hospital because of the strict visiting hours. Also Antony’s friend who rescues him betrays him by stealing some earrings he bought for his mother. This would make him feel isolated because his friend Dignan is supposed to be his friend and I feel he would be lost too on how to react against his friend and the whole situation. Antony also falls in love with a maid at the hotel he is staying he leaves her an envelope with quite a lot of money in it but he does not tell Dignan that the money is in fact there’s from the heists so I guess he would feel lost because he would want to be loyal to Dignan but his feelings of love clouds his judgement
Projector: (image of Dignan portrayed by Owen Wilson)
Presenter: Dignan is an inexperienced criminal who is planning several heists over 75 years I feel he must feel isolated to feel he needs to spend all his time doing illegal activities instead of being with loved ones. I also think he will be lost too to confide in someone who suffers with mental illness. He also struggles to describe the plan in full detail. Dignan finally finds out that they no longer have any money left because of Antony it is too late because their car as broke down and they have no way of repairing it so they go their separate ways. Which I personally think that Dignan will feel isolated no matter how stubborn he is because he has lost his only friend over his life of crime and Antony would defiantly feel lost and isolated because he is a very fragile character compared to Dignan because now Antony as lost Inés who he was in love with but his best friend.
Presenter: So I feel that Wes Anderson portrays his characters as lost and isolated because he in fact is lost and isolated because of dramatic events in his childhood and the shock of becoming so famous and never knowing if people generally want to be his friend or just want to know him because of the fame.
