What makes aWes Andersonfilm? It’s been the subject of TikTok trends and video essays for years trying to nail what makes his films stand out. It’s one thing to nail the symmetrical cinematography ofRobert Yeomanor incorporate the whimsical music ofAlexandre Desplat. Beyond the visual craft on display, including that of costumes byMilena Canonero, or even the usual troupe of actors found in his films, such asBill MurrayandJeff Goldblum, the real magic of a Wes Anderson film comes down to the actual narrative.
When you look past the precise dialogue written by Wes Anderson and frequent collaborators, such asRoman CoppolaandNoah Baumbach, many of his films focus on an eccentric older male father figure. FromRushmoretoAsteroid City, thesecomplex male characters are often disillusioned, immature, and unconventional. Yet without them, this auteur’s repertoire wouldn’t resonate with audiences the way it has for decades.
Which Movie Leads the Way for Wes Anderson’s Dysfunctional Dads?
The trend of the flawed father figure has its origins inRushmore, Wes Anderson’s second feature film. In it, Max Fischer, played byJason Schwartzmanin his first role, forms an unlikely bond and rivalry with industrialist Herman Blume (Bill Murray). Instead of engaging with his own sons, Blume decides to take Max under his wing and champion his entrepreneurial spirit. Max begins to look up to Blume. Max and Blume are too similar in personality, even going so far as to both fall for Rushmore teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams) and eventually lash out at each other in progressively hostile acts. Yet, it’s not as though Max is without a father figure; Max’s father, played bySeymour Cassel, is a level-headed, middle-class barber. However, Max routinely lies that his father is a neurosurgeon in order to appear more impressive to Blume. As Max comes to hit rock bottom, he comes to see his dad as someone to be proud of. It takes the eccentric relationship with Herman Blume for Max to really accept his dad for who he is, even if Max’s dreams extend beyond a barbershop.
AfterRushmore, Anderson takes theconcept of the broken relationship between bad dads and their childrenand runs with it inThe Royal Tenenbaums. The plot of the film focuses on Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) as he attempts to mend his relationship with his estranged wife (Anjelica Huston) and children. In their youth, his three children — Chas (Ben Stiller), Richie (Luke Wilson), and Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) — were exceptionally successful; in adulthood, they’ve all fallen into various stages of arrested development, much like their father. While they initially want nothing to do with him, Royal deceives them by claiming he has stomach cancer and slowly integrates himself back into their lives. Since Chas has become an anxious grieving father, Royal teaches his grandchildren, Ari (Grant Rosenmeyer) and Uzi (Jonah Meyerson) how to have fun by taking them shoplifting and attending dog fights; this is also the first instance of showcasing a family with multiple generations of incompetent dads and their impact on their children. Unlike Herman Blume, Royal actually wanted to reconcile with his nuclear family and managed to succeed before his death. With the critical and commercial success of bothRushmoreandThe Royal Tenenbaums, it was a testament to Wes Anderson that these characters captivated audiences, giving him the greenlight to keep exploring these imperfect dads.
Wes Anderson’s run of immature fathers continues in his next films —The Life Aquatic with Steve ZissouandFantastic Mr. Fox. ThoughThe Darjeeling Limiteddid not have a father figure present, the Whitman brothers are grieving his loss while on a trip together. With bothLife AquaticandFantastic Mr. Fox, Steve Zissou (Murray) and Mr. Fox (voiced byGeorge Clooney) are obsessed with their goals that they believe will fulfill them. Mr. Fox longs for the glory days he found while being a thief, and therefore secretly resumes his life of crime with the help of Kylie, voiced byWallace Wolodarsky. Whereas Steve Zissou is preoccupied with trying to track down the jaguar shark and kill it.
Related:When Can You Watch Wes Anderson’s New Short Films on Netflix?
Like Herman Blume and Royal Tenenbaum before them, Steve Zissou and Mr. Fox are the main characters of their films, andthey are both pretty lousy patriarchs. For instance, when Steve Zissou seemingly reunites with his long-lost son, Ned (Owen Wilson), he largely wants nothing to do with him; instead, he competes with him over their mutual attraction of Jane, a pregnant journalist played byCate Blanchett. Though it’s later revealed that Zissou is sterile and therefore, unable to have kids, the only time audiences see Zissou care for Ned is when Ned dies in his arms after a helicopter crash; he later dedicates his documentary about the expedition to Ned.
Meanwhile, Mr. Fox largely misunderstands his angsty son, Ash (voiced by Jason Schwartzman), and routinely admires his nephew, Kristofferson (voiced byEric Chase Anderson). He even invites Kristofferson to join him and Kylie on one of their heists. Mr. Fox also has shades of Herman Blume in him — seemingly disillusioned with his family and instead investing time in a teenager who isn’t his biological son. Though Mr. Fox later apologizes to Ash and reconciles with his son, he still treats his son like an afterthought for the majority of the stop-motion animation. Both Mr. Fox and Steve Zissou carry on this character journey of bad dads who come to value and reconcile the relationships in their lives.
As Wes Anderson shifts toMoonrise KingdomandThe Grand Budapest Hotel, the main character shifts from a dysfunctional dad to an eccentric male mentor. Sure, Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) has an inattentive father in Mr. Bishop (Bill Murray), but he’s not the focus of the story; instead, audiences are treated to Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis) and Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton). Together, they both serve as male figures to Khaki Scout Sam (Jared Gilman), yet they are both idiosyncratic individuals in their own right. Scout Master Ward is entirely too dedicated to his role within the Khaki Scouts, and Captain Sharp seems to be floating through life while having an affair with Mrs. Bishop, played byFrances McDormand. With the threat of Social Services (Tilda Swinton) taking Sam away, Captain Sharp steps up and becomes Sam’s legal guardian. Sam is his own lone wolf, and it takes running away with Suzy for him to find his place in New Penzance.
InThe Grand Budapest Hotel, life really begins for Zero (Tony Revelori) when he comes under the tutelage of esteemed concierge, M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes). As an older Zero, played byF. Murray Abraham, recounts his life as a lobby boy to the young author (Jude Law), he recalls the elegance and tragedy of Gustave’s life after being framed for the murder of Madame D (Swinton). As an orphan, Zero was looking for his place in the world after the war ripped him from his family. Though heavily perfumed and made lovers out of blonde, elderly affluent women, M. Gustave gives Zero stability and friendship at a time when he needed it the most. Instead of a biological family, Wes Anderson taps into the familiar male bonds through the found family trope between these mentor-like figures.
How ‘Asteroid City’ Magnifies Multi-Generational Broken Family Structures
After shifting focus away from the quirky father figures inIsle of DogsandThe French Dispatch, Wes Anderson brings back themultigenerational bad dads in his latest feature,Asteroid City. Within the context of the fictional play of the same name being broadcast, a grieving widower, Augie Steenback (Jason Schwartzman), has difficulty relating with his children; in fact, he delays telling his four children that their mother had died and had her cremated ashes with them. Meanwhile, his father-in-law, played byTom Hanks, has a hard time connecting with his family, particularly Augie and his granddaughters, after losing his daughter. Through an extraterrestrial event and a quarantine in a tiny town, both Augie and Stanley find their way back to a place of equilibrium and understanding.
Augie Steenback and his family aren’t the only ones struggling to understand each other inAsteroid City. J.J. Kellogg (Liev Schreiber) is constantly frustrated by his son,Aristou Meehan, and his peculiar desire to be dared into dangerous scenarios. Roger Cho (Stephen Park) is disappointed by his rebellious son,Ethan Josh Leeafter heleaks the picture of an Asteroid City alien(Jeff Goldblum) to his high school newspaper. Even the mothers of some of the Junior Stargazers fall into this pitfall.Scarlett Johanssonas Midge Campbelldoesn’t quite relate with her daughter Dinah (Grace Edwards); instead of bonding with her daughter during the quarantine, she finds a brief romantic connection with a fellow parent, Augie. As much as Conrad Earp (Edward Norton) reveals that his play is about infinity, it’s clear that family dynamics, particularly between fathers and their children, is just as much a theme on display.
Across his filmography, the Wes Anderson stylehas evolved to the symmetric, precise rhythm audiences have come to know and love. Yet, the presence of the unusual patriarch has remained near constant. With these characters, Anderson grounds his worlds of whimsy with an all too familiar reflection of male role models in our lives, or even a lack of them. These men are flawed and yet endearing. We’re never tired of seeing these types of characters, especially when they’re portrayed by Bill Murray. Their quirkiness and the bonds they form or restore remain a timeless fixture in Wes Anderson’s films. Although Wes Anderson is reentering theRoald Dahlrealm with his new short film,The Wonderful Story of Henry SugarstarringBenedict Cumberbatch, we look forward to his next feature and the next bad dad to join the ranks.
