Wes Anderson, L. Frank Baum, and the American Humbug

• Cat Steven Songs, influence of Harold and Maude.
• His films employ a similar visual style, primarily through the use of vivid primary colors. He is known for deliberate, methodical cinematography, using 90 degree camera angles, parallel and perpendicular arrangement of forms, frequent use of symmetry, close-ups, quick pans, and slow motion shots.
• Wes Anderson is known for making independent-type stylistic films that mix poignancy and dry humor. Examples of his humor include malapropism and understatement.
• All of Anderson's films utilize the font Futura Bold in either the opening credits, title sequences or closing credits and is also displayed in other printed materials used throughout his films. Each film also uses Futura Bold to display the main closing credits in a particular format where the first name is displayed in a title case and the last name is displayed in all caps (except The Darjeeling Limited which uses capitals for full names).
• He often uses folk and early rock as the background music in scenes.
• His often damaged characters are viewed in a compassionate light.
• His main characters frequently come from families with money (Anthony "never worked a day in his life" in Bottle Rocket, Blume's multimillion dollar business in Rushmore, the elaborate townhouse in The Royal Tenenbaums and the family inheritance in The Darjeeling Limited).
• By contrast, each movie has minor characters who are working class (such as the housekeeper Inez in Bottle Rocket and personal assistant Pagoda in The Royal Tenenbaums)
• About his American Express commercial, Anderson states that his films, "point out the beauty in flaws and vice versa."
• The depiction of escapism and companionship through chemicals seems to be one of his trademarks also. In each of his films, one or more of the main characters smokes cigarettes or marijuana, excessively drinks, takes pills, etc. To accompany the cigarettes in his films he also features Zippo lighters prominently; from Dignan in Bottle Rocket lighting firecrackers to Raleigh St. Clair in The Royal Tenenbaums. Additionally, his films often feature a heavy-smoking female character.
• A recurring character in Anderson's films is a respected middle aged male who is essentially a fraud.
• All of Anderson's films, with the exception of The Darjeeling Limited, end with slow motion sequences - although The Darjeeling Limited's antepenultimate shot is in slow motion.
• A recurring plot point featured in his three latest films is the reunion of family members.
• Furthermore, almost every Wes Anderson movie contains a shot of one or more characters under water.
• A shot of a character's point of view is usually included, for example the opening to The Royal Tenenbaums or a person walking with their feet visible while reading a card, which can be seen in The Darjeeling Limited as the brothers examine their itinerary.

From the 9-26-09 reading of the wikipedia article on Wes Anderson, the director of The Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore.


http://www.slate.com/id/2228592/


Here's a good bio-article about L. Frank Baum, the creator of the Wizard of Oz,


The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a traditional fairy tale to which Baum added a peculiarly American twist: the humbug. In addition to the usual talking animals, evil witches, scary forest, and challenges to be overcome, Oz has at its core a fraud. The Wizard is not a real wizard, but a lost American balloonist who uses stage tricks—hanging a disembodied head by a wire, for example—to fool people into thinking he is powerful. Deploying spectacle to impress his guests, he sends Dorothy and her companions to kill the Wicked Witch of the West (who has real magic powers). When they return, successful, they discover the truth: Toto, scared by Oz's roar, tips over a screen the Wizard hides behind. There stands "a little old man, with a bald head and a wrinkled face." He pleads, "… don't strike me—please don't. … I'll do anything you want me to. … I'm just a common man." "You're more than that," retorts the Scarecrow. "You're a humbug."



Humbug is bullshit.


The lovable fraud, according to the Slate article, and collated with evidence from my own experience, is an american fairytale.


Some implications and thoughts on this later.