Wes Anderson’s Symbolic Storyworld: A Semiotic Analysis

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Wes Anderson’s Symbolic Storyworld presents a theoretical investigation of whatmakes the films of Wes Anderson distinctive. Chapter by chapter, it relentlessly pulls apart each of Anderson’s narratives to pursue the proposition that they all share the same deep underlying symbolic values – a common symbolic storyworld. Taking the polemical strategy of outlining and employing Claude Lévi-Strauss’s distinguished (and notorious) work on myth and kinship to analyze eight of Anderson’s films, Warren Buckland unearths the peculiar symbolic structure of each film, plus the circuits of exchange, tangible and intangible gift giving, and unusual kinship systems that govern the lives of Anderson’s characters. He also provides an analysis of Wes Anderson’s visual and aural style, identifying several distinctive traits of Anderson’s mise en scè. Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of contents Figures Acknowledgements Part One Theory 1 Symbolic Storyworlds 2 Film Theory, Film Analysis Part Two The Films 3 Unintentional Mediation: Bottle Rocket 4 Dead Relatives and Intergenerational Relationships: Rushmore 5 Imperial Kinship: The Royal Tenenbaums 6 Conflicts of Ambivalence: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou 7 Fraternal Rivalry: The Darjeeling Limited and Hotel Chevalier 8 Human versus Animal Subworld: Fantastic Mr. Fox 9 The Orphan and the Bachelor: Moonrise Kingdom 10 Rules of Descent and Laws of Inheritance: The Grand Budapest Hotel Part Three Finale 11 The Symbolic Storyworld of Wes Anderson 9781501316524_txt_index_ePDF.pdf Index