Caltrops - Peter Molyneux's The Movies





	[quote name="Quentin Beck"][quote name="Zsenicorpse"] Then there's the Wes Anderson Niche. That's when a phenomenon has a large enough following that its members can run into each other on the street, but small enough that all said members are likely to have other things in common - one of which is that they represent a minority of the population in their tastes. Similar fan phenomena include things like: McSweeney's, Pitchfork Media, American Apparel, Sufjan Stevens or Arcade Fire, etc. etc. I think Wes Anderson fans come from such similar backgrounds and have such similar philosophies of value and aesthetics - all of which work together to produce a population naturally inclined to consider themselves as elite, connoissieurs of fine found art, that sort of thing. So their approach to being fans of Wes Anderson is one that smells like elitism and makes elitist claims, like "you're not smart enough to appreciate Wes Anderson movies." [/quote] This is a stupid generalization. It's not as if there's some kind of monolithic army of Wes Anderson fans out there, and that all Wes Anderson films are the same. I happen to love <i>Rushmore</i> for a myriad of reasons that no longer exist in films like <i>the Royal Tenenbaums</i> and <i>the Life Aquatic</i>, so how can anyone explain the appeal of Wes Anderson films if people who enjoy his films can't even agree on which of his films actually appeal to them? The things that stick out at me from <i>Rushmore</i>: the wistful, realistic relationship between Max Fischer and his father, especially in contrast with Blume's and his kids; the fact that most of the actors were unknowns, except Murray and so you didn't have to watch it with the baggage of celebrity actors like muggin' Ben Stiller; the recognizable humanity of a character like Miss Cross, who was almost like a straight man to the rest of the cast and leavened the goofiness that people like <i>Napoleon Dynamite</i>'s director and Anderson himself ended up latching on to and riding for dear life and which people think is all Anderson does. So that's what I like about <i>Rushmore</i> -- that doesn't explain anything about the appeal of "Wes Anderson movies", though.[/quote]