a spoonful of the kinks in slo-mo helps the patriarchy go down

[mercuryglass]

so what do you guys think of wes anderson? i think his films are really pretty, but they always leave me with a gross taste in my mouth. when i read jessica hopper's review of the darjeeling limited as well as slate's take on the movie, i suddenly understood why: i had been so dazzled by the visuals that i was totally swallowing some racist tripe.

Comments

[zombiecity]

I have never seen a Wes Anderson movie that I liked, but it was more because they sucked than because of racist sterotypes. Everyone I know loves Wes Anderson though.

[mercuryglass]

my girlfriend doesn't like him because his movies all look the same.

[mutememories]

i have a hard time with this because i have to wonder if it makes someone racist if they reflect their own experience and/or things they see in the world without offering up the standard disclaimer of 'racism is bad' in BIG BOLD PRINT. is it racist or sexist to make art from the point of view of a rich white male if you are a rich white male? or is it unfair of us to expect him to make it from any other perspective? a movie about americans in india has to reflect a little of what it would be like to be a rich white male american in india. i don't think that he would be true to that character if he expected that character to adhere to ideal racial sensitivity, because let's face it, that's seldom true. does that make him racist? art should make people think and discuss- but ultimately, it reflects the artist. i shudder to live in a world where all art is subject to PC review. do i think wes anderson might be somewhat racist? sure. but then i think we all are in some regard and i think admitting that is the first step to confronting and

[heartofdetroit]

anderson and (white) artist in general don't have to be PC in order to question ideals of whitness in their art.

nor do they have to tell a story that uses people of color to supplment the white chracters, as anderson has done.

it also is an issues of what kind of movies are being funded: pretty movies about white men angst or movies about working class women?

seven months later!

[mercuryglass]

i'm not talking about political correctness, i'm talking about a series of oppressive systems that ensure voices like wes anderson's (and the corporations that support him) will always drown out the voices of people who are trying to resist and change those oppressive systems. so it's not just about him. sure, you could make a film about working-class women, but how far do you think it would get without the resources mr. anderson has to draw on

[verlaine]

Rushmore was okay, I thought, but everything since has just been a fascinating study in what happens if you give a significant budget to a man who has been ill-advisedly convinced of his own consummate auteurishness by critics and cronies alike.

As far as I can see he has no idea what he's doing, but boy does he invest his bewilderment and lack of direction with gravitas.

I don't think he's bright or self-aware enough a director to deserve accusations of racism. He's just throwing exotic images at a screen and hoping some of them stick, that's all.

[mercuryglass]

racism! let's talk about racism. i think most of my friends and i have very different understandings of it

[verlaine]

I think I'd call it boring rather than racist, even though I do note your distinction between active, directed racism and passive, socially ingrained, lazy racism. I don't see it as the artist's job (necessarily) to show us the world as it should be, and most of Hollywood's storytelling conventions are nonsensical fantasy anyway. But there's nothing interesting about rich Westerners finding enlightenment through guilt tourism in the 3rd world.