The Symbolism Of Color In Wes Anderson's Film
Stressing again the use of image as meaning for children, color plays an important role in the overall reading of children’s literature, as well as Anderson’s film. Moebius observes that colors play in integral, often coded role in picture books:
Apart from the traditional associations of certain colours with certain moods or feelings, and apart from the association of bright colours with exhilaration and discovery, and of dark colours with disappointment and confusion, we need to be sensitive to colour as a linkage among different objects. (Moebius 1986)
The fact that color is such a eminent device in Anderson’s work could incur psychoanalytic interpretation (e.g. the use of red is associated with lust or rage). Quite frankly, Anderson’s …show more content…
Perhaps, as Thomas Leddy points out, this is entirely unintentional; Wes Anderson could just like corduroy and record players. However, his intention is apparent in his use and intertextual nods to texts from his childhood. It is clear that that his literary tastes have carried over into his adulthood. As Kunze points out, the sheer number of literary influences in Wes Anderson’s films, “testifies to the enduring importance of children’s literature in Wes Anderson’s life and, therefore, his films (Kunze 2104).” To say that each of Anderson’s works is purely derivative of his childhood, and even more specifically children’s literature, would be a reductive statement. It’s clear that Anderson is an impressionable director whose work is a product of myriad influences, old and new. However, his narratives, mise-en-scène, and meticulously crafted visual aesthetic are all closely reminiscent and comparable to storybooks. Thomas Leddy points out that as picture-books are a combination of words and images, they are “paradigmatic and central to our aesthetic tradition (Leddy 2012).” Outside of mere childhood experience, storybooks play an integral role in aesthetic formations and opinions. As children’s literature has played an impactful role on Anderson’s writing, we find that their illustrations and visual codes have in some way inspired Anderson’s aesthetic, making the storybook the dominant motif of his work as an
Apart from the traditional associations of certain colours with certain moods or feelings, and apart from the association of bright colours with exhilaration and discovery, and of dark colours with disappointment and confusion, we need to be sensitive to colour as a linkage among different objects. (Moebius 1986)
The fact that color is such a eminent device in Anderson’s work could incur psychoanalytic interpretation (e.g. the use of red is associated with lust or rage). Quite frankly, Anderson’s …show more content…
Perhaps, as Thomas Leddy points out, this is entirely unintentional; Wes Anderson could just like corduroy and record players. However, his intention is apparent in his use and intertextual nods to texts from his childhood. It is clear that that his literary tastes have carried over into his adulthood. As Kunze points out, the sheer number of literary influences in Wes Anderson’s films, “testifies to the enduring importance of children’s literature in Wes Anderson’s life and, therefore, his films (Kunze 2104).” To say that each of Anderson’s works is purely derivative of his childhood, and even more specifically children’s literature, would be a reductive statement. It’s clear that Anderson is an impressionable director whose work is a product of myriad influences, old and new. However, his narratives, mise-en-scène, and meticulously crafted visual aesthetic are all closely reminiscent and comparable to storybooks. Thomas Leddy points out that as picture-books are a combination of words and images, they are “paradigmatic and central to our aesthetic tradition (Leddy 2012).” Outside of mere childhood experience, storybooks play an integral role in aesthetic formations and opinions. As children’s literature has played an impactful role on Anderson’s writing, we find that their illustrations and visual codes have in some way inspired Anderson’s aesthetic, making the storybook the dominant motif of his work as an