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Wes Anderson and the city spaces of indie cinema

2011; Routledge; Volume: 10; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17400309.2011.632522

1740-7923

Brendan Kredell,

Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism

Abstract This paper explores the implications of urban gentrification in the 1990s and 2000s on the development of the American indie cinema. I argue that these implications have been far ranging, such that we are able to speak of a 'cinema of gentrification' during this time period. Using Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Marc Webb's (500) Days of Summer (2009) as representative examples, I show how the films of this cinema developed a vexed relationship with the city and with urban life. In particular, I contend, we can productively read Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) through the prism of gentrification. Following from Michel de Certeau, Neil Smith and others, I argue that Anderson's representation of the city in Tenenbaums marks a break within the history of city cinema, as it denies the social and cultural logics of urban identity by instead reducing city space to mere location. Keywords: American indie filmWes AndersonMichel Gondryurban studiesgentrification Notes 1. This excludes Hotel Chevalier (2007), a Paris-set short film that Anderson released in the months leading up to the premiere of that year's The Darjeeling Limited. Chevalier serves as the prologue to Darjeeling, introducing the character of Jack Whitman (Jason Schwartzman), one of the latter film's three protagonists. 2. I think here, for instance, of CitationSharon Zukin's work on 'the symbolic economy' of cities, and what she refers to as a new class of 'place entrepreneurs' whose symbolic work is evident in fields such as real estate development and marketing (1995). 3. CitationDe Certeau is following Maurice Merleau-Ponty, who distinguished between 'geometrical space' (analogous to de Certeau's 'place') and 'anthropological space'. 4. Indeed, in the original French, de Certeau uses the word lieu to describe the idea of a geometric space. 5. One of the most visible participants in the growing urban exhibition market in the USA was Landmark Theatres, which grew from being a regional arthouse operator in the 1970s and 1980s into the largest American exhibitor of indie film by the close of the 2000s, with 224 screens across 55 sites. 6. I think here of CitationMike Davis' work on the suburbanizing of urban space and the spread of gated communities (1992). 7. One thinks, for example, of Akira Kurosawa, whose painted storyboards for Ran (1985) are sought-after artworks themselves, or of Alfred Hitchcock's storyboard collaborations with Saul Bass (Psycho, 1960) and Harold Michelson (The Birds, 1963), amongst others. 8. Some already have: see, for instance, Apostolou, Citation2009. 9. (500) Days' emphasis on the architectural heritage of downtown Los Angeles has made it a particular favorite of preservationists in that city. The CitationLos Angeles Conservancy runs occasional tours of the (500) Days locations, and hosts directions for a self-guided walking tour inspired by the film on their website (2009).