Wes Anderson's Symbolic Storyworld: A Semiotic Analysis - Hardcover

Warren Buckland

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1501316524 ISBN 13: 9781501316524

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018

Synopsis

Wes Anderson's Symbolic Universe is an academic investigation of what makes the films of Wes Anderson distinctive. Chapter by chapter, it relentlessly pulls apart each of Andersons narratives to pursue the proposition that they all share the same deep underlying symbolic values a common deep structure. Taking the polemical strategy of outlining and employing Claude Levi-Strauss distinguished (and notorious) work on myth and kinship to analyze each of Wes Andersons films, Warren Buckland evaluates the entire Anderson oeuvre. With the help of Levi-Strauss, 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 Wes Andersons characters. He also provides a unique analysis of Wes Andersons visual and aural style, identifying several distinctive traits of Andersons mise en scene.

About this title

Review:

Wes Anderson's Symbolic Storyworld marries the much-loved quirkiness of the characters in Anderson's films to the beauty and intricacy of their design. Buckland captures succinctly the magic of this unique filmic universe, while illuminating the director's obsessive attention to the recurring constellations that structure his films. The book's virtues are those of its subject: formal simplicity, richly detailed.
Thomas Elsaesser, Professor of Film and Television Studies, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Warren Buckland's latest book is a significant advance in auteur studies marked by all the exquisite rigor of such past works as Film Theory: Rational Reconstructions. Buckland reconstructs with verve and originality eight of Wes Anderson's films to extract a set of overlapping deep structures addressing the perils and perquisites of the sort of kinship that has created an enduring fascination with Anderson's oeuvre. The book merges the Golden age of structuralism, including some of its less explored techniques, with postclassical narratology's concept of storyworld, contemporary film theory, and a sharp attention to distinctive style. The result is a marvel of insight.
Edward Branigan, Professor Emeritus of Film and Media, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

The intricate DNA of Wes Anderson's filmmaking is brilliantly illuminated in this book. Warren Buckland exposes the hidden networks and deep narrative patterns that distinguish the story world of this celebrated filmmaker. An essential book.
Robert Burgoyne, author of Film Nation: Hollywood Looks at US History (revised edition, 2010)

About the Author:

Warren Buckland is Reader in Film Studies at Oxford Brookes University, UK. Among the books he has authored are: Studying Contemporary American Film (with Thomas Elsaesser); the best-selling Teach Yourself Film Studies; The Cognitive Semiotics of Film; and The Film Spectator. He also edits the journal The New Review of Film and Television Studies.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1501316524
• ISBN 13: 9781501316524
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240