Wes Anderson's Symbolic Storyworld - by Warren Buckland (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Wes Anderson's Symbolic Storyworldpresents a theoretical investigation of whatmakes the films of Wes Anderson distinctive. Chapter by chapter, it relentlessly pulls apart each of Anderson's narratives to pursue the proposition that they all share the same deep underlying symbolic values - a common symbolic storyworld. Taking the polemical strategy of outlining and employing Claude Lévi-Strauss's distinguished (and notorious) work on myth and kinship to analyze eight of Anderson's films, Warren 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 Anderson's characters. He also provides an analysis of Wes Anderson's visual and aural style, identifying several distinctive traits of Anderson's mise en scène.

Review Quotes

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

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)

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

About the Author

Warren Buckland is Reader in Film Studies at Oxford Brookes University, UK. He is the author of Film Theory: Rational Reconstructions (2012), Directed by Steven Spielberg (2006), and The Cognitive Semiotics of Film (2000).