Many iconic filmmakers may have had the term “auteur” bandied about in relation to their work without truly ever living up to that prestigious designation. However, in modern cinema, there’s no doubting that the brilliant director and writerWes Andersonhas earned his stripes as one.
To be considered an auteur in its truest sense requires a director to stamp such a unique style onto a film that it can only exist as a byproduct of that person’s individual mind, and no one else’s. In simpler terms, it consists of a kind of artistry that only one person could can of and execute in that manner. Yet, with today’s modern technology, such a notion seems almost impossible.
Artificial intelligence has progressed at a frighteningly rapid pace in the last decade, with it now having practically limitless applications.As a disruptor of the creative world, AI can now generate unique artwork, write articles, come up with ideas, and even recreate the style and consistency of real people in multiple fields.
There’s no doubt that AI can and will shape the future. However, for all the brilliance of AI, there are some traits of creativity that it can still never seem to imitate entirely. One of the reasons why Wes Anderson is such a revered filmmaker is down to the fact that his style is so individually esoteric that its uniqueness basically places it beyond replication — at least for now. Here’s a look at why AI hasn’t yet been able to fully capture Wes Anderson’s style — not that it hasn’t tried.
Who is Wes Anderson?
The Grand Budapest Hotel
While he’s been one ofthe most celebrated directors of the last two decadesor so, if you aren’t familiar with the name, Wes Anderson is an American filmmaker who, to date, has directed 11 feature films. Among them, they have received a total of 15 Academy Award nominations and four wins, amid a dazzling array of other prestigious award nominations and wins too. He’s known for his utterly unique style as a director, which has led many critics to consider him a modern legend.
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While all his feature films so far have been notable for one reason or another, some of his best known movies includeRushmore,The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Acquatic with Steve Zissou, Moonrise Kingdom, The French Dispatch,and the two stop-motion animated movies,The Fantastic Mr. FoxandIsle of Dogs.
As highly-praised as each of those movies were,The Grand Budapest Hotelis widely considered to be Wes Anderson’s best movie, having garnered nine Academy Award nominations by itself, and being responsible for all four wins he has received.
Apart from his distinct style, Anderson also frequently collaborates with many of the same actors, like brothers Owen and Luke Wilson, Tilda Swinton, and Bill Murray, and also often works with some of the finest actors around, like Edward Norton, Cate Blanchett, and Ralph Fiennnes.
What is Wes Anderson’s Style?
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Royal Tenenbaums is a film directed by Wes Anderson, featuring an ensemble cast including Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, and Ben Stiller. The movie explores the estranged Tenenbaum family’s complex dynamics as they reunite in their New York City home. With each member facing personal struggles, they navigate the repercussions of their collective past while striving for reconciliation and redemption.
Anderson’s work has often been described as postmodern, and he’s a leading name in American Eccentric Cinema, which is a modern style of filmmaking characterized by themes of existentialism. While Wes Anderson films do often feature many variations in style and range from comedy to action and stylized drama, he is best known for his frequent use of nostalgic details, quirky kits and miniature sets, and shots with hues generally consisting of sepia-tone and a soft, signature color palette.
His characters are often described as broken people, or individuals struggling with loss or grief of some sort while maintaining unique narratives, eccentricities and sometimes subversive sexual identities. He also often displays an affinity forsymmetrical visualizations. While his frequent use of flat space shots makes for precisely rendered two-dimensional scenes, they also incorporate distinctly creative uses of cinematography devices like long takes, tracking shots, complex pans, zooms,stop-motion, and slow motion.
His soundtracks often includepop music from the ’60s and ’70s, and other eclectic musical covers and original songs. Between this variety of techniques and his character-based storytelling devices, Wes Anderson’s work has been described as “literary geek chic”, and generally look, sound, and feel like a distinctive genre of its own.
Why AI Can’t Fully Capture Wes Anderson’s Style Yet?
The video above is an example of how often Wes Anderson is used as a reference point by content creators to re-imagine well-known movies as if they were made by him. They’re done through AI-generated trailers that supposedly capture his style.
The director has been so influential and distinct that his style is easy to copy, and there are entire libraries of fan-made videos and parodies online that do this sort of thing, with many popular franchises having trailers produced through the AI-interpreted lens of a Wes Anderson film. ThisStar Warsone went viral, and is often rated by the internet asthe best of the lot.
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However, anyone who has analyzed Anderson’s films in detail can tell you, as great as such videos seem, they don’t actually do a good job of capturing his style. A lot of this is down to the fact that it seems like the AI programs that generate them are still only capable of scratching the surface of what a Wes Anderson film actually is.
To consider such videos some kind of masterful replication of his style therefore does the great director a grave disservice. The AI gets the visual aspect close, but leaves out any heart or warmth.
Here are some others that are currently popular online:
What is apparent from theStar Warsparody and others, is that AI prioritizes surface-level interpretations of his style without delving into the deeper thematic aesthetics of his films. While initially seeming to match his film’s visual and tonal qualities, the result is like a replication of the Mona Lisa that might feature Da Vinci’s brush styles and color palette without capturing the true heart and soul of the artist’s unique mastery in conceiving a one of a kind masterpiece.
What is the Point of Wes Anderson’s Movies?
Asteroid City
Existentialist themes are a major part of Wes Anderson’s movies, and his narratives often combine elements of this withsubversive coming-of-age plots. His films have also sometimes consisted of modulated stories that masterfully weave together varying elements. Yet, they still coalesce around traits that unify from his deep appreciation of cinema and his distinct form of expressionism.
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His often-used themes like melancholy and angst play out as backdrops to eccentric renditions of the human condition that can’t simply be summed up with singular definitions. By their very nature, the point of his films can therefore mean different things to different people, and can seem childish or truncated to some, but complex to others. It’s the reason why he’s simultaneously oftenpraised by some and criticized by others.
Why Are Wes Anderson Films So Popular?
Isle of Dogs
What makes Wes Anderson movies so popularis that they may have a distinct style, but find a way to speak to us in deeply emotional ways, or through the almost subliminal manner they engender us to ask questions about our own lives and the nature of our existence. There’s no doubt that AI is constantly evolving and improving, and may one day be able to better replicate the styles of artists like Anderson.
However, in contrast to Wes Anderson’s artistry, for now, it’s still constrained by the fact that it interprets rather than creates. It does this by aggregating data on a subject and then doing its best to render a result according to the most popular data sets available. Unfortunately, these usually only provide a superficial picture. As innovative as it is, an artist like Wes Anderson will always possess a level of sophistication thatno program can truly replicatejust yet.
This is because he isn’t replicating but creating in its purest sense, which invokes the heart, emotional, and depth needed to make his style more than just aesthetics. The result is a unique process driven by the product of his lived experience, emotional cognition, and individual inspirations, like those he gleans from other directors such as Woody Allen or Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray; whom he often references as major influences. His body of work is therefore far beyond mere style or aesthetical qualities, since one might say he pours a part of his own soul into every project.
To better understand his style, here’s a YouTube documentary that features great snippets of how Wes Anderson views his films, in his own words:
