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Wayne State University Wayne State University Dissertations 1-1-2013 What Is This Music? Auteur Music In The iF lms Of Wes Anderson Lara Rose Hrycaj Wayne State University, Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations Recommended Citation Hrycaj, Lara Rose, "What Is This Music? Auteur Music In The iF lms Of Wes Anderson" (2013). Wayne State University Dissertations. Paper 662. This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wayne State University Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@WayneState. WHAT IS THIS MUSIC? AUTEUR MUSIC IN THE FILMS OF WES ANDERSON by LARA HRYCAJ DISSERTATION Submitted to the Graduate School of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 2013 MAJOR: COMMUNICATIONS Approved by: Advisor Date ! ! ! ! ! ! © COPYRIGHT BY LARA HRYCAJ 2013 All Rights Reserved DEDICATION I dedicate this to: Judy, Steve, and Nick Wes, Mark, and Randall and Mandy and the boys ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor Jackie Byars. I am indebted to all the wisdom, hard work, and encouragement she has shared on my journey in earning my PhD. I would like to extend my gratitude to my committee. Hayg Oshagan and Juanita Anderson have been part of my entire dissertation process and have always kept me on my toes. I am grateful for Steven Shaviro and Pradeep Sopory for joining my committee late in the process. While Robert Burgoyne had to leave my committee, the genesis of this dissertation is due him sharing one of the earliest academic articles on Wes Anderson with me, and for this I am extremely grateful. This dissertation would not be possible without the many people who have read various sections and drafts of my dissertation. I appreciate all the work, comments, and insights provided by Antal Zambo, Dennis Rymarz, and Sarah Boyce. I would like to thank all of the various members of the PhD writers group for their support throughout the years, and I would like to single out Nick Schlegel, Christopher Gullen, and Debbie James Smith from this group for all of their input and friendship. Maria Luiza Cardoso de Aguiar translated Seu Jorge’s Portuguese lyrics of the David Bowie songs from The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. I knew Jorge’s renditions were not faithful covers, and Aguiar’s translations revealed this and beautiful lyrics that contributed to the film more so than Bowie’s original lyrics. There are several people who extended their moral support and encouraged me to complete this dissertation: Windy Weber, Jay Korinek, Susan McGraw, and Nicole Binder. Amanda Walz was my go-to-gal when I needed help or just someone to bounce off ideas. Finally, this dissertation would not be possible with the loving support of my parents, Judith and Stefan Hrycaj, and specifically all the times my mother told me to “get it done.” iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ___________________________________________________________________ ii Acknowledgment _____________________________________________________________ iii INTRODUCTION ____________________________________________________________ 1 CHAPTER 1 – Bottle Rocket ___________________________________________________ 36 CHAPTER 2 – Rushmore ______________________________________________________ 71 CHAPTER 3 – The Royal Tenenbaums __________________________________________ 108 CHAPTER 4 – The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou ________________________________ 150 CHAPTER 5 – The Darjeeling Limited __________________________________________ 196 CONCLUSION _____________________________________________________________ 233 Bibliography _______________________________________________________________ 242 Abstract ___ _______________________________________________________________ 256 Autobiographical Statement ___________________________________________________ 257 iv 1 INTRODUCTION “This is an adventure.” – Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou In Wes Anderson’s short film Hotel Chevalier (2005), Jack Whitman (Jason Schwartzman) plays Peter Sarstedt’s 1969 track “Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)” from his iPod just as his ex-girlfriend (Natalie Portman) arrives at his hotel room. The song begins with an accordion, and then we hear the lyrics “You talk like Marlene Dietrich” as Jack opens the door to his ex-girlfriend talking on her cell phone. Once she hears the song she asks, “What’s this music?” Jack just shrugs, slightly shaking his head. Jack, unable to explain the music even though he is responsible for playing it, grasps her in an awkward embrace as she enters the room. “Where Do You Go To” plays three times in this short film and plays again in Anderson’s feature-length film The Darjeeling Limited (2007). In both films, this song is played when Jack tries to woo women and to express musically how he feels about them at that moment. He is also the “DJ” of The Darjeeling Limited; he brings his iPod with him on his trip across India with his brother, and is seen playing music at key emotional moments. Furthermore, Jack as the DJ represents Wes Anderson, who by utilizing seemingly deeply personal choices of music to score his films, embodies what Slate writer Adam Baer calls “the film director as DJ” (“Lord of the Recordings”). What is this music Anderson uses in his films? Why does he not pick the latest Top 40 Billboard hits and instead choose mostly music from the 1960s and 1970s or originally composed music by Mark Mothersbaugh? Why does this music seem to evoke so much more than what the characters in Anderson’s films can confess, convey, or articulate? This music is “auteur music.” In her 2007 essay “Auteur Music,” Claudia Gorbman defines a certain group of contemporary film directors as auteur mélomanes, or directors who have a passion for music. 2 Gorbman describes this type of director as having their own musical “worldview” and controlling the music of their films rather than the music supervisor or the composer (149-150). For Gorbman, these auteur mélomanes and auteur music have come about because advances in digital technology and music storage make it possible for directors to have more control over the music in their films, though some of these directors have incorporated the music they are passionate for prior to the use of digital music technology. This control allows them to impart their personal musical taste to their films, creating an authorial signature (149-150). Gorbman lists a pantheon of auteur mélomanes – Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Jean-Luc Godard, Jim Jarmusch, and Sally Potter, to name a few – to which I would add Wes Anderson (151). As noted by Adam Baer, music is an authorial signature in Anderson’s films with Anderson being the DJ of his films. Nancy Miller of Entertainment Weekly also states that he is “cinema’s hippest DJ.” Wes Anderson’s soundtracks fill the role of mix-tapes for film audiences. This reference is carried on in popular blogs and discussion boards devoted to discussing Anderson’s musical style (The Playlist; IMDb.com; The Rushmore Academy). To establish Anderson as a mélomane, it is important to look not only at the different types of music found in his films but also the different ways that the music is used within the films. Anderson’s films feature several different ways that music is used, but there are three specific uses that contribute to his overall authorial signature: the songs associated with montage sequences, the songs and original score used to accompany scenes featuring slow-motion sequences, and finally the songs that emanate from musical devices – iPods, record players, and radios. As such, the purpose of this dissertation is to place Anderson within Gorbman’s pantheon by demonstrating how his choice and use of music is indicative of an auteur mélomane. 3 For this dissertation, I will explore and expand on the different types of music used in Anderson’s first five films – Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004), and The Darjeeling Limited (2007) – along with two of his short films – Bottle Rocket (1992) and Hotel Chevalier (2005). Each chapter will focus on one of the five feature length films. Through these chapters I will establish the distinct ways that Anderson joins music with cinematic production techniques such as slow-motion and montage sequences and how he incorporates music emanating from musical devices. It will be important for this study of Anderson’s film music to include attention not only to the different types of music found in each film, but also to the collaboration between film director Anderson, composer Mark Mothersbaugh, and music supervisor Randall Poster in order to fully understand Anderson’s musical style, aesthetic, and what this music means. The end of each chapter will discuss the importance of music within Anderson’s work and Anderson as a mélomane, and the conclusion of the entire dissertation will illustrate how his soundtracks are like personal mix- tapes to his audience and fans. The films of Wes Anderson include recurring themes, characterizations, and styles. Family, authorship, loss, dependence, lost glory, quirky love stories, nostalgia, and childhood feature prominently in his films. There is a recurring cast of actors and crewmembers who help Anderson with his pictures. While many of the themes, characterizations, and styles might be apparent visually, there is also an aural element to the music in the films that works with in the recurring themes, characterizations, and styles. In analyzing the music in Anderson’s films, I will provide insight into the meaning of his films by exploring how music is used and what this music means. Throughout this analysis I will uncover different musical codes and musical signatures found in all of his films plus I will 4 establish a specific musical signature for each film on its own. I believe Wes Anderson is an auteur, and the music used in his films is a significant part of his overall authorial signature.

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