We take a look at the significance of books in the work of director Wes Anderson, and particularly in his 1998 film Rushmore
Books in Film is a recurring feature where we explore great literature and the films they are featured within. First up: Wes Anderson’s Rushmore.
Few modern filmmakers have embraced the world of literature as well as American auteur Wes Anderson. Anderson’s works have been inspired by such varied writers as Catcher in the Rye author J.D Salinger, inter-war Austrian writer Stefan Zweig and in the case of Fantastic Mr Fox, the legendary Welsh children’s novelist Roald Dahl.
Anderson also frequently uses fictional novels as framing devices for his work; The Royal Tenenbaums is presented as a storybook read by a narrator, while The Grand Budapest Hotel starts with a girl reading the memoirs of an unnamed author, memoirs which contain the rest of the film’s story.
One of his films in which literature takes on particular significance is Rushmore, his second feature, which was co-written with regular collaborator Owen Wilson. The film tells the story of an eccentric teenager, Max Fischer, who excels in numerous extra-curricular school activities but whose grades suffer as a consequence. Max develops an obsession with the first-grade teacher at his school, Miss Cross, and finds himself vying with a rich industrialist played by Bill Murray for her affection, affection that she will never return.
Many books appear throughout the film, but one in particular is symbolic – Jacques Cousteau’s Diving for Sunken Treasure. Max checks this book out from the school library toward the start of the film, and finds the following quotation: “When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.”
This is the quote that leads Max to Miss Cross, so the impact of the book in terms of the film’s narrative is obvious. However the use of Cousteau’s work also takes on a deeper, more symbolic relevance. Given that the book was written by a world famous deep sea diver, its use hints at the idea that Max is out of his depth, an idea that becomes increasingly clear as the film progresses.
NB: The use of Cousteau’s work in Rushmore also foreshadows one of Anderson’s later features, the 2005 film The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou which includes a character heavily based on Cousteau.
