An exposition-heavy prologue (narrated by Alec Baldwin) acquaints the audience with all the narrative information needed to understand the troubled Tenenbaum clan. Each child adopts different mechanisms to cope with their parents’ separation, but none have effectively processed the emotional trauma of absence and abandonment. The fallout is twenty-two years of emotional trauma inflicted on their siblings – Chas (Ben Stiller), Richie (Luke Wilson) and their adopted daughter, Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow). This metaphorical explosion is the dissolution of Royal and Etheline (Anjelica Houston) Tenenbaum’s marriage. The rest of the story takes place in the wreckage” (The Wes Anderson Collection, 109). “ The Royal Tenenbaums” writes Matt Zoller Seitz, “starts with a bomb going off. In this context the film’s themes of loss, guilt and forgiveness are particularly prescient. Before we start measuring our culpability in the attack, we need to mourn.” (21). He noted that the desire for a return to normalcy was combined with a need to assign guilt. At the time of its release, Kent Jones attempted to articulate the city’s mood. Although these events could have had no possible bearing on Anderson’s development of the story, it is difficult to look at the film now without reading into the extra-textual themes of grief and mourning. The trauma was still fresh, and negotiating this collective trauma is a process that is still being negotiated today. When The Royal Tenenbaums was released in October 2001, the images of Al Quaida’s terrorist attacks on American soil were still being reviewed and deliberated ad nauseam in the media. This chapter will examine the performance of paternal masculinity in these two flawed characters,and the manner in which these performances actively discourage spectator empathy on an initial viewing.It will also examine the intentional trauma inflicted by the Andersonian father on his children, and how emotional damage suffered during childhood affects the adult. Both films share a tension that “simultaneously venerates the patriarch while also exposing the psychic traumas that result from men’s desire to perform entitled masculinity” (Robé, 102). Like The Darjeeling Limited’s Patricia Whitman (Anjelica Houston), this refusal to conform to societal norms of parenthood can be enormously appealing, yet it is undoubtedly another narrative disruptor and obstacle in viewer empathy. Yet again, Anderson’s characters rail against the classical protagonist, having more in common with the modernist anti-hero. These fictional fathers are the very antithesis of the selfless parent, and these texts provide two of the finest examples in Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and Steve Zissou (Bill Murray). Fox (George Clooney) is not altruism or personal sacrifice for the good of their children, but vanity, immaturity and the inclination to act out of self-serving interests. The defining characteristics of the Andersonian father, such as Herman Blume (Bill Murray) or Mr. While Rushmore and The Darjeeling Limited dealt with the archetypal trauma associated with the death of a parent and the process of mourning, The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) are noteworthy for examining the effects of parents who are very much present, but who fail miserably in their duties. Yet with a vintage cowboy-print flannel lining that Urbinati sourced in the Seattle archives, it also harkens back to the company’s early days in the ‘ 30s since “in the ‘ 70s, fashion was doing a version of the ‘ 30s anyway,” she said.“Of Course It’s Dark, It’s a Suicide Note:” Pathos, Paternal Neglect and Performances of Masculinity in The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve ZissouĪs Wes Anderson moves into the middle period of his career, two particular films stand out for addressing the unorthodox emotional impact of an underrepresented source of trauma in cinema. There is also the fluffy white fleece toggle coat called the Margot ($249) that Urbinati said reminds her a little of Penny Lane, the ‘ 70s rock groupie from Almost Famous. “It’s a way to do something a little different for Eddie Bauer but still be respectful of what the brand is.”
“I was thinking what if Margot Tenenbaum wore Eddie Bauer and what would that look like,” Urbinati mused, referring to the quirky character from Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Urbinati herself threw it on with heels and black tights that made it seem as apropos for the party’s clubby setting as for any day in the wilderness. And the woodsy shadow-plaid, a Bauer staple, gets updated in a faux-fur collared topper dubbed the June Coat ($349). So there is a cropped Blacktail bomber ($199) in a muted folk-art pattern that is a refresh of the original Skyliner jacket Stine is pictured wearing as she displays her day’s catch in a vintage photo.
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