When one thinks of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, they may think of their childhood, an illustration, a bedtime story. Wes Anderson is known as one of the biggest auteur directors of our time, employing a sense of control and detail within his films that is truly emblematic. His films transport us into other hyper-stylized worlds.
Moonrise Kingdom particularly captures his whimsical nature, a coming of age dramedy about two young lovers: a boy escaping from scouting camp and a passionate, isolated girl. Anderson’s stylistic directing is splashed all over this nostalgia-for-the-60’s film. Most of his signature elements, including extremely detailed scenery, distinct color palettes, and rule of thirds cinematography, are incorporated.
The mise-en-scene and cinematography in Moonrise Kingdom work together to create a storybook-like aesthetic that supports a greater meaning in the film as a whole, particularly in two distinct scenes.
Hyper-Stylized Environments
In the film’s intro scene between the times 0:48 and 2:24, the audience has its first glimpse at the hyper-stylized setting. Wes Anderson’s films have a unique look to them due to his personal and consistent choices of film technique. At first, we are shown a literal framed illustration of the house that the scene takes place in, one of the film's many detailed and significant props.
The painting of the house is an important symbol and the first image we see, setting up the whole film as a living illustration. Everything within the set design is intentionally placed, just like how every brush stroke in a painting has a reason behind it.
There are other elements in the film with a storybook aesthetic. As mentioned before, Wes Anderson is extremely detailed about his...well, details. Every film department comes together with a focused vision to give a sense that the audience isn’t just watching a film, but seeing a story unfold like a picture book.
The deep-focus cinematography that is used throughout the opening scene allows the audience to have something to look at besides the focal point of the children. In a picture book, there are also many things to look at besides the focal point. There’s the detail of highly illustrated trees in the forest, the abundance of sea life drawn in the ocean, the messiness of the protagonist's room. Though there are indeed main characters and a larger story at hand, the primary intent is never to have that be the only thing to observe.
Tracking Shots and Turning the Page
After being introduced to the children in the film, Suzy Bishop and Sam Shakusky, we move to another room with a tracking shot, a directorial element used consistently in this scene and throughout the film. The lively effect of this camera movement is similar to that of a page-turning. These tracking shots are typically followed by a still image and pause to take an extended look at the scene we are brought to.
Such movements create an experience identical to that of when we are looking at a picture book: we turn the page, we look at the picture, and then we turn the page again. It is also important to note the paintings of trees on the wall of the next shot. They have the same kind of immersive effect as the painting of the house in the first shot, bringing us even more deeply into the illustrated nature of this world.
Children's Pastel Palette
As we turn the page to the next shot, we can see that the home has a consistent color palette. This scene, and Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom as a whole, can be described as a warm film in terms of its colors. It incorporates mostly light shades of yellow and all different kinds of pastels such as blues and greens.
Not only do the prop and set designs follow these colors, but also the costumes and lighting. Picture books are similarly consistent in their colors, employing specific palettes that serve the story.
Framing Children and Adults
As Suzy sits down by the window, we notice another cinematography element present in the scene. Anderson has a tendency to incorporate middle-thirds in all of his shots to enhance the storybook effect. It is rare to find an angled shot in a Wes Anderson film.
The framing gives the impression that we are looking at something two-dimensional instead of three-dimensional, like a book. When Suzy looks out of the window and the camera zooms out onto an exterior shot of the house, it starts to look more like the painting from the beginning of the intro.
Why does Wes Anderson employ this aesthetic throughout the film? Namely, to explore the polarities between children and adults. Moonrise Kingdom is made for an adult audience but emphasizes the childhood relationship between Suzy and Sam. Anderson highlights the maturity of their relationship within a child-like setting in order to emphasize the immaturity of everyone else, adults included.
At some points, it seems like Suzy and Sam are the only voices of reason in the film. They appear to have a better relationship than Suzy’s parents who are married and miserable. Even though the characters believe they are mature, they inhabit a child’s world divorced from reality that is filled with whimsical components found in children's books such as treehouses, boy scouting, and camping.
Because the intended audience is adults, the impression that Moonrise Kingdom's aesthetic gives off is different than if the intended audience was children. If an adult were to look at a child’s storybook, they would find it juvenile and silly—not for them. The storybook aesthetic highlights the immaturity of the characters as if the audience is viewing a child’s world and judging it from the outside.
Moonrise Kingdom is light and entertaining and has the silliness and simplistic problems of a children's book with the subversive element of children trying to act like adults and adults acting like children.
When writing the screenplay for the film with Roman Coppola, he and Wes Anderson focused on their own childhood experiences and fantasies and placed them in an unrealistic world. This was very meaningful to Anderson, even in his adult life, as he explained to The Guardian, “Any romantic feelings for a 12-year-old are like entering into a fantasy world.” Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom brings that fantasy world to life for adults.
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To read more about Wes Anderson's filmmaking aesthetic, order the book Accidentally Wes Anderson by clicking here.