Assignment 4: Stefan Zweig's Influence on Wes Anserson

The Grand Budapest Hotel, a fantastic film directed by Wes Anderson, is quite apparently influenced from the literary works of Stefan Zweig. It seems that Anderson, after falling in love with Zweig's writings, used both the authors personal life along with his writings( i.e Beware of Pity, The Burning Secret, the Post Office Girl) to draw creative similarities into his film.

One of the more noticeable similarities between the works of Anderson and Zweig is interestingly the tone from the narrator, who is controlling the story and speaking in from the future (reflecting on the past). This tone is somewhat passive, that is to say observing without any prior judgement, but defiantly prior knowledge. The narrator is quite sophisticated, using large words to describe people they see and interact with. This complicated and educated language resonates through both artists' work, and is used with special attention to character development. When Zweig wrote The Burning Secret it has almost a conversational feel in which Zweig would go off on glamorous tangents when describing characters, never fearing to get deeply personal. Zweig quickly develops a tangent ,once thought of as purely descriptive, into an important tool to convey information vital to the plot and development of the characters. Anderson’s technique is nearly identical. By bringing the viewers into these intensely personal descriptions of his characters he eliminates the viewer having to seek out information and draw conclusions about his characters.

In terms of subtext, both Zweig's literary works and Grand Budapest Hotel both highlight the issue of how society in Europe is being affected by the rise of communism and fascism. Zweig's Beware of Pity and The Post Office Girl both reflected on elements of World War II and Nazi oppression. In Grand Budapest Hotel Gustave was questioned by soldiers about Zero’s immigrant status, the same type of soldiers that seem to have had taken residence in the hotel. Then again at the end of the film, Gustave died trying to protect Zero and his girlfriend from the officers.

Assignment 3: What Would YOU Do? screenplay addition

The Anniversary Party Set Design         

            The Anniversary Party (specifically the 2001movie script by Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh) takes place in one primary setting, the home of Sally Nash and Joe Therrian. The movie takes place over the corse of only 24 hours, in which their relationship goes through an unexpected transformation in the presence of their close friends and cranky neighbors at their anniversary party.         
           If I was the set designer for this particular film I would take advantage of the singular geographic location and utilize every part of the grand home, back yard, and pool descripted in the screenplay. Joe and Sally are a fairly well off Hollywood couple, for whom money is not a large concern. I would design a set (or scout for a house that already existed) that resembles a high end Hollywood home. Large open room (lots of rooms at that) that each have their own aesthetic and color schemes. The visual feel of the rooms would fluctuate depending on the scene being filmed in there (i.e for the tense argument scence use harsh lighting to create contrast and tension -or- for the ecstasy scene emphasize the "trippy" colors and patters of the pool and patio). I think this film could very easy be just as visually dramatic with assistance of set/color/light, as it is narratively dramatic.