Throughout the film, The Royal Tenenbaums, each of the characters change in their own way; however, in my opinion, the character that changes the most is Royal Tenenbaum, the biological father of the Tenenbaum children. In the beginning of the film, he is irresponsible and arrogant to put in lightly. We meet him when he is being evicted out of his hotel because he is not able to afford to stay there anymore. Because of this, he lies in order to live with his family again and says he is dying of stomach cancer.
When we see Royal, his kids, and his grandkids at the cemetery, Royal stands by Chas's wife's grave with Chas himself and the two kids. He tells his grandkids, "I'm sorry for your loss. Your mother was a terribly attractive women." Although taken mostly as a comedic line, we see in his own twisted and weird way, Royal trying to show empathy.
Do you agree that Royal was the character that changed the most in the film? Or do you think it was a different character? Also, how do you think Wes Anderson showed their change?
I agree that Royal changed a lot during this film, as well as other characters. I think that Chas also changed a lot during the film. I think its interesting how you bring up that Royal's twisted empathy is a reason for the comedy through the film. I now see what your saying about the Grandkids being a mediator for the change in Royal. You brought up really good points that I hadn't thought of!
ReplyDeleteI do agree that Royal changed a lot in this film. He was definitely one character that did change more than the others. I think we see this in many different ways whether it is in his physical appearance, or in his actions. For his physical appearance we see the theme with the glasses as a metaphor for hiding his emotions and not having a good relationship with his kids but as the movie progresses his sunglasses come off as he opens up. His actions also represent a change in his character as he makes an effort in mending the wounds with his family, even if that means lying about having cancer. He also does try to make up for his mistakes with his kids by attempting to spend time with his grandkids. You bring up many good points that started to make me think!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting blog post and there are some very good points brought up. I completely agree that Royal changed and his changes were extremely sincere by the end of the film. I remember in class, we discussed if his changes and kind gestures were "fake" because of the kind of person Royal is, but I disagree. I think that although some of Royal's actions were unforgivable and just flat out messed up, his overall intentions were good and he only wished to bring his family back together.
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