The Royal Tennenbaums is a widely popular film for many reasons
due to its camera techniques and character development of leading role, Royal
Tennenbaum. The film begins with Royal, father of Richie, Chas, and Margot,
telling his children that he and their mother are getting a divorce. The use of camera placement, in that Royal
was shot from a long distant shot, is used to communicate the divide in the
house, between the children and their father. One popular technique used to symbolize
further message in the film is the use of costuming. When Royal is breaking the
news to his kids, he is wearing sunglasses, and placed on the complete opposite
of a long table. His sunglasses resemble the barrier between his children, and
the poor relationship that stands between them. Another instance when costuming
resembles what is going on in the scene is when Richie tells Eli that he loves
Margot. Both Richie and Eli are dressed in beig, maybe resembling their similar
love for their sister. Aside from costuming, when Margot first gets off the bus
after hearing about her father’s sickness, it is in slow motion. From the
moment she gets off the bus, there is an eye-line match between her and Chaz.
This resembled both his love for her, and the mood of the film, in that it was
dark, sad, and depressing. Lastly, character development makes the film even
that much more intriguing. From the opening scene, the viewers are exposed to a
careless father, who is barely involved in his childrens’ lives. As the story
carries on, we see a sudden change in character as Royal slowly realizes he
needs his family. One of the biggest turning points was when he not only
pretended to have cancer and went through fake treatment, but when he went out
of his way to spend time with Eli’s children. In the beginning of the film,
when the children were younger, Royal only cared about taking Eli to the dog
fights, not any of his other children. However, we see him take his two
grandchildren to the dog fight. In your opinion, did Royal genuinely change? Or
was it just for show? Why?
Good job Colb on being specific with your points in this blog! I agree with a lot of what you wrote, in response to your question, I think that Royal did genuinely change by the end of the film. I think that Royal had to create the hoax of dying from cancer to get his family's attention and to reunite them, although that wasn't necessarily fair I think he had good intentions by doing so. For me, the clearest example of his character change was his relationship with his grandsons. He wanted to be a part of their lives and give them memories of a fun grandfather-something that he wasn't with his own children. He realized how he had messed up early on in their lives and tried to rebuild their relationships and I think he was somewhat successful by the end.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you compared Royal's sunglasses to a barrier between him and his children, I thought that was a really interesting comparison. To answer your question, I think Royal does change, but only a little. I think his priorities have changed because before he didn't care about his family, and didn't mind leaving them for so long with little contact. But he changes when he comes back and wants to mend his relationship with them. And although this is a big change, he still seems like he is scheming and still conniving. Basically, he is still looking for the easy way out. For example, he lies to his family by telling them he's sick in order to be back in their lives as opposed to genuinely telling them how he feels. So therefore, I think even though Royal's priorities may have changed, they way they are expressed have not changed.
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