Symmetry

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is on one of the channels with no commercials this morning, and it's a film I've been meaning to watch again (I last saw it in the theater, I think). My wife is at work and I'm tired of putting things in boxes, so I'm watching it.

I'm not a huge Wes Anderson fan, nor do I know much about film. But I do know that Anderson's films are very stylized, and I can pick one out (like a drop-the-needle test) pretty easily--something I can't say about many other directors. These hallmarks of style are what make this Saturday Night Live spoof one of my favorite bits from last season:

(See here for an interesting behind-the-scenes, with more about Anderson's style.)

I did a bit of Googling about his "signature," and found the following video:

Wes Anderson // Centered from kogonada on Vimeo.

It seems like symmetry is one of his hallmarks. What's interesting to me is that the symmetrical nature of his shots is what sets his style apart from everyone else: most movies are composed mainly of asymmetrical shots. If asymmetry is the norm, then Anderson's symmetry appears unusual to us; thus, asymmetry in his movies comes off as strange.

I don't have much more to say about that other than it's an interesting way to think about aesthetic properties and social construction: symmetry is not inherently pleasing; asymmetry is not inherently unpleasant, at least in the domain of film.

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