I've been hoping and wishing that this movie would come up. It's the Hot Fuzz of Wes Anderson's work for me, which is to say, I didn't fully appreciate it when I first saw it but it's become one of my favorite films, if not my very favorite film by this particular director.
I get why Wes Anderson gets pigeonholed as the Bad Dad guy. It's accurate. But the particular melancholy of Steve Zissou that appeals to me is that of middle age and wondering if you're a fraud, if you've done enough.
Gosh, I don't totally know what to write about this movie. It touches a part of me that I'm honestly afraid of. Am I actually an asshole like Steve? Does wondering that mean I'm not? Am I lying to myself and I'm much worse than I think I am or am I just totally inconsequential? Which of those is worse? I'm fighting so hard to not live my life preoccupied by what other people think of me, but there are so many people that when they cross my mind, I can't help but wonder...
It's a shame there are so many casual gay jokes in this film. It's really close to being perfect but honestly, the casual tone of those jokes somehow made them worse for me this time around. Needlessly trashing people and not even caring that you're doing it is such a shitty look.
I love the music (Seu Jorge! David Bowie! Seu Jorge covering David Bowie! Mark Mothersbaugh!). I love the camera movements. I adore the creature work by Henry Selick. Cate Blanchett as a foul mouthed pregnant woman? Love. Anjelica Huston once again providing a road map to how I want to age? Love. But my heart belongs to Willem Dafoe in this movie. Klaus is just a perfect perfect character and every frame he's in, no matter how far in the background, he's all I want to watch. I cannot wait to put together my Klaus costume next Halloween. Gotta work on my legs to pull off those shorts.
Mixed media embroidery.
"Interesting Specimen"
Takeaways:
-I am immensely proud of this piece. Pictures, even video, don't really do it justice.
-When I started the project, I very quickly thought of Life Aquatic and knew I would embroider the Crayon Ponyfish. I love that moment with Werner so much. I imagined it in the champagne glass and I thought I would do it flat. But I've learned so much in the four years I've been at this. And once I got to the movie (finally!!), I started thinking about doing the ponyfish in stumpwork so it could have dimension. And as I thought of the champagne glass, something didn't totally seem correct. I couldn't totally envision how it would look, what the layout would be (is it floating in space? is Steve carrying it through the crowd?), I pressed forward with the ponyfish until I knew. Then the election happened. I love the phrase "we're all just chihuahuas trembling in God's handbag" but it doesn't totally capture the terror and disappointment I feel. The way my heart lurches whenever I think about the fear my queer and trans loved ones are experiencing. Trembling in a handbag doesn't capture it. A rare creature watching its survival leaking out. Counting down until some magnanimous being slops it into a temporary space. Bleak? Yeah. Honestly, it could be bleaker.
-I wish I could have made the ponyfish smaller - it's so delicate in the movie! - but it was so touch to keep the details with the beading even at this scale. Ah well.
-Worbla (the thermoplastic I used for the plastic bag body - it's an actual plastic bag for the tied top) is a miracle and I almost lost my mind sewing it to the fabric. My fingers were numb. There were several moments in this project when I was like, "Oh, I'm really not a costumer any more." I don't own a thimble (!?) and it took me a solid ten minutes to remember how to do a swing tack (the pony's "hair") which used to be my favorite thing to do on a costume. (You use them to do things like keep a lapel from flopping all over while still having some natural movement.) Just funny.
-Tension! Golly I had a hard time with tension on every aspect of this. I had this yellow hoop in my stash for years and thought "oh how cute and on brand for Wes Anderson aesthetic" but oof. I don't like the plastic hoops. It just couldn't hold the fabric's tension. Then when I was sewing on the plastic bag I totally warped the fabric tension further. It's kind of incredible how messed up it is but thankfully it's not that noticeable.
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