Château Frontenac, Petit-Champlain, Théâtre Capitole… Not only are these mythical places in the Old Capital among the most photographed in Quebec, but they are also increasingly recognized in short videos imitating Wes Anderson’s films on TikTok and Instagram. .
Since a Connecticut netizen filmed her “filmmaker-style” train ride last April — and her video garnered two million “likes” on TikTok — scenes of the genre have abounded on social media. social. For better or for worse, Quebec has not been spared by this trend.
In the aftermath, other Internet users have recreated scenes and trailers of cult films, imitating the style of Wes Anderson using artificial intelligence software and generating millions of views.
The enthusiasm is such that the team ofAsteroid City, the director’s next feature, which hits theaters in Quebec on Friday, took part in a promotional video ironic about this trend. Thus, while more and more Internet users are reappropriating cinematographic codes on social networks, the cinema industry is now trying to take advantage of Web phenomena.
A codified aesthetic
To understand how Wes Anderson can raise such questions about the commercialization of cinema, we must first remember how his unique aesthetic has inflamed social networks as far away as Quebec, and how it has become so codified.
It’s no wonder it’s so parodied today. His style is so recognizable.
If the filmmaker’s first films, namely Bottle Rocket (1996) and Rushmore (1998), made an impression for their scathingly humorous dialogues and their absurd treatment of existential questions, the formal qualities of his cinema began to stand out above all in The Tenenbaum family (2001).
The Wes Anderson signature is today associated with symmetry, pastel colors and a use of depth of field reminiscent of puppet theatre. His films also often include a separation of acts into chapters, naïve voice-over narration and an editing rhythm typical of children’s shows.
“It’s no wonder it’s so parodied today. His style is so recognizable”, launches Jean-François Lamarche, director of programming at the Cinéma du Parc, where the version ofAsteroid City subtitled in French will be presented exclusively in Montreal.
From the Grand Budapest hotel to the Château Frontenac
Wes Anderson style exercises are therefore not new. Let’s remember the many sensational videos published on YouTube in which we parodied film scenes in our own way, or even the famous fake horror film trailer of Saturday Night Live in 2019.
However, for two months, pastiches have multiplied on TikTok and Instagram. Thousands of Internet users have tried to imitate the filmmaker by filming their daily lives or their travels, and the result totals nearly two billion views on TikTok alone.
THE New York Times reports that it was the video of Ava Willyums’ train ride that sparked the fire on April 8. Today, film critics, including Stuart Heritage, of Guardianeven affirm that we see far too many of them, and that most distort the style of the director of The Grand Budapest Hotel.
The main interested party is also of this opinion. In an interview with The Times, the filmmaker said he was worried about the influence these videos could have on his own work: “I don’t want to watch them and ask myself: ‘Is this really how I work? Is that really what I mean?” So he avoids seeing as many as possible.
Several scenes feature stoic characters, without much emotion and often immobile. This is another small touch that makes this fashion distinct and interesting.
Daphnée Gagnon-Beaulé, a photographer and Internet user from Lévis, explains that she wanted to film Old Quebec, inspired by “the color and symmetry” of the videos she saw on the Internet. “Several scenes feature stoic characters, without much emotion and often immobile. It’s another little touch that makes this fashion distinct and interesting,” she says.
Algorithms on the big screen
Producers and distributors know that social media trends can boost movie ticket sales. Daphnée Gagnon-Beaulé explains precisely that this one “made her want to watch Wes Anderson’s films and to see others in the genre”.
Among recent blockbusters, Cocaine Bearby Elizabeth Banks, proved very popular thanks to his band-annuncio went viral on YouTube, just like the horror movie M3GAN, which has sparked countless memes and parodies, described by Radio-Canada as “Chucky of Generation Z”. THE Barbie by Greta Gerwig, which will hit theaters this summer, would be doomed to a similar fate, according to the magazine Forbes.
“It is certain that the industry will always want to be ahead of phenomena of the genre, which can encourage people to see the films”, maintains Jean-François Lamarche. The programmer remembers in particular the projections ofIsle of Dogs, also by Wes Anderson, where he had invited moviegoers to his cinema accompanied by their dogs. “It was a big hit on social media. »
“Filmmakers like Wes Anderson, Ari Aster and Robert Eggers can attract a young audience, perhaps less of a cinephile, and open the door to more subtle author proposals,” concludes Mr. Lamarche. It is all the more important to promote their films. » It remains to be seen whether Asteroid City will measure up, or whether he will be accused of being a caricature of himself.