Fantastic Mr Fox Aesthetics Analysis

The Aesthetics of Fantastic Mr Fox

 - The Action Scene

Fantastic Mr Fox is one of Wes Anderson's masterpieces, encapsulating a visual autumnal colour palette that acts as a metaphor for the protagonists' identity and growing age to the afeard winter, which the audience can understand at the end of the film as he faces the motif of his 'phobia'. Released in 2009, the story follows Mr Fox as he experiences what is known as a fox's midlife crisis, wanting to revel in his youth of being a wild animal and killing poultry from the three antagonist farmers, Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. This leads him to move out of his fox borrow with his family into a large tree in order to carry out his cunning schemes, ultimately making him a target for the farmers. Although the film has a rather light-hearted tone, as is expected from Wes Anderson, there is an undertone of melancholy that gives a sense of poignancy which isn't often present in modern animated films. This is disguised by the wry, deadpan humour, and matter-of-fact delivery of the performance. As the farmers desperately try to catch the fox, going to ridiculous lengths, Mr Fox is leading his family and all creatures underground to safety while taunting the farmers through cut out letters and further robberies. The film's climactic showdown shows Mr Fox and his ragtag crew attempting to flee the farmers' trap, of which I will be discussing.

The scene starts as a wide, balanced shot showing the characters to fall out of a window as the camera moves in a tracking shot to the characters landing in a straw-filled crate and following up into another tracking shot as they run towards the left; this is an example of Anderson's balanced asymmetry as it is in a backwards direction to what is expected, adding to the absurd nature of the film. There is a cut; upon turning a corner, they find the exit blocked by a small army of gunned farmers. Here it appears the characters are in a western standoff, with the autumn leaves swirling like tumbleweed in the audible wind beneath their feet. There is a 10-second shot of the animals, including another tracking shot before the camera cuts to a long shot of the farmers that symbolically shows a darkened sky, foreshadowing a violent threat that is about to take place between the enemies. This shot is incredibly evoking to the audience as they are reminded of the standoff trope and therefore is knowing of the events to come. It is interesting to note that the colour palette has darkened with the near removal of the warm tones replaced with bleak grey and a harsh skyline, indicating a dangerous mood and further differentiating the animals and farmers. This mise-en-scene shows Anderson's violent perfectionism already inherent in the visuality of the film from the sharp lines of the set presented as a diorama that focuses on as much of the shot as possible and letting the audience take in the intimidating forces in their most powerful state. Upon the introduction of this shot, a brass instrumental starts which aid the emotion within the scene. This music has a sense of pride, dignity, and finality as the protagonist is faced with his threat thus far. Mr Fox realises his tail is used as a tie on the farmer, Bean, shown as an extreme close up and dolly-down. The fox begins to recite the offences perpetrated against him and his family, with each list subject accompanied by an empathetic dolly-in towards his face as he rises almost mechanically. There is a close-up cut to Bean's face which cuts back to Mr Fox in a similar fierce visage with his teeth bared as he challenges his opponent. This editing purposefully shows the same close up of each enemy, almost pinning them as equal as their shots are treated the same way, creating tension before the expected battle. 

Then, a barrage of gunfire snaps the tension as Bean shouts 'Kill him'. This is unexpected to the audience as there is a sharp cut to destruction, where Mr Fox is shown to be powerless and surprised at the sudden force. This mockingly contrasts to his hero speech as Bean's performance disregards the Fox's rant towards his antics, which adds to the deadpan comedy Anderson has presented throughout the film. This scene, although catastrophic, has changed the tone to playful as the music immediately switches from the solemn instrumental to the theme tune of the farmers which incorporates a high-pitched melody and fun quality. This music has previously been used during the introduction of the farmers, which were shown in a negative perspective, hence creating the association within the audience of the musical motif posing as a stimulus for danger or warning. Yet despite this, instead of fear, the audience recognises that the farmers are winning; their theme tune is alive and energetic to reflect their victories. This scene of the film is astonishing because it introduces an explosive, jagged irregularity into Anderson's immaculate visual scheme; where everything from mise-en-scene to cinematography mostly stays to a large, equal grid. The messiness of this moment gestures towards real-world physics in the way the chips of wood fly from the impact of the bullets in an uncalculated fashion - mirroring the random nature of the farmers and disorientated mindset of the animals. In response to this, the camera cuts to Mr Fox in a mid-shot as he tells his crew to abandon the confrontal which makes his speech meaningless. As a spectator, it evokes laughter at the absolute ridiculousness of the scene and rapid change of attitude.