The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Mise-en-Scene

     Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou continues with his brand of film. Wes Anderson films put a premium on his brand of color: pastels. Anderson uses these colors to create a fantastic vibe in a live action film. Even his animated films are colored in pastel. This coupled with dark theming, where Bill Murray's friend/dive partner dies, and he also learns he may have a grown adult son, who later dies. These somber themes clash with the pastel coloring in the film and create a unique viewing.

    Anderson also includes a love interest in his films, usually that Bill Murray is attracted to. Jane Winslett-Richardson, a reporter on the Belafonte played by Cate Blanchett, acts to attract both Owen Wilson's and Bill Murray's characters. Anderson uses this to create enmity between characters who should be close, given their assumed bond. Anderson films use a young female character to create complexity to the story, even if it is now wholly connected into the main plotline.