Moonrise Kingdom

 

Storytelling

    The basic story of Moonrise Kingdom (2012) is that two kids who each have problems at home, fall in love and run away together. The boy, Sam, is a 12-year-old "Khaki Scout" which is meant to mock Boy Scouts by giving them a more militaristic manner, and he is the hero in this story that rescues the 12-year-old girl, Suzy, who has problems with her family at home. The way the story is told makes it seem like Suzy's family doesn't care about her and that Sam is going AWOL from his "very serious" service in the Kahki Scouts. Sam is the hero that convinces Suzy to escape with him as they run away and have to avoid the evil police, who are just trying to find the missing girl, and the evil Khaki Scouts, who are just trying to find the missing boy. The comedy of it all is that the Police and Kahki Scouts take their job very seriously, even though they do it in the most ridiculous way. The Police enlist the help of the Kahki Scouts which is made up of one adult troop leader, and several children between the ages of 6-12. The kids make weapons such as clubs, bows, and spears as if Sam was this dangerous war fugitive. All while Sam and Suzy have their awkward but romantic escape.

Cinematography

    As in any Wes Anderson film, the cinematography makes the movie. He uses a specific color pallet in all his films including Moonrise Kingdom. The pallet has very whimsical shades of yellows, blues, greens, and reds. These colors are meant to reflect the child-like adventure story that the film tells. In every shot in this film, everything is symmetrical. Wherever the characters are on screen, they are always centered and/or framed by the background they are standing in. Moonrise Kingdom was shot on 16mm film to give it a grainy older look to it to match the time period the film is meant to take place.

Cultural Relevance

    The cultural relevance of Moonrise Kingdom is that it shows childhood innocence and the desire to escape the 'real world'. Wes Anderson uses this escapism trope as the two kids go on an adventure of self-discovery and love. Both Sam and Suzy are going through rough times emotionally as Sam is stuck in a military-like Khaki Scout Camp, and Suzy is having troubles at home with her family not caring about her or letting her be a kid. This film plays into that desire as a young and reckless kid, to just run away from all your home problems and be free with someone you love. What I like most about this film is the absurdity of the whole situation. In the real world, the police would just find the missing kids and bring them home. But in this story, we have the bad guys and the heroes. It is kind of like how I imagine a kid would dramatize running away, where the kids are going AWOL and the military and police are after them, so they must protect themselves.