Life on Mars or Life on the Sea: Seu Jorge, David Bowie, and the Musical World in Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Abstract

American film director Wes Anderson conveys a distinctive visual and aural style in his films. The importance Anderson places on the music is indicative of what Claudia Gorbman describes as an auteur mélomane—a director with a passion for music (“Auteur Music” 149). Anderson’s films feature a variety of music, highlighting songs of the Rolling Stones and other British Invasion artists, an original score by Mark Mothersbaugh, and music from film and television, along with jazz, classical, and Christmas music. Anderson uses music in his films in a variety of ways, but the three specific uses that contribute to his overall authorial signature are songs associated with montage, songs associated with slow motion sequences, and songs that emanate from musical devices. Anderson’s musical signatures begin to change and expand with his fourth film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004).¹