SCABs

Fantastic Mr Fox – By @j_kburgess

By Jemma Burgess

 

Fantastic Mr Fox

 

We had a fab masterclass today from Blink Ink. An animation company that’s done some impressive work. It’s one of those moments where you see their work and before it’s even explained to you, involuntary noises burst out of your mouth with a delighted tone of approval. They done good. Slightly sidetracked though. It was mentioned that one of their colleagues had worked on Fantastic Mr Fox. If I wasn’t listening before, I sure as hell was listening now. It is one ( possibly the one ) of my favourite movies. 

 

Here are the reasons why:

 

1. It was the first ever play that I had read. Yes, I know it was a book first but as we found out in my last scab, books were not my strong point.  I was mesmerised with how a whole book could just be people talking to each other. Who knew. 

 

2.  There’s a nod to Shakespeare!! One of my favourite scenes is when Mr Fox and Badger cuss at each other. It might be my interpretation but I wanna believe it’s a nod to the scene in Romeo and Juliette. The ‘ Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?’ scene.

 

3. What makes that scene even better is that when the tension gets too much, they turn back into wild animals and start growling at each other. Which is totally believable yet unexpected for the audience. Its A fox wearing a clip-on tie growling like a beast. 

 

4.  The main character doesn’t have a flawed character that is overcome by the end of the story. The character is just flawed. Like all of us. 

 

5. The dry wit and dialogue which seems like its written in a completely different world but has also been ripped from my soul. 

 

6. They celebrate your superpowers. Not your magical made up superpowers but the mundane qualities that we never think of as special. Like when all the animals are trapped underground. Mr Fox asks the Mole what he can bring to the team? To which his response is, well I’m blind but I can see in the dark. Brilliant. 

 

7. I can go on forever about the writing but just the dry wit and dialogue which seems like its written in a completely different world but has also been ripped from my soul. It’s unapologetically honest. 

 

8. The film has so much detail. Everything that is in shot is there for a reason. 

 

9. It didn’t earn that much money. Unlike the big blockbuster films. It didn’t put sales over craft and can bloody well tell. 

 

10. You feel the sting through the laughter. Those moments where you start laughing and you pause to think actually that’s really sad. A writing skill that I’m still trying to master. 

 

If you haven’t watched a Wes Anderson film I beg you to make yourself a cup of tea and perch for an hour and a half. Think of it as research because boy can you learn a lot. 

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