Summary
Wes Anderson’s latest film,Asteroid City, has had one of the most impressive box office runs of the veteran director’s career. The movie was heavily marketed and has currently made $51.3 million, earning double its budget and taking its place as the fifth highest grossing of Anderson’s current eleven films. Likely due to the more mainstream attention, the film has garnered confusion among some viewers as to what really happens in it and what it all means.
Asteroid Cityis a layered, complex film that spoonfeeds very little to the audience. Wes Anderson has had an extremely distinct style for much of his career, and Asteroid City leans harder into this niche than any film he has directed before. It stands apart from movies such asThe Grand Budapest HotelandFantastic Mr. Fox, which, while beingtruly excellent films in their own right, were far more straightforward in terms of story and theme.Asteroid Citymay not be as easy to digest, and is the kind of film that would really like to be rewatched and analyzed extensively. Rest assured, though, that there is meaning out there in the cosmic wilderness.
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What is Asteroid City About?
Within the movie,Asteroid Cityis a play that the audience sees written, cast, produced, and performed. The play focuses primarily on a number of attendees of an astronomy convention being held in the titular desert town. Chief among them is Augie Steenbeck, a grieving widower who has arrived inAsteroid Citywith his three daughters and genius son, Woodrow. The convention festivities are put on hold when an alien arrives and takes the town’s famous asteroid from it’s landing site, causing the city to be placed under lockdown. Meanwhile in real life, playwright Conrad Earp writes the play, puts the cast together, and falls in love with the actor playing Augie, Jones Hall. The latter is only directly referred to once, when Hall strips down and the pair embrace after Hall has been cast, making it understandable if some viewers missed the significance of this relationship.
One of the most important themes present inAsteroid City, and probably the most obvious, is loneliness. The film takes place primarily in the desert,a sparse and desolate setting, for a reason. Every character present in the film feels alone, for a variety of reasons, and the variety is the key here.Asteroid Citypoints out that lonely people tend to fixate on the cause of their particular loneliness. Augie feels lonely due to the loss of a loved one. Woodrow is lonely because he feels that he does not belong with anyone around him. Midge Campbell, an actress, feels lonely because her fame prevents others from knowing the real her.
Each of these characters begins the story able to recognize the isolation they face, but unable to reach out to others because of the perceived differences between them. They are lonely stars out in space, with expanses between them too massive to cross. Throughout the course of the story, the cast comes to realize that compared to the endless expanse of outer space, the distance between them isn’t so great at all. What matters isn’t the differences making them lonely, it’s the fact that no matter what separates them, they can come together to ease each other’s suffering. It’s no coincidence that the whimsically melancholy alien theme, “WXYZ-TV Channel 8”, also plays wherever there’s genuine connection happening onscreen. Just as the discovery of alien life brings people together, so does hearing the life story of a stranger or finding new love.
What happens at the end of Asteroid City?
A frequent criticism levied atAsteroid Cityis that the movie doesn’t have any meaning or isn’t really about anything. This complaint is usually accompanied by one of two examples. The first is the show within a show aspect of the play, which some viewers didn’t understand the purpose of. The other is the alien, whose role in the story goes largely unresolved. What these complaints miss is that both the alien and the play wield massive symbolic relevance tothe film’s most important theme, which is in itself the lack of meaning and direction.
A short while into the play’s run, Conrad Earp passes away, leaving the cast and crew struggling to keep things afloat. When Jones Hall asks if he is playing Augie correctly, Schubert Green, the play’s director, tells him that he is doing it just right and that not only did Hall become Augie, Augie became Hall. The two have become one another, two men grieving their lost lovers as they struggle to comprehend the world without them. The heartbreak written into Hall’s character becomes written into him as well. Hall cannot understand the play because the play is Augie’s reality, and he cannot understand what living without the love of his life entails.
Twice in the film, Augie performs a scene from the play with one other person. In each instance, the scene performed is cut from the actual theatrical run of the show. The first scene serves as Hall’s audition, performed for Earp alone. Following the monologue, Earp declares that Hall is perfect, and the two lovingly embrace, establishing their relationship.
The second instance occurs when Hall, needing a break from his performance, steps outside and finds himself face to face with the actress who had played his deceased wife in the play. Her only scene had been cut from the show, and though Hall does not remember it, she recites it to him. The actress playing Augie’s dead lover is a clear vessel for Hall’s dead lover, reciting dialogue for Hall written by Earp himself. The message is only for Hall, as no one else will be able to watch the scene due to it having been cut. Still, Earp is unable to give Hall any clear guidance from beyond the grave. The lines Earp wrote only tell Hallhe will have to try and move on, as he is not coming back.
At first, the lack of explanation given for the alien stealing and subsequently returning the meteorite might strike some audience members as pointless and unsatisfactory. What this assessment misses, however, is that as Augie and Hall are the same, so are Earp and the alien. The questions of what Earp’s play was about and why the alien stole the landmark asteroid share the same answer: maybe it meant something, and maybe it didn’t, but either way, he’s gone now and no one can ask him. The only thing anyone can do is attempt to keep moving forward despite not understanding.
The thematic core ofAsteroid Citymay be best summarized by one exchange between Hall and Schubert. Hall tells him, “I still don’t understand the play.” Schubert responds, “Doesn’t matter. Just keep telling the story.” The important thing isn’t to understand everything about the way things are. The important thing is to keep on living, no matter how hard things get.Asteroid Cityis a somewhat difficult film to fully understand, but it’s very much worth doing so, as the movie is a fully fledged masterpiece.
