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crazy person rambling crazily about Rushmore

so Read More if that’s something you might be interested in.

so i watched Rushmore again last night with the director’s commentary (i don’t know how many times i’ve done this (crazy people behavior red alert etc)) and i noticed a few new things

• Wow okay Wes Anderson really didn’t shy away from giving us a list of his many influencers. and there are really many of tiny details in Rushmore which are actually influenced by other films. It wasn’t one of those obvious homage Community type of references, nor did they signify anything to the narrative. In fact, they are quite technical.
• For example: during the scene when Max was hanging out at the cemetery, there’s someone in the background who are building a fire. You can see thin smoke in the background if you really squint. Apparently, this fire-in-the-cemetery thing  is taken from a Peter Bogdanovich film.
• And then: when they’re filming the scene when Dirk visited the barbershop to give Max the swiss army knife, the weather outside was really sunny so they covered the glass shop front and doors with blue gels to make the exterior seems blue and gloomy. This is taken from a Bertolluci film.
• And then the red velvet curtain on the stage of Max’s final play was taken from a Powell and Pressburger film.
• THAT’S CRAZY. does anyone else find this crazy? i mean, there are really technical details, like, something you’d read in American Cinematographer.. they are technical choices that are made to serve the story / build the correct tonality etc but there’s another layer to it, which is it’s a pop culture reference, in a way.
• I know I know, pop-culture reference is obviously ~the defining Thing of postmodern art but really: THAT’S KIND OF CRAZY.
• I think this is one of the reason why Wes has become one of the iconoclastic directors for our generation (together with Tarantino?). I know that’s a paradox/irony because he actually took so much from his predecessors. But, let’s see it that way: we’re living in the age of remix culture / synthesis = creation / whatever jargon you subscribe to. To prevail now is really to manage combining as many influences as possible and incorporate them into your own work in a manner that is unprecedented or at least not totally derivative.
• So What is as important of a question as How here, w/r/t combination. and Quantity is perhaps as important as Quality.
• Which I think it’s what’s missing from films such as SUBMARINE and CELEBRATION. these films, in turn, didn’t shy away (like AT ALL) from the Wes Anderson’s idiosyncrasy/aesthetic. In fact, I think they use it as an entry point (does it upset you when people talk about film using marketing terms?) I enjoyed them to certain extent and honestly they are better, more original (yikes) than most of the box office/quirky indie films I seen this year.
• But what keeps bothering me is: I feel like they don’t borrow enough from other films.  it feels like a cinematic equivalent of a “FUCKYEAHWESANDERSONJDSALINGER” blog. too single-serving.

SO YESS I CAN FINALLY ARTICULATE WHY I DON’T EXACTLY LOVE SUBMARINE THIS QUESTION HAS BEEN GNAWING IN MY MIND FOR MONTHS.

does any of these make any sense at all?