Movies

If Wes Anderson adapted the Bible

Josh Larsen

Thanks to our friends at Christ and Pop Culture, we were alerted to this ingenious Tumblr blog that we had to share: the Wes Anderson Bible.

The simple concept matches dialogue from Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom and other Anderson films with Sunday School-style illustrations of familiar tales from the Bible. The result? Blasphemy for some, I suppose, but I found it to be a clever and revelatory bit of intertextuality. The brief posts reveal the way Anderson’s pithy, self-aware dialogue frequently speaks to deep truths. At the same time, they work as pop-art companions to something like Eugene Peterson’s contemporary translation, The Message.

Not that every installment is deeply theological. Yes, Jesus’ death and resurrection is covered (by way of Rushmore), but my favorite post might be one of the slightest: Adam looking at Eve for the first time and asking, in the words of Moonrise Kingdom’s precocious Sam Shakusky, “What kind of bird are you?”

Take a look for yourself (though I should point out that many of Anderson’s films are rated R) and share the one that most spoke to you.

Topics: Movies