Asteroid City Explained | What the Alien Really Means

I don't play him as an alien actually I play him as a metaphor that's my interpretation metaphor for what I I don't know yet we don't pin it down it soon becomes clear in Wes Anderson's asteroid City that there's a link between Orie steck's late wife and the Arid Plains meteorites just as orie's wife was dearly loved by her husband children and father the asteroid is cherished by everyone at the stargazers convention just as ori's wife gave an identity to a loving family the asteroid is commemorated every year and literally gave its name to the city in which it landed therefore when the alien arrives and takes away this asteroid an object that's been on Earth since it arrived in 3007 BC the visitors are left in a State of Shock and distress suddenly they must confront the abrupt absence of something that has been a constant throughout their lives without the asteroids the site loses its meaning all that's left is an empty crater in this sense the alien as the taker of the asteroids can be thought of as a metaphor for death an Unstoppable force that deprives us of our loved ones and leaves us with a heart-wrenching reminder of their absence everyone reacts to this loss in different ways but generally we can see the convention attendees go through the five stages of grief first there's denial publicly deny all aspects of the event including its existence for a period of no less than 100 years to find his 36,500 days then there's anger the alien picked up the asteroid I know what I saw it's called bargaining I want to emphasize that you're safe we all are here on Earth depression I mean I think I know now what I realize we are right two catastrophically wounded people who don't express the depth of their pain because we don't want to and finally acceptance excepts there is no acceptance at least for orgie he deliberately avoids coming to terms with the taking of the asteroid and by proxy his own personal loss let's um let's change the subject shall we instead of confronting and ultimately trying to overcome his grief Orie is resigned to the fact that he will always be depressed in his mind there is nothing that can make him feel better when my father died my mother told me he's in the stars I told her the closest star other than that one is 4 and 1/2 light years away with a surface temperature over 5,000 de Centigrade he's not in the Star as I said he's in the ground the other thing she said which is incorrect Time Heals all won no maybe it can be a bandaid this scene happens relatively early so you might think that orgie will find Healing later on in the play after allu the subplot of the alien seems to be mirroring his grieving process when it comes back to Earth and Returns the Beloved asteroid it feels like a significant moment of closure after we lose someone it's not like every trace of them is wiped off Earth instead they come back to us through memories they are in a sense inventoried it's been inventoried over time exper experiences of these memories stop being sad and start to become happier a sign that the process of grieving is drawing towards the final stage of acceptance yet rather than reaching this stage the actor playing Orie Jones hul walks offset at the very moment that we would expect Orie to end his character Arc and finally accept the death of his wife hul doesn't buy it as a result his character seems to be perpetually stuck at the depression stage of grief I feel last good he's such a wounded guy I feel like my heart is getting broken my own personal heart every night good it soon becomes clear why H is having such a hard time playing orgie we learned that the playright Conrad her died shortly after asteroid City started its run forcing the company to go on alone Conrad her American playright unequaled in passion and Imagination dead at 50 this has a special significance for who as we know from an earlier documentary scene that he shared an intimate relationship with the playwrights unlike the unpr Ive conversations he has with director Schubert green talking with her allowed hul to truly connect with his character without her as amuse hul starts to doubt his portrayal of Orie all the while being stricken by grief as we see during one of the plays rehearsal scenes use your grief such a sickening waste think of the people think of the places think of the world you could have seen Dolores the grief that orie's character is using here is not the imagined despair over his imaginary late wife but rather his real life pain for the loss of his lover Conrad her he even seems to continue channeling this grief after the rehearsal what did you just do I burned my hand on the Quicky griddle why it's not clear H was only supposed to act as if he'd burnt his hand but he actually does it an action that seems to shock the actress playing mij into breaking character show me you really did it that actually happened at this moment it's almost as if he is overcome by pain if we rewind to the earlier documentary scene we start to understand why why does aie burn his hand on the quickie griddle well I don't even know myself to tell you the truth I hadn't planned it that way he just sort of did it while I was typing I guess the way I read it he was looking for an excuse why his heart was beating so fast this part of the play is a direct reminder of his first intimate conversation with her when her was alive Hood that Orie burning his hand showed he was getting feelings for mij a sign that he may have finally been moving on from his grief stricken state of depression in fact he seem to have such a good grasp on his character and his journey towards acceptance that he could improvise this whole speech sometimes I sometimes still think I still hear her here breathing in the [Music] dark who knows woodro maybe she isn't the star yet after her dies H loses this interpretation he simply can't understand his character's actions anymore I still don't understand the play doesn't matter just keep telling the story it's clear that H's grief over the death of the playright is directly linked to orie's grief over the death of his wife if he can't accept his own loss how could he ever accept his characters this question is answered by what is perhaps the most absurd parts of the film well the thing is salty I'd like to make a scene where all my characters are each gently privately seduced into the deepest dreamiest Slumber of their lives as a result of their shared experience of a bewildering and bedazzling Celestial mystery this documentary scene is placed right after the end of act two and once all the actors are asleep leads us directly into the next act one week later our cast of characters already tenuous grasp of reality has further slipped in quarantine and the group begins to occupy a space of the most peculiar emotional Dimensions this suggests that the entire third Act of the play is in fact a dream sequence designed to allow characters to come to terms with their grief sleep as kitel notes is where these important things happen sleep it's not death the body keeps busy breathing air pumping blood thinking maybe you pay a visit to your dead mother maybe you climb the matter horn Connie you wake up with a new Scene Three quars written in your head already Shubert you wake up with a hangover important things happen much of the third Act is sbly absurd for a dream sequence take for example the song that is prepared by the school children yet who walking off in disbelief at the end of the third act shows that he's forgotten what he's learned from the dream workshop with kitel instead of surrendering himself to the absurdity of the subconscious he tries to rationalize everything isn't there supposed to be some kind of an answer out there in the cosmic Wilderness W BR line about the meaning of life maybe there is one right well that's my question eventually though Hall is reminded of the work shop through a chance encounter with his old co-star whose speaking role was cut from the play do you remember the dialogue no we meet in a dream on the alien's Planet Magnavox [Music] 27 I say maybe I think you'll need to replace me you say what why how I can't I say maybe I think you'll need to try I'm not coming back Ari he has reminded that we don't need to be hyper rational to process traumatic events in fact we need to be the opposite in the words of her we must occupy a space of the most pecul emotional Dimensions I.E a dream this leads Hall to the realization that you can't wake up if you don't fall asleep what was that the actor finally sees that he will never be able to find acceptance or wake up if he doesn't first allow himself to embrace absurdity or fall asleep he doesn't need to understand the play or the meaning of life to come to terms with her's death he just needs to be in touch with his feelings the same is true for the alien the convention never finds an answer for why the alien came to Earth and stole the asteroid but the president still ends up lifting the quarantine the play is telling us that science and rationality can only get us so far at some point we must rely on our subconscious to deal with abstract phenomena dream can be thought of in a very literal sense but it's also a proxy for the creative process great writers actors and artists often remove themselves from the constraints of reality so they can provide emotive Reflections on the world from A New Perspective in turn these perspectives enable viewers to reckon with their own emotions Wes Anderson's film is a symbolic reflection on the grieving process as told through kad's play of asteroid City through which actor James H comes to terms with his personal loss through the fictional character of Ori steenbeck each person fictional or real is an artist able to use their work to elicit much needed catharsis In Their audience asteroid city is a testament to the Transcendent power of Art

Channel: Jake Bishop

Views: 44,093

Keywords: wes anderson, asteroid city, asteroid city analysis, asteroid city explained, asteroid city review

Id: A4YGCh-FEr4

Length: 10min 24sec (624 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 25 2023