Fidelity, Felicity, and Playing Around in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox

Abstract

This essay examines the discourse of fidelity in the production and marketing of Wes Anderson's film, Fantastic Mr. Fox . It argues that while Anderson invokes fidelity to Roald Dahl in multiple ways, he appears much more interested in playing around. Using the voice of Dahl's widow to confirm fidelity, Anderson radically revises the character and voice of Mrs. Fox from the supportive character depicted in Dahl's short story. The film's obsessive language of fidelity thus masks Anderson's sly subversion of Dahl's representation of gender, in particular his depiction of adult women.