For my discussion this week, I will talk on comparisons between Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and Stefan Zweig's "24 Hours in the Life of a Woman". Prior to this weeks readings, I had no experience at all with either of these two creators. Zweig's writing was older and very differently phrased from the passages I had been used to reading. In a similar way, I found Wes Anderson's films strikingly different from films that I regularly enjoy. In these cases different did not mean bad. I am not here today to discuss differences, however. In actuality, the two works that I experienced carried many similarities between them, though most of these were probably intentional. In his script writing, Wes Anderson speaks about how he drew a lot of inspiration from Zweig's work, so these comparisons are not completely unfounded.

The first similarity that stuck out to me between the two works was the fact that the narrator of these stories was for the most part unexpected. The old woman in 24 Hours, and Zero in Grand Budapest were not the conventional main characters and weren't particularly involved in the set up of the story. This kind of set up is very different from general storytelling and caught me off guard as a viewer. Another similarity that I felt drawn to was the fact that most of both stories, and most of the action involved, was told entirely through flashback. This is not completely unheard of in terms of storytelling, but it is certainly the most obvious comparison between the two.

Finally, the most compelling similarity between these two stories, for me, was the melancholy mood of it all. The narrators were very unexpected unusual characters with extremely compelling back stories to tell. They told their exciting tales which didn't resolve in the "perfect ending," but rather a realistic one that somehow still managed to be happy despite everything. This tone of the stories is what I found most inspiring.

I can see why Wes Anderson drew so much inspiration from Stefan Zweig. I now finding myself intrigued to write a similar story with inspiration from both of these creators.