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Comparison Of Wes Andersons And The Book Thief

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Wes Andersons’ ‘Grand Budapest’ and Mark Zusak’s ‘The Book Thief’ both have unique narration styles which are similar in some aspects but then are different in others, this meaning that both comparisons and contrasts can be drawn from the two different forms of text. The Book Thief has a very unique narration style which is told in first person by ‘Death’, death basically guides us through the novels using different sections such as parts, characters, brief descriptors and sub – headings. Death’s narration style is unique for the fact that he wants to be treated like a human and towards the end he shows emotion. By the author using Death he is able to offer a unique perspective and relation on all the death and dying which was occurring during …show more content…

There are many parts in the film where you see a side to death which you wouldn’t expect like “I needed a holiday” (Pg.329). On the other side of spectrum there is “the Author” in the Grand Budapest Hotel who narrates from the past to the present. The viewer is obviously aware of the strong relationship between Mr Moustafa and Mr Gustave, but as a narrator he is quiet objective and concise which can allow him to be interpreted in a colder manner than death. In some ways this is necessary due to the fast pace of the film which doesn’t allow for the narrator to go into any sort or form of depth and show any emotion, compared to the Book Thief which is slower and can go into far more depth and can easily show emotion and more empathy. Another difference between Zusak’s ‘The Book Thief’ and Anderson’s ‘The Grand Budapest’ is what they focus on, in the case of The Book Thief which focuses on the Nazi regimen in WWII and is right in the central part of the ‘action’ in Munich or in ‘Molching’ which is a fictional town nearby to Munich. Whereas The Grand Budapest Hotel is set up in a place call Zubrowka which is more fictional than Molching but is still Eastern Europe and is affected by the communist regimen but nowhere near as much as in the novel. The Grand Budapest Hotel tends to focus on the smaller, less wide-scaled and genocidal issues such as the will of the dying wealthy Madame Celine Villeneuve Desgoffe – und – Taxi – better known as Mme. D. and the ‘Boy with apple’

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