Wes Anderson's twenty-something fairy tale The Royal Tenenbaums was first screened at the New York Film Festival on October 5, 2001, before going into general North American release in December. I was among the thousands who saw the film over the winter holiday and was tickled by its quirk. Looking back on the film today (included in my recent haul of used DVD purchases), the giggles have given way to groans, particularly when considering the film through the bi-focals of race and class.
Pictured above is Henry Sherman. Though for ten years Henry served as Mrs. Etheline Tenenbaum's accountant, his presence in relation to Etheline is closer to that of a domestic servant. Anderson might argue that his scene direction of Henry is intended to denote devotion (he declares his love for Etheline, asks if she would consider divorcing her estranged husband to marry him, to which she eventually agrees), it does not escape the cinematic rut that has the standing serving the sitting.
Like almost every other principal in the film, Henry has contributed an object to the larger culture -- in this instance a book whose title and cover (below) is intended to be funny but now reads like a parody of the demands by racialized human beings for public accountability.
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