Wes Anderson Aesthetic Trend

2023

Date: March 2023 · Place: TikTok · Figures: Ava Williams, originator · Alexa filter and song · Wes Anderson, unwitting reference · Tags: Aesthetic, Film, Filter 01. If My Life Were a Wes Anderson Film Ava Williams posts a TikTok in March 2023 walking through an airport titled 'if my life were a Wes Anderson movie,' set to a wistful song by French composer Alexa. The format catches. Users film themselves entering rooms, opening fridges, riding trains in centered symmetric framing with pastel grading and Futura overlay text. Wes Anderson himself comments dryly in interviews that he had no idea his name was a TikTok filter. 02. Style as Trend Substrate The cycle reveals TikTok's capacity to flatten a director's 25-year body of work into a six-week aesthetic trend. The Asteroid City marketing team leans into the cycle in the lead-up to the June 2023 release. The Anderson trend is followed within months by AI-generated faux-Anderson trailers for Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and The Avengers. Style becomes a commodity ChatGPT and Midjourney can dispense. Sources • Ava Williams, original Wes Anderson airport upload (TikTok, March 2023) • The Guardian, 'How TikTok Discovered Wes Anderson' (18 April 2023) • Wes Anderson, Sky News interview re Asteroid City (12 May 2023)