Warning: the following post is poorly researched. I’m sorry if it offends any hipsters or Wes Andersons out there.

I love Wes Anderson. Sure, not all of his films are equally good, but there is something about the way these movies tick that really touches me.

As a kid, I knew every Roald Dahl book by heart – and loved Fantastic Mr. Fox.  I fell madly in love with a girl in sixth grade like Sam in Moonrise Kingdom. In high school, I was Max from Rushmore – overly dramatic, ambitious but hit with terrible angst.

Um. Yeah. Anyway.

With the release of Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel, I keep getting in the same argument with different people – one that springs from one question:

Are Wes Anderson movies hipster?

A lot of people seem to agree that, yes, Wes Anderson’s movies are prototypically hipster. Quirky dress sense, stilted acting, weird colours – it all points to the prototypical irony of hipster culture.

To me, however, Wes Anderson films work differently. I don’t see any irony. I see blatant, extreme, akward honesty. I don’t see a director building a wall between his characters and himself and hanging them out to dry – I see a director who takes their struggle and pain completely seriously.

I’m just going to leave these scenes here:

Anyway! Uneducated ramblings aside, have a person who is way better at saying what I think than me. Openculture has seven video essays about Anderson’s movies and they are well worth your time.

(PS- Maybe Anderson is so ironic the irony cancels itself out?)