Max Fischer Wrote Life Aquatic

Herman Blume’s Jaguar Shark

Herman Blume: Never in my wildest imagination did I ever dream I would have sons like these.

Max is an incredibly perceptive kid, and his friendship with Blume gives him a unique perspective on a singular man; one which would be the base of Steve Zissou in The LIfe Aquatic.  Zissou’s obsession with the Jaguar Shark is inspired by Herman Blume’s dissatisfaction with his own life; a life that, in all likelyhood, must have seemed incredibly promising and brilliant: at some point Mrs. Blume was young and beautiful, his sons were adorable toddlers, and his business was flourishing.  Somewhere along the line something changed, and his life devoured that dream, leaving Blume feeling as powerless as Zissou in the face of his 50 foot shark.

Klaus Daimler: Do you still want to blow him up?
Steve Zissou: No, we’re out of dynamite anyway.
Eleanor Zissou: It is beautiful Steve.
Steve Zissou: Yea, it’s pretty good isn’t it… I wonder if it remembers me…

Zissou’s final confrontation with the Jaguar shark is rendered even more potent, then, if we think of it as a kind of encouragement written to Herman from Max, that even after their shared fantasy of being father and son was over, there is yet a wonderful, terrible beauty in life, and despite the course it takes or the dreams it devours, it still is glorious and awe-inspiring when you look on it with the right kind of eyes.

You’re supposed to be my son, right?

Steve Zissou: You’re supposed to be my son, right?
Ned Plimpton: I don’t know. But I did want meet you, just in case.

Max Fischer has father issues.  Although his father is delightful and supportive, Max is surrounded at Rushmore by children with rich and important parents, and his lies about his father’s occupation reflect his shame at being from common stock.  Max feels exceptional (his daydreams about solving math problems are probably not that far off, if he would truly apply himself), but having a common barber for a father clashes with the unwritten assumptions of private school: you are here because your parents are exceptional. 

Herman Blume: Come work for me.
Max Fischer: What do you mean?
Herman Blume: I mean I-I could use someone like you.
Max Fischer: Look, I may not be rich, Mr. Blume, my father may only be a doctor, but we manage.

For a time, Herman Blume acts as a kind of surrogate father (and Max acts as a kind of surrogate son), and it’s not hard to imagine that perhaps both fantasized about this being actually the case.  But after Max is expelled from Rushmore, he recognizes that exceptionalism comes from what someone does with their talents, and he’s able to both accept his origins and have a more healthy relationship with Mr. Blume.

The Life Aquatic is, in large part, Max’s own processing of all these feelings.  Ned Plimpton is Max, in search of his real father, and Herman Blume is Steve Zissou, still lonely amidst an incredible empire.  Both form a relationship based on who they wish the other was, and that belief allows them to grow incredibly close.  Ned’s eventual death is Max’s farewell to the romance of Rushmore, to the fantasy of a rich and powerful father figure, which, as Angelica Houston reveals later, was never really real in the first place.

“I’m going to find it and I’m going to destroy it. I don’t know how yet. Possibly with dynamite.”

Steve Zissou (and nearly all the characters in Life Aquatic) are caricatures of real adults.  Their motivations are often juvenile, but always sincere.  Max’s adolescence keeps his characters from being fully developed, but his intelligence allows him to infuses them and the story with incredible poignancy. 

Max Fischer Wrote Life Aquatic

This blog is dedicated to the idea that Max Fischer wrote Life Aquatic.  Once you think about it, it makes perfect sense!