these Asteroid City tags by tumblr user @mummer are literally sending me into the astral plane

“Am I doing him right?”

just watched asteroid city i LOVE this little dude i just had to do a quick mobile doodle 🫨

The text and subtext of Conrad being gay and living his life through his art and Schubert being possibly bisexual and living through his art in a fantasy world and Jones being gay and having his heart broken every single night on stage which ultimately leads to his heart being broken in reality at Conrad’s death, there’s something about being an artist and being consumed by your work but also simultaneously about having a life where you’re too scared of the repercussions of what you want. The parts of the movie in color as the play itself and then the black and white as the context and textual subtext behind a queer reading of the narrative.

Spoilers for asteroid city under the cut because I need to talk about a scene I keep thinking about.

I only noticed this the second time I watched it but in the scene where Augie is reciting the lines for Midge’s scene and she tells him to ‘use his grief’ she’s not just talking to the character of Augie but his actor too… there’s this little moment that is maybe the most important meta break in the whole film, because they both hesitate and the look on their faces reflects that they know. It’s a little moment of empathy between the actors, who are both mourning their playwright in the real world. It’s them processing that grief through their characters as their characters are also doing the same within the text of the play. “You can’t wake up if you don’t go to sleep”, for them, means exploring their emotions through their art, both within the context of asteroid city and outside of it.

"Oh... it's you - the wife who played my actress"

— Asteroid City | Dir. Wes Anderson

watching asteroid city was so fucking funny because i saw the ice cream scene where they shared a spoon (wow bluesey anyone??) and i thought “LOL gay. but no that must just be a weird detail because it’s like. wes anderson” and. well. it was. it was so incredibly gay, actually

I’m not as smart as a lot of you so maybe this is a reach but I saw Asteroid City last night and am still processing it but my friends and I focused a lot on the line “I thought about leaving you temporarily.”

Augie says this to his children and my one friend thought he was contemplating ending his life due to grief. I thought he meant he couldn’t handle his grief and was going to throw himself into his work but Midge tells him how she feels like a terrible mother because her children will always be second to her career.

Now I’m wondering if the line is another meta nod to the events occurring outside of the play. Jones the actor is grief-stricken after losing his lover, Conrad Earp, the playwright. He’s thinking about leaving the play and letting an understudy take his place but what he couldn’t understand and process about Augie’s emotional state BEFORE he loses Conrad he now understands because he lost Conrad and he remains with the play because the greatest thing he could do for his dead lover is to stay on and use his grief to inject some truth and honesty into his performance and Conrad’s work and it enhances the play because of this.

I just saw Asteroid City for the second time, and two lines stuck out to me.

“I’m not coming back Augie” is the first. The look on Jones Hall‘s face when the actress on the opposite balcony (Margo Robbie) recounts her line was just heart wrenching. You could see every ounce of grief he was dealing with over Conrad Earp.

“Why did he burn his hand?” is the second; the question that plagues Jones through the whole movie. He asks Conrad about it in the first scene between them, and Conrad says he doesn’t know yet it just came to him while he was writing. Then Jones asks again when chaos breaks out, he’s so fraught he breaks character and leaves the scene. He still doesn’t understand and he’ll never get the answer from Conrad. He trys to ask the director if he’s even doing Augie justice, and his inner turmoil has such weight it’s palpable. That whole scene and question brings the whole story together for me.

Asteroid City missing scenes from the play that we don’t see but we hear described:

Obviously the cut scene with the wife, which happens on the alien’s planet in a dream. You’ll have to replace me. My photos always come out.

The scene Jones misses his cue for because he’s outside: June & the cowboy are making out in the station wagon; they’re bandaging the understudy’s hand.

The scene Jones auditions with: Augie talking to Woodrow. I think your sisters are aliens too. Sometimes I think I still hear your mother breathing beside me in the dark. Maybe she is in the stars.

Act 3 Scene 5: the director’s wife recommends that Midge says her line after the door closes. I think we jump over this scene when Jones leaves the stage, but will have to check the title cards to be sure

The scene where everyone falls into a trance-like sleep. Unknown if Conrad ever actually wrote this into the play. But we know it’s supposed to happen around the time of the scene Jones misses.

“The occasion of the first meeting between playwright and player is now, in our fanciful telling, a matter of theatrical lore and legend.”

Jason Schwartzman and Edward Norton as Jones Hall and Conrad Earp ASTEROID CITY (2023, Wes Anderson)

I watched Asteroid City today, it was incredible. So many moments when my jaw dropped. I loved how the theme of war was recurring yet in the background. I also loved the scene where the actor playing Augie Steenbeck talks to the actress who would've played his dead wife, the fact that their scene was cut and he couldn't remember how it went was a great metaphor for how he represses his emotions, and the fact that the scene came right after he asked what the point of the play was and what the meaning of life was. I really liked this film and I loved the alien

The QSO Awards - Best of 2023: Asteroid City // Written by Toni Oisin H.C.

He can’t wake up (understand the play) if he doesn’t go through the dream sequence (fall asleep) and remember the part of the play that was cut

there's a scene in Asteroid City where Adrien Brody's character basically says it doesn't matter what life means, relax, you're doing fine, and I'm going to think about it every day for the next ninety years

So I saw Asteroid City...