“Different Yet Fantastic” – Fantastic Mr. Fox and the Theme of Identity

Written by Faisal Hay

One of many new additions made by Wes Anderson in his adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl novel Fantastic Mr. Fox can be found in a scene almost halfway through the film (roughly after the first quarter of the novel), when the titular Mr. Fox is questioned about his decision to steal food from the infamous farmers Boggis, Bunce & Bean (or “B, B & B”). His response: “Because I’m a wild animal.” (00:34:10 – 00:34:12) The irony behind this line is that neither Mr. Fox nor any of the other animal characters, as anthropomorphs endowed with the power of human speech and inhabiting their own human-like society, can be described as merely “wild animals”. Yet animals they are indeed, with their conflict with the humans being a stark reminder of that fact, and whether these characters lean more toward one side or the other is a question that plays into the greater theme of identity; this movie is about characters like Mr. Fox confronting their own identities and those of each other as they struggle to survive within the whimsical world of Dahl and Anderson.

A Very Existential Fox

Naturally, the character through which the theme of identity is mainly expressed would be the main character and “wild animal” himself: Mr. Foxy F. Fox. Unlike Dahl’s original Mr. Fox, who is essentially a flat character both inside and out, Foxy is given the luxury of an arc; a former squab thief turned newspaper columnist, Foxy’s desire to relive the glory days (as well as his more desperate need to put food on the table) drives him and his opossum friend Kylie to pull off his “Master Plan”: a string of robberies targeting the farms of B, B & B. This surface-level midlife crisis is underwritten by a deeper identity crisis resulting from Foxy’s self-consciousness (undoubtedly a by-product of his human-like intelligence), which he exhibits throughout the film to an extreme degree; in a line of rhetorical questioning, he asks his friend: “Who am I, Kylie?... Why a fox? Why not a horse or a beetle or a bald eagle? I’m saying this more as, like, existentialism... Who am I, and how can a fox ever be happy without… you forgive the expression, a chicken in its teeth?” (00:12:36 –00:12:53) According to Foxy, one’s identity is directly tied to one’s purpose in life, and for a fox that purpose is to “court danger, hunt prey and outsmart predators” as he claims to be good at (00:52:50 – 00:52:53). Contrarily, the life of an anthropomorphic fox — not unlike that of a human being — is one with no clear purpose and, therefore, no clear sense of identity; in the face of his complex human-like responsibilities as a husband and father, Foxy yearns for a return to simplicity — the simple life of a sly fox, just like his novel counterpart. However, this yearning causes Foxy to lose sight of the bigger picture, creating devastating consequences for more than just him and his family.

Key Word is “Aware”

A moment of great irony can be found in a quote from Foxy during the dinner party celebrating his fake victory against B, B & B, when he interrupts a toast by Clive Badger to make the following statements: “I guess we do have these three ugly farmers to thank for one thing: reminding us to be thankful and aware of each other. I'm gonna say it again. Aware.” (00:47:32 – 00:47:41) As well as coming to terms with himself and his identity, Foxy’s arc involves extending that same courtesy to others.

This lesson is first applied to Foxy’s wife and son, two characters from the novel given more prominent roles in the film. As Foxy’s former partner-in-crime, Mrs. Felicity Fox is shown to be less conflicted about her anthropomorphism; after narrowly escaping death at a squab farm with Foxy and her unborn cub, she readily gives up her reputation as the old “town tart” in favour of that of a housewife and — in a departure from the novel — makes Foxy promise to give up stealing as well. Consequently, while Dahl’s Mr. Fox stole from B, B & B with Mrs. Fox’s knowledge and consent, Foxy has to enact his “Master Plan” behind Felicity’s back. However, the truth comes out eventually, and Felicity has this to say about Foxy’s “wild animal” excuse: “I don’t care about the truth about yourself. This story is too predictable… In the end, we all die unless you change.” (00:34:19 – 00:34:35) For Felicity, identity is a trivial matter compared to survival, and it is through her role as the film’s “voice of reason” that she works to convince Foxy of that fact, even while she gradually remembers her own “wild animal” past as well (00:52:58 – 00:53:00). Then there is Ash, whose conflict with his own self-image mirrors that of his father; as an antisocial teenager with aspirations of becoming an athlete, Ash’s seeming lack of skill, coupled with his envy of his cousin Kristofferson — his character foil — breeds an inferiority complex made even worse by his craving for attention from Foxy, who dismisses Ash’s frustrations as just him being “different” (00:06:29 – 00:06:32). This lack of fatherly appreciation is what compels Ash to try and earn it by stealing back Foxy’s tail from Bean, only to inadvertently get Kristofferson captured instead; in trying to be like his father, Ash ends up demonstrating more of his flaws than his merits and — through his later redemption — provides a distanced model by which Foxy can better understand both his son and himself.

Speaking of redemption, that brings us to Foxy’s conflict with the greater community of anthropomorphic creatures and his struggle to recognize them as more than just a set of background characters. In his quest to prove himself a fox, our existential protagonist is driven to achieve an even greater title: the “quote-unquote Fantastic Mr. Fox” as he puts it in a moment of blatant self-reference (00:52:36 – 00:52:48); this obsession blinds him to Clive Badger’s earlier warning against living near the farms as well as Felicity’s warning against robbing them. The result: the entire valley of creatures are driven out of their homes; even Foxy’s attempt to make amends by leading the homeless critters through a digging heist causes the vengeful farmers to retaliate even harder. Yet, when it seems like the only way for Foxy to resolve both his outer and inner conflicts is to martyr himself at the hands of B, B & B, he soon returns with the realization that the better solution can be found in the very people that he took for granted — a community of anthropomorphic creatures with merits and skills pertaining to both their social roles and natural biology; as he puts it, “Wild animals with true natures and pure talents. Wild animals with scientific-sounding Latin names that mean something about our DNA... I think it may very well be all the beautiful differences among us that just might give us the tiniest glimmer of a chance of saving my nephew and letting me make it up to you for getting us into this crazy whatever-it-is.” (00:58:54 – 00:59:43) Foxy’s newfound awareness of the value offered by his fellow anthropomorphs means that they all get to play a big enough role in the final climax, allowing Foxy to outsmart the farmers for good. It is only after setting aside his ego and anxieties that Foxy’s recognition as a “fantastic fox” is earned by the other characters, whom Foxy comes to recognize as “fantastic” in their own right.

“To Our… Survival”

It is rather fitting that the film should end with Foxy taking up yet another new line of work: stealing from supermarkets instead of farms. Whether he identifies more as a wild animal than a person or vice versa is irrelevant to his ultimate purpose in life: survival. The ending shows how Foxy finally manages to come to terms with his anthropomorphism, reconciling tradition and modernity and embracing the best of both; in doing so he achieves both wants and needs and affirms himself as the “Fantastic Mr. Fox” in the eyes of a family who will never go hungry again. On a more meta level of interpretation, it also shows just how well a classic Dahl story can adapt to modern times.

It is no mystery that Wes Anderson, in making Fantastic Mr. Fox, set out to make a film that would both honor the legacy of Roald Dahl and further his own — an ambition virtually analogous to the arc of Mr. Foxy F. Fox himself. In doing so, he created an adaptation that — while still arguably faithful to the source material — clearly was not afraid to take some creative deviations in conveying the theme of identity more clearly. Of course, being identified as “different” is nothing to be ashamed of; as Felicity Fox would say on the matter of difference: “... there’s something kind of fantastic about that, isn’t there?” (00:41:44 – 00:41:47). In any case, Anderson ensured that the story of Fantastic Mr. Fox would survive in its same old fantastic form.

Works Cited

Fantastic Mr. Fox. Directed by Wes Anderson, screenplay by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, 20th Century FoxAnimation, 2009. Film.