The Royal Tenenbaum Reflection

After watching the film The Royal Tenenbaums the week we did not have class on November 16^th, the subject that kept crossing my mind was the three children. This was actually my second time watching the movie; I watched it two years ago in another English class during my first year of college at Northern Kentucky University. Being that I don’t have too specific of memories from watching it the first time, and I don’t remember my reactions or thoughts about the film, I watched the movie this time with basically clean slate; although, obviously certain parts and details became familiar as the film went on.  When I completed the movie this time, I was the most interested in the separate characters and personalities of each of the three Tenenbaum children: Chas, Margot, and Richie.

The first son of Royal and Etheline Tenenbaum that is introduced is Chas Tenenbaum, played by actor Ben Stiller. His character was the sophisticated one; he was both very mature and intelligent at a young age. He created a job for himself in some type of finances as an early teenager, and eventually had so much money to himself that it became an issue with his father. His issues came into play when we found out that he was in a tragic car accident with his two sons, his wife, and their dog; everyone but his wife survived, and from there on out he was overprotective of his boys and kept them on a strict agenda.

 The second child that is introduced is Margot Tenenbaum, played by actress Gwenyth Paltrow. She was adopted at age two by Royal and Etheline, and from the beginning she was always considered “the adopted one,” Royal even introduced her to strangers as his adopted daughter. Margot was also very smart at a young age, writing and producing plays in her early years of high school. She grew up to marry an older man, although it was questionable whether she was happy and loved him. It was basically clear that she was a very unhappy woman, spending the majority of her time locked in her bathroom smoking cigarettes in the bathtub.

Richie Tenenbaum was the third child to be introduced of the Tenenbaum’s. He was pretty adventurous as a younger child, and he grew up to be a successful, professional tennis player. He spent quite a significant time with Margot when they were children, running away together and hiding out in public parks and venues, and it became clear that he was, indeed, in love with her when he choked at one of his important tennis matches the day after Margot was married and she was in the stands with her new husband.

I feel that the diverse personalities of the three Tenenbaum children are what make the movie so interesting and entertaining. Although these three characters aren’t the complete center of the film, or even the exact topic of the plot, I feel they add a great deal of depth and diversity to the film, making it that much more enjoyable and relatable to the common viewers.