Is Mr Fox actually ‘Fantastic’ or instead a selfish husband and a bad father?
Image Credit: Scarlett Sheehan
Scarlett Sheehan writes a character analysis on Mr Fox, analysing whether he is truly ‘fantastic’.
Wes Anderson’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox is superficially very wholesome, cute and ‘for children’, though after a recent rewatch, I noticed more sinister themes being prevalent. I rewatched this film for FilmSoc’s give it a go last week and throughout the showing, I noticed that Mr Fox (‘Foxy’) is potentially far more selfish than he is fantastic.
His wife Felicity is a secondary concern to him. He doesn’t give her the time of day and doesn’t seem to have any respect for her opinions, beliefs or decisions. Each time that Foxy gives Felicity a choice, he immediately takes it away. For example, at the very beginning of the film he offers her the choice between the “short cut or the scenic route” and once she makes her choice, he disregards her and suggests the other. Mr Fox simply does not seem to make a great husband. He consistently lies to Felicity and puts himself first which isn’t an equal partnership, rather shows him having ultimate control and a complete lack of respect and regard for her. Whilst watching the movie, I noticed how this does not only directly impact their family but also the rest of their community. His lack of regard for others results in mass destruction with entire communities being displaced and injured. Considering that this is a story made for younger children, the audience are spared from too many deaths though I think had this been made with adult viewers in mind, mass death would have also been included on this list. Felicity struggles to balance being a mother to Ash, who is somewhat quite challenging. She takes in her nephew, who is experiencing the trauma of his father being extremely unwell, and takes a backseat in her own marriage. This is clearly represented through her paintings of both thunderstorms and tornadoes – something that Foxy brushes off. I don’t think that she is given anywhere near enough credit for the sacrifices that she makes nor the challenges that she faces alone due to her emotionally detached husband.
Foxy is no better a father than he is a husband; he completely ignores his son Ash’s needs, emotions and aspirations. He instead focuses on Felicity’s nephew, Kristofferson, and his skills and attributes. The first interaction we see between Ash and Mr Fox is him questioning his outfit choice and being dismissive – again – of others around him having a choice. It seems as if Mr Fox struggles with feeling like he is not the character with the highest level of control. This would make sense when you focus on the fact that he counters Felicity’s choices, uproots his whole family to change his perspective on their financial status (which he remains dissatisfied with) and disregards Ash as ultimately, he hasn’t got much control over him. Not only is Mr Fox dismissive of Ash but also diminishing; he actively talks about his flaws, is negatively comparative about him and Kristofferson – always favouring his nephew over his son – and does not fully engage with Ash. At multiple opportunities, Foxy ignores Ash and focuses on Kristofferson which not only leads to Ash’s building resentment towards his cousin but also creates a gap in their own father son relationship. I would even go as far to say that Ash’s increasingly impulsive and reckless behaviour (trying to steal back his father’s tail and the scene where he releases the rabid beagle) are stimulated by a lack of recognition from his father – especially considering that both of these reckless acts are beneficial towards Foxy and are clear cries for attention.
Both Felicity and Ash suffer emotionally at the hands of Mr Fox’s need to be “the greatest, the quote-unquote Fantastic Mr Fox.” and his inability to regulate his desires and own emotions. His own excuse is often that he is a “wild animal” which clearly shows a lack of accountability. Whilst it may be harsh to call him both a bad husband and father, I would certainly note him as a selfish and lacking character rather than ‘fantastic’.
Words by Scarlett Sheehan