Quite apart from the blossoming of his distinctive aesthetic (developed in collaboration with his long-time cinematographer Robert Yeoman who rarely gets enough credit for it), RUSHMORE provides early insights into many of the deeper themes and preoccupations that would go on to define Wes Anderson’s work: a focus on class and social status particularly with regards to the hierarchy of positions within esoteric institutions; an eye for the outsider figure and the social outcast; a fascination with under the sea and the life aquatic. A story of a weird little guy told weirdly.