Ever since I first watched "The Royal Tenenbaums" when I was younger, one character in particular caught my attention and has fascinated and charmed me ever since. Margot Tenenbaum, ever since she was a girl, has been a literary genius with a very mysterious side. Margot comes from one of the quirkiest, most eccentric, and coolest families I’ve watched. Although she’s adopted, she fits into the family perfectly as one of them. As a child, she ran away from home to find her real parents and came back missing a part of her ring finger. She’s been exceptionally experienced and bright from a very young age, thus being exposed to the sophisticated ways of life very early on in her life (such as attending black tie soirées with her parents as a nine-year-old) which gives her respect for the elegant lifestyle she lives. She’s also a muse to so many men in her life who all go crazy for her, but she’s un-phased by it. Not to mention, she spends an impressive amount of time lavishly relaxing in the bathtub.
Many people dislike Margot because they are annoyed by her self-absorption and refusal to acknowledge how genius she really is. I, on the other hand, think Margot has an unconcerned attitude that serves as an enigma to everyone who knows of her. I admire many things about her, just a few including her style, her personality, and her mystery.
When I was a little girl, my signature look was a bow in my hair; you could never see me without a brightly colored or patterned bow on my head each day. Although I outgrew that come middle school, Margot has had an unchanging signature look ever since she was a girl. After seeing the movie, I found myself wishing I had a signature look as cool and timeless as her. No matter her age or what the weather is, Margot will be wearing a long fur coat, polo dress, an Hermés handbag, gloves, loafers, thickly lined eyes, and a clip in her short blonde bob. She always looks like she’s wearing last night’s smudged eyeliner, which suggests a mystique to her whereabouts. And don’t expect to know of her whereabouts – Margot is a woman of very few words. Bernard Baruch once said “most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.” Throughout the movie she rarely talked, but when she did, it aroused my curiosity and thoroughly amused me to see what remark would come out of her mouth next – either extremely passive or unexpectedly deep.
It seems that wherever Margot goes, excitement follows. And through it all, she still manages to be a fly on the wall, taking everything in, and nobody will truly know what she’s thinking about at the time.
With so many different ways to expose yourself and share your life through social media and in person, I’ve learned that it’s actually cool to leave some aspects of yourself and your life up to others’ imaginations. Margot keeps all her relationships, achievements, and situations on the down low. What I think is so admirable about Margot is that she also doesn’t feel the need to broadcast her emotions and drag other people into her problems. She finds her own solutions to her own problems. Margot has an undying independence and power that I hope I can carry out one day.
