It seems to me that the Bundren family suffers from the same sort of affliction that plagued Quentin, although they seem considerably less aware of it, and considerably less able to clearly articulate it: They feel the urge to preserve what is already there, to hold on and to keep everything that is in their power inclusive to the family. This is evident from the very beginning, as we get a description of Jewel, with his “pale eyes like wood set into his wooden face (4)”, and we see Cash making his own mother’s coffin and, the wooden planks used are described by Darl as “yellow as gold (4)”. But the reader see’s later on from Peabody’s (an outsider) perspective that these planks appear the color of sulfur to him (43). Peabody also states that the light outside is sulfur colored, and refers once more before the end of his first chapter to the “sulfur colored light (46).” What Faulkner is trying to communicate, I believe, is that from the insider perspective it looks like gold but from the outside it is hellish (sulfur is also known as brimstone, and can be associated with hell).
It is from Peabody’s chapter that the reader can gain the most insight into the static nature of the Bundren’s, and Anse in particular, the patriarch who we can assume has  had considerable influence on the mindset of these Bundren children. When Peabody first sees Anse, standing behind a tree he remarks, “Too bad the Lord made the mistake of giving trees roots and the Anse Burdens He makes feet and legs (42).” He later remarks that “Anse has not been in town in twelve years (42).” His implications are that Anse is reluctant to move, or to make a change in anything. He is as static in his ways as a tree, which is obviously inanimate and can’t move at all. Peabody brings one last bit of insight at the end of his first chapter: “That’s the trouble with this country: everything…hangs on too long (45).” His comments serve to further this idea of being static during a period of clear change. And because this is Faulkner, this must be a metaphor for the antebellum South.
Anse also provides some insight into this, albeit in a way that is slightly difficult to understand. His first chapter he remembers complaining about the road (a constant source of pain for him) to Addie and she tells him “Get up and move then (35).” Obviously, he does not. He follows by saying, “…but when He aims for something to stay put He makes it up and down ways, like a tree or a man (36).” Again, there is this connection between man and tree, a completely static object in every way. Anse is bold in the face of progress, and would rather have his wife die on his family’s terms than call the doctor, an outsider in.
It is this contrast  of perspectives that shows the desire of the Bundrens, and Quentin, is ultimately futile. Change is inevitable, or so Faulkner would have you believe. The only options are to adapt or get left behind (mentally, economically, socially etc etc). Here again, I think the parallels with the antebellum South are unavoidable, but that would require significantly more time and space to complete a good analysis. Also, after seeing that trailer I’ve been picturing Danny McBride as Vernon Tull, and by Danny McBride I really mean Kenny Powers (protagonist of HBO show Eastbound and Down). So, yeah Kenny Powers is now just a character in As I Lay Dying for me. Way to go James Franco.