Preview

Tim Burton's Film 'Edward Scissorhands'

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
739 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Tim Burton's Film 'Edward Scissorhands'
Ever since Edward was built, he was never going to fit into a normal lifestyle. Tim Burton’s film Edward Scissorhands, described as a ‘romantic, dark fantasy’, captures the effect of change in a monotonous American neighbourhood. Burton uses many different effects to portray that western society and lifestyle is very dull and full of carbon-copied people following the crowd. Through the use of colour contrast, stereotypes and an unusual visitor to the neighbourhood, Burton is able to convey his idea of American society very clearly in his film.

Burton uses a contrast of light pastels and black to give an effect of good versus evil. Burton has made Edward’s appearance in keeping with a character that is antagonistic and evil, with scary claw-like hands and a black, skin-tight bodysuit. His expression is full of melancholy and anxiety. His mansion is dark and gothic looking, a house of horror. It’s broken and old, with strange objects held within. The mansion’s location, at the top of a steep hill, considers its isolation, hidden within the clouds. However, appearances are deceptive;
…show more content…
It is indicative of the era in which the previous generation grew up, highlighting the struggles our families had to endure. Burton uses impressive techniques to communicate and suggest deeper ideas and opinions to allow the audience to make their own interpretations. His characterisation and dialogue allow the audience to relate to real people and situations. Being different is something that still plagues the world in which we live today. It seems that many years later, people are still getting judged and discriminated against for being ‘different’. This is unfair and disappointing, as I’m sure Burton had other intentions for the outcome of his film. Society still has a long way to go before acceptance can be fully

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Tim burton uses many techniques that reflect him as an auteur. Uses clothing’s and colour to juxtapose characters, give them meaning and set a mood. He uses significant turning points to give the character a meaning. There’s contrast between Edwards house and the suburbs to show the differences between Edward and the citizens, and uses themes like prejudice and conformity to show it was a normal suburb for the 1950’s to 60’s.…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this movie, all of the houses are a vibrant neon like colors and the people are wearing bright colored shirts and dresses. People think it would be a nice movie until you see Edward, instead of being bright and colorful he wears all black and his face is really pale. I think burton does this to show that the people are innocent and somewhat clueless but Edward is dangerous and a threat creating a barrier between the town and Edward.…

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin, Burton uses lighting to create an eerie and suspenseful mood. One way that Burton does this is through low key and side lighting, for example, in Edward Scissorhands when Edward is walking through the front door towards the police, there is light coming from the side that appears on one side of his face, which gets the audience to think “what will happen next.” later, when the audience sees Edward save Kevin from being hit by Jim’s van there is low key lighting, which causes the townspeople to believe that instead of Edward saving Kevin, they believe that he is trying to kill him. This example of low key lighting is helping to create a suspenseful mood, seeing as though…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tim Burton is a guy whose style is dark. Burton has different styles such as creepy, mysterious, and creative. His dark style is best conveyed through his use of Low Key Lighting, High Key Lighting, and Eyelevel Angel. The techniques have a different effect. For example, high key lighting effect is creating a looking scene. Low key lighting effect is making a suspense or making it look suspicious. Eyelevel Angel effect is nature or neutral. Burton uses these techniques to describe his style. He uses lot of techniques in all the work he does.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Postmodern American film Edward Scissor-hands directed by Tom Burton is a variation of Mary Shelley’s classic horror novel of Frankenstein written in the Romantic Era of the nineteenth century. A man-made monster enters and apparently peaceful community and disrupts their serenity. Frankenstein written in 1818 during Britain’s industrial revolution portrays the result of the incredible advances in science and technology and potentially the negative consequences of Victor Frankenstein’s creation. Tim Burton manipulates the 1818 horror story using his protagonist Edward Scissor-hands on many occasions to fulfill the 1990’s audience…

    • 1202 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    At first glance, it would appear that Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw" and Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands" have only one thing in common: they are both from the gothic genre. But upon looking closer, one will notice that there are a number of other similar traits between the two. There are noticeable similarities between Edward and the Governess, as well as similarities between Edward and the two children in The Turn of the Screw, Miles and Flora. There are also general themes which the two share - images of a "perfect" society, as well as onlookers who have no control over the situation.…

    • 1509 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The people of society have been programmed to stick to the status quo. Burton, a filmmaker widely known for being different, defies societies’ robot-like expectations. As shown in his films, Burton prefers to separate himself from societies’ guidelines, known as the status quo. Through contrasting settings and outcast characters, Burton develops the theme abnormal is preferred over the status quo.…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tim Burton’s film ‘Edward Scissorhands’ warns of the dangers of a conformist society. Throughout the course of the movie, viewers are constantly reminded of this peril. Burton highlights this hazard by indicating that people who are different may find it challenging to be accepted. Moreover, in societies where everyone is similar, there is often a level of complacency and absence of creativity. The audience is also informed of the dangers when Burton shows that disorder and confusion can result when conformed societies are confronted by difference.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    From imaginative chocolatiers to a man with scissors for hands, Tim Burton’s use of unique and outcast characters make his films some of the most recognized in the world. Burton’s style is as distinctive as his characters by creating fantastical but mysterious worlds. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands are some of his most popular films and both illustrate characters who are outcasts onto the society around them. Burton uses the contrast of lifestyles in the characters, low key lighting and characterization within Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands to show that even though outcasts may not ever fit it, they can have a positive change on society and aspire great success.…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Humanity always finds itself in a room of erroneous beliefs. The darkness shrouds over the light, while the eye misleads the truth. “Edward Scissorhands”, directed by Tim Burton, portrays this form of act at its finest, giving the audience the clue of how society is influenced wrongly through one’s worth of aspects. This film revolves around an animated human being named, Edward Scissorhands, created by the scientist, Vincent Prince. Edward’s creator unfortunately passed away due to a heart attack, leaving the created human being incompleted with scissorhands.…

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A camera, a director, an actor is all one needs to make a movie, that may be something the audience believes. There’s a science to this, camera angles, sound, and lighting/color that make up a movie. As a film director in Hollywood, Tim Burton must pay attention to these simple key factors that create his films. Tim Burton, a greatly respected film director, creates gothic, bittersweet films ranging from friendship to young love. As Burton inspired many, he himself was inspired by the author Edgar Allan Poe, whose grim side is reflected in his writing. He was also inspired by the American actor, Vincent Price, who played dark characters on screen since the early 1940s. The dark, unusual crazy, quirky characters and settings are reflected well…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tim Burton Style Analysis

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Tim Burton's style as shown through his works, "Edward Scissorhands", "Big Fish", and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", tend to portray an image of a fairy tale with the playful touch of childhood innocence and fantasy. Burton enjoys digging deep into a story, focusing on key details and character development. He achieves this by using the effects of flashbacks, bottom lighting, and overhead shots in ways that get a reaction out of the audience.…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tim Burton Research Paper

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Tim Burton is one of the most well known directors for his style of writing. He was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe, Dr. Seuss, and other famous children stories writers to make these kid movies, but add some kind of darkness to them somehow. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the darkness is resembled by every snotty, spoiled brat learning their consequences. In Edward Scissorhands, the darkness is resembled by how Edward didn’t fit in to the perfect neighborhood. Tim Burton’s style of writing makes these stories some of the best in known history.…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Edward Scissorhands Essay

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Burton’s eye opening film, Edward Scissorhands, showed intense drama through the use of Edward and Kim who expressed great love for each other. Yet it became a tragedy as the couple who were meant to be together were too different from each other. This essay, will illustrate how much Edward loved Kim so much that he was willing to do anything for her, and how much Kim loved Edward so much that she sacrificed her love to let him go. The way Burton used these two characters to show the realistic view of what love is about and how love can be complicated, will also be explained. Burton’s ideas about love through the use of these extraordinary characters were an extreme representation of society which made this film a great and memorable drama with the elements of great love and great tragedy.…

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tim Burton Analysis

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Tim Burton uses music, lighting, and color in order to compare the normal world to fantasy worlds; he shows us that while worlds that are different from the normal seem dark and scary, they’re actually bright and happy. While in the normal world everything seems bright and happy, when in reality it’s actually the dark, scary, and judgmental world.…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays