Essay
The film ‘Edward Scissor Hands’ by Tim Burton is seen as a modern day fairytale with the story of a young man being pulled out of a solitary life into a large town that has a very social community. When you look closely at the film you can see that it has many deeper meanings and emotions that are displayed themes throughout the film, some of these are: appearance vs reality, Conformity/sameness and Self-discovery.
Throughout this film we see the theme appearance vs reality which is shown many times. For example, at the start of the movie we see the mansion which makes the film look like a horror film but when you see it you are surprised since it has a big colorful well-kept garden and it makes it look a lot less intimidating. The most noticeable example of this theme is Edward, when you first get a glimpse of Edward we see him in a dark corner inside his mansion. He is spotted by peg who is trying to sell make when she first sees him she doesn’t feel threatened by him, then she sees that he has a lot of features that make him look like a dangerous person some of these are, sharp scissors/blades as hands, scars on his face, pale skin and dark clothes with black untidy hair, when she sees these she tries to leave the mansion but Edward tells her not to go.
"Peg Boggs: Why are you hiding back there? You don't have to hide from me - I'm Peg Boggs, your local Avon representative and I'm as harmless as cherry pie...
[sees Edward come toward her]
Peg Boggs: Oh - I can
The camera focuses on Edward’s face; it shows how pale and sad he is. The gothic horror feature used here is the physical appearance of the “monster”. Edward is a large, dark figure with objects (his scissor hands) that can cause harm. This is very stereotypical of the gothic monster as this has been used in Frankenstein (1931) and Nosferatu (1922), and is imprinted in viewers’ minds. But what makes us question how monstrous Edward truly is, is his facial expression and the way he talks. Unlike most gothic horror monsters, he does not have a scary personality. He is shy and is not the antagonist. As the story continues, all the bad deeds he does, are actually the result of someone else taking advantage of him. As viewers, we see this, and we are led to believe that it is not Edward who is the monster, but rather the community Peg has brought him into. By manipulating common features of gothic horror films, Edward Scissorhands is able to influence the audience into believing the “monster” of the film is Edward, but when the tradition is changed, it makes us think that not everything is black and white, and that to get the correct judgement, we must wait until all evidence is presented.
Usually a change occurs in the main Character of a Fantasy Film e, this could be in a good way or a bad way. In Edward scissor hands Edward is the main Character. He is lonely innocent person who lives in a big mansion. Edward has never had contact with humans so when Peg first sees Edward he is very frightened and decides to hide. Moreover the dialogues that Edward says when he first meets Peg is very desperate and scared however at the end of the movie Edward speaks louder and more confidently. During his stay with Peg he wore white clothes as he returned to the castle he cut off the white clothes leaving the black underneath. This shows a change in personality and figure as Edward becomes himself and doesn’t want to change for the people in the community. However during the course of the film Edward gets more and more comfortable with Humans. Even
In ‘Edward Scissorhands’, Edward goes through new experiences that show his individuality and how he is different to all the community. In the film, characters such as Joyce and Jim firstly rejected Edward as he was different, they then adored him as he did unique art such as hairdressing, gardening, grooming dogs, cutting meat and ice sculpting. Once Edward discovered his talents, he became very popular amongst the community. They used him so that they would have an easier life, but then when he did something wrong he was then rejected again. Being the individual Edward was in the community, he experienced so many new things such as his growing relationship with Kim. His new experiences with Kim made him learn what true feelings for a girl really was. As great as being and individual is with all this said however, being an individual can also be dangerous in a way, as you would get judged by others around you for being yourself. Edward in the beginning of the film had that exact problem, everyone would be judging him for having scissors as hands and would think of him as a scary monster. The reason Edward went to the community in the first place was because of Peg. Peg
In addition, mise-en-scene is used to show the contradictions between the two understandings of life. The barbecue and dinner scene show the emotional overkill and unstable conduct of the residents in the town by using the lively and distinctive color (Burton, 1990). The distinction with Edward’s gothic punk style of fashion, hairdo and makeup is unusual and marks him as an outcast. It is not only his exterior that points out his detachment from people, but also his ideas which represent his own reality and separates him from the world that he does not belong to. When the people discover Edward’s talents they begin to request different tasks from him. Overall, it seems as if the society is only accepting of Edward for their own benefit. However, Burton makes it clear that there is no true acceptance for Edward when he is forced to leave Peg’s house. Kim, the girl Edward falls in love with, knows she cannot change society, so she leaves him in the castle and tells everyone he’s dead so he is protected.
Another example from the movie is when Edward is introduced into this brand new style of living where he is the new ‘toy’ and uses his creative side to make people’s lives more enjoyable and fulfilling by cutting neighbours hair and turning a hedge into art. Tim Burton makes us think to look beneath the surface and not too just leave out someone who doesn’t look normal, he makes us think about our everyday life how we can be ignorant, rude and reject people who don’t look like us and have a disability. In Edward Scissorhands Edward isn’t always seen as the good guy from the town’s perspective. In the opening seen when we are given a bird’s eye view of the cars moving in and out of the town, this gives us the thought that the town is bright, bubbly and organized to the split second that the cars come out of the drive way but really as the movie goes on they seem to take the tag of being the ‘bad town’. In the movie the town thinks he is the bad guy because of what people have been gossiping about. Edward becomes the ‘bad guy’ as he is being betrayed/forced into the role of the town devil when he is the town hero as he has bought something to the town that will
In usual fairytale movies, filmmakers intend to make films that give happy endings with simple miraculous entertainments. However, in the fable movie, Edward Scissorhand, the director, Tim Burton, positions the viewers to understand the significant meaning of particular issues. “E.S” is can be seen as a story of stereotypical suburbia with social criticism. In this essay, starting from analysing this film and providing dominant discourse, the use of characters will be discussed followed by debate of technical and symbolic codes which help to put up the discourse. In particular, this essay will consider the technical code of camera angle and symbolic codes of colour which emphasize the dominant discourse.
Edward’s differences are viewed negatively by society as he is encouraged to conform. By having scars visible on his face, Peg makes an effort to mask Edwards imperfections. She is unfamiliar with his fair complexion as everyone in the neighborhood has glowing smooth skin and therefore she urges to “help with the scars”. While Peg applies a concealing cream on Edwards face, she insinuates that “blending is the secret” which symbolizes how blending into society will help Edward conform. This suggests that Edwards flaws are not accepted and how society pressures to cover up your differences because uniformity is acknowledged. As the family warms up to Edward in their home, Bill suggests that Edward gets a job to earn money like everyone else in the community. He says that having a job is the “greatest satisfaction” a man can have. This insinuates that men are conformed to have a job and earn money for their family. Edward decides to make an effort and get a loan to start up his own business at the local bank which is painted white and black symbolizing the dull and homogenous life the society lives in. Edward is rejected by the bank authorities when he finds that Edward has no previous bank records and therefore “may as well not even exists.” This implies that by Edward not having a job, he is not welcome to exist in society as they are not willing to give others who are different a chance. As humanity negatively views Edwards differences, Burton displays how humans encourage outcast to conform to society.
The movie Edward Scissorhands starts off with an unusual character named Edward who was very different to the others. At the start, everyone seems to like Edward because he is able to do things others can’t, which means he has something different to give. The film shows that people who are different are treated differently for example when Edward was deemed interesting by the town but as soon he's done something wrong he is not liked.
Tim Burton utilizes editing to connect and amplify his story plot and present a significant and important moment with the characters. Burton accomplishes this with flashbacks. Burton uses a flashback smoothly in Edward Scissorhands. When Edward hesitates to hug Kim, but finally has the courage to do so, a flashback intrudes the scene to signal the audience the reason as to why Edward is so shy. The flashback sets a sorrowful and heartbroken mood after Edward’s father, The Inventor, dies suddenly. The audience experiences the grief Edward has, through a dark flashback and conveys Edward’s connection and affection to Kim. During the flashback, Burton also uses eye-line match when Edward looks at the broken hands on the floor after The Inventor dies. The broken hands demonstrate the damage that Edward has received. Edward’s reaction to his ruined present reveals his innocence to the tragedy. Because Edward could not comprehend what has taken place, the audience feels sympathy for Edward’s
Within the film, Edward Scissor hands by Tim Burton, the composer uses film techniques to display distintivitvely visual. The impressive use of camera angles and camera shots both encompass the distinctively visual element. Camera angles are used to emphasise the characters view on certain scenes, for instance, when Edwards the main character is staring at Kim, a young girl who lives in the town. A eye level shot is used, to emphasise the emotions that Edward is feeling towards Kim, it also shows the deep scars that are on Edwards face, a sign of both pain and torment both from earlier on in his life but also towards Kim’s boyfriend, as deep down he knows things about her boyfriend that she doesn’t, deep down like his scars. The composer also uses camera shots to give the audience understanding of the setting. The use of long shot on the town which shows a fair amount of landscape is used to contrast between Edward’s mansion on the hill, being all dark and scary looking, but yet a town at the foot of the hill which is colourful, vibrant and peaceful looking. The composer used this shot, to show how such differences can be put aside each other, but the community
The film ‘Edward Scissorhands’ by Tim Burton is a story about a lonely boy with a unique disability: scissor hands, it follows Edward as he experiences life outside of his isolated home and through his hardships of dealing with prejudice and people treating him differently. It also follows him when he makes judgments of others wrongly and shows the consequences to both parties from those decisions made on them.
The film ‘Edward Scissorhands’ by Tim Burton, is a modern day fairy tale which follows the story of Edward, a young man that is taken out of isolation and introduced into a new way of life. Although the film is for entertainment, that is not its sole purpose. The film has deep and rich themes, which convey many important messages to the audience. Some themes of the film include; conformity, appearances versus reality and individuality.
Does abnormal people like the way they are - hated by the “ordinary” people? The movie “Edward Scissorhands” directed by Tim Burton, is about a man named Edward who has hands that are scissors. He was fabricated by the inventor who lived in a mysterious, gloomy castle. The reason why his hands were scissors, was because the inventor died before he replaced it with human hands. That the inventor was dead, Edward was left out and living in the castle all by himself; until, when a local Avon saleswoman, Peg Boggs went into the castle and saw Edward. She felt frightened of his hands at first. However, she realizes that Edward is harmless and lonely so she decides to take him to her home. Once Peg introduced Edward to everyone in Peg’s neighborhood, most people got along with him. Edward was also recognized as a talented, trustworthy person once he proved his skills on hedge-trimming and hair-cutting. However, not everyone accepted him and at last, the whole neighborhood start to reject him. As a result, Edward ends up living back up in the castle, his home. In the movie Edward Scissorhands, Tim
Tim Burton creates different moods and tones in his films by incorporating different techniques to make his films interesting. Some of the films that he uses his techniques in are Charlie and the Chocolate factory,Edward scissorhands and Corpse bride by using lighting, camera movement, and diegetic and nondiegetic sound. One of the best techniques a director can use to create a mood and tone would be Lighting. In Edward Scissorhands Tim Burton uses Low Key lighting to create a suspenseful and scary mood.
Moreover, Burton uses satire to emphasize Edward’s innocence; all characters represented a different flaw in society. For example, all of the housewives were nosy. One of them was particularly religious and judgmental. Burton portrays Joyce as a flirtatious liar. Kim’s boyfriend, on the other hand, was controlling and impulsive. In contrast, Edward had none of these faults. The town that they live in is made out to look perfect and neat, while Edward’s home is scary and intimidating. In reality, the castle is more of a humane place than the town. The real monsters are the “regular” people. To sum up, Burton gives a negative connotation towards society, verse praise towards uniqueness using satire.