Edward Scissorhands: Commentary on the Social Faults on the American Suburban Environment

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.

In the same vein of logic Burton also visually compares his characters through the settings in which they are portrayed. In an almost laughably shocking contrast, the gothic mansion in Edward Scissorhands is quite literally looming over the uniform pastel ranch style homes of the characters. This clear juxtaposition can

I’ve lived in Chicago almost all my life. There’s a lot of neighborhoods in Chicago; Good and bad. Living on the south side of Chicago most of my life would make you think there’s nothing but violence in the city. Even though Its bad, I enjoy the neighborhood I live in now. The neighborhood I live in is Roseland, but I grew up in Englewood. Both neighborhoods are similar, but they have their differences.

Hitchcock’s notoriously elaborate Rear Window set (under the art direction of J. Macmillan Johnson and Hal Pereira) is so significant because it contains the entirety of the movie. The rest of the city is a mere suggestion, hinted at by cars and pedestrians passing by a narrow strip of alleyway. Therefore, the real analysis of city life that Rear Window explores is that of the relationship between neighbors. In his essay The Metropolis and Mental Life, Georg Simmel comments that the city dweller must avoid overstimulation by practicing “reserve” among others and that,

In my essay I am going to reference two films, Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Vincent (1982), directed by Tim Burton. Edward Scissorhands, is Tim Burton’s take on the Frankenstein story. We can clearly see the influences that have appealed to Tim Burton in the classic Frankenstein (1931) was not the character’s monstrousness appeal but the sense of sad sorrow that audiences sympathized to in Boris Karloff’s performance. Whereas in Tim Burton’s vision, we see a “Special” character as the Frankenstein Monster, in the similar way that we call people with disabilities Special. And then we have Vincent, a short stop-motion animation. The short film itself is an entertaining aspect of a suburban boy named Vincent who recites Edgar Ellen Poe and categorizes with Horror film star, Vincent Price. With similarities to Edward Scissorhands, the main character is a chance for Tim Burton to represent himself on the screen as a tortured boy, outsider and artist. I am going to discuss how cultural and psychological concerns are represented through characterization, art direction, cinematography, and sound. I will support my discussion by analyzing a reflection on both the similarities and differences between the two films, and whether a distinctive “Burton” signature (aesthetics, cultural and psychological concerns) is evident.

In Tim Burton’s 1990 film Edward Scissorhands, explores how people who are different are treated in society. This statement will explore the reasons why and how people are treated differently. The statement will prove that there are people who are treated differently because of what and who they are.

“people around here are willing to help their neighbors, this a close knit neighborhood, people in this neighborhood can be trusted, people in the neighborhood generally don’t get along with each other and people in this neighborhood don’t share the same values” (Sampson et al., 1997, 920).

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

Throughout the world of suburbia, there seems to be a persistence of communities who attempt to create a perfect, enclosed world for the whole of the community to live in. By providing for everything that the inhabitants would ever want, suburbia is able to close itself off from those around it that it deems unworthy of belonging. While this exclusivity helps to foster the sense of community, it can also bring with it isolation from the outside, and also from within, and have disastrous results. Throughout the semester, there have been a number of works that have dealt the issue of isolation, but the greatest representation of a work whose physical qualities in its representation of suburbia help to

Edward Scissorhands, written by Tim Burton, tells the tale of a young man who is lovable, childlike and sensitive, bewildered by the humanity around him, yet is terrifying- someone who has scissors, the deadly weaponry, for hands. Many viewers may read this film as a “Tim Burton” type of fairytale which includes both an alternative aspect and romance. However, through the presentation of mise-en-scene in this film, Burton drives in a much more serious subject of social criticism by establishing two different understandings of life in the movie.

Tim Burton’s gothic drama film Edward Scissorhands explores what is immoral with our society. A present issue with humanity is people who are different are encouraged to conform. In addition, society plays by the rules and follow societal norms rather than listening to their hearts. Most importantly, humans are cruel and exploit those who are vulnerable for their own benefit. Through the use of film techniques, Burton proposes the faults in humanity and the brutal nature of humans.

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.

The film ‘Edward Scissorhands’ by Tim Burton can be seen as a modern day fairytale. However, there are many important themes that make the film richer and deeper in meaning. The film is not simply entertaining, because the director examines the importance of individuality, love and appearance and reality.

The most appealing films are those that keep audiences guessing, surprise them at the most unexpected times and break conventional film boundaries. Edward Scissorhands (1990) directed by Tim Burton, is a feature film that does exactly that. It blends a fairy tale story with a gothic horror film, to engage the viewer right from beginning until the resolution. It tells the tale of Edward, who was the creation of an inventor who died before he could give Edward proper hands, and was left with scissors as hands. When he was taken from his gothic mansion, into a “normal” suburban community, he was at first welcomed, but then heartbreakingly rejected when things went wrong. The character of the “monster” is an

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.