Edward Scissorhands: How People Are Treated In Society

Individuality is a really important theme in the film Edward Scissor Hands, and is conveyed strongly throughout the character of Edward. Unlike most of the characters who live in the same type of perfect, conventional housing and who all basically follow the same daily routines, such as, gossiping on the phone. However, Edward is different; he is special and unique. For example, the housing in the community are all one solid colour and all have the same shape, the characters are all dressed similarly, and all act the same. When Edward was introduced into the community he was looked upon as different, but Kim's family knew he was just an individual, who does not belong to the community. Edwards complexion is very unfamiliar with the community with his pale skin, rough hair, leather clothing and the scars on his face. Peg tries to cover Edwards scars on his face with makeup, so he can be looked upon in the community as 'normal'. Edward was an artist, he had so much skill from cutting dogs

Tim Burton’s fictional worlds are ones of clear compartmentalization, quite often between literal shades of black and white. Through visual contrasts the audience is not only drawn into the plot, but also given explicit messages about how to interpret the actions and motives of the characters. His macabre art style and purposeful storytelling both hint at his rejection of the status quo; throughout his stories he reinforces the idea that normality is not synonymous with morality through the use of stark lighting contrast, yin and yang style settings, and costumes that are polarly different.

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 ‘Edward Scissorhands’, conformity is a main theme throughout the entire movie, which is shown through the community and the characters that live within it. Many things throughout the movie show how the community conforms. For example, their houses are all one solid colour and all have the same shape, the characters are all dressed the same and all act very similarly. When Edward is introduced to the community, he is immediately looked upon as an outsider who does not follow the community’s nature. Most importantly, Edward is different because of his scissor hands. This does not only make him an outcast, but it makes him dangerous to the community, but surprisingly special. Both of Edward’s positive and negative differences show how he does not conform to the community; however, this does not stop him and his friends from attempting to make him indistinguishable. “But if you had regular hands, you'd be like everyone else.” There are many attempts to make Edward conform, whether it is the Bogg’s, the people in the

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 once said, “My parents suffered from that ideal of a perfect nuclear family. They found that a difficult pressure, I think”. Tim Burton is a famous filmmaker who sometimes incorporates his life into his films. Tim was an odd child in that he liked being alone and spending his time in a graveyard. In his childhood, he was the outsider in a “perfect” world. People can judge him on his odd and different childhood. That is what he tries to teach in his films. In both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands, Burton reveals that society wrongly judges those who do not fit in.

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.

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

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

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

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

Ray Bradbury shows us that people with a difference are ostracised and hated with the example of how the children treat Margot differently for being different to them. He explains by using contrasting sensory imagery just how much just the way that a person acts can make them look different to everyone else and how much they stand out in a crowd. He is also implying to us that just because someone is different it doesn’t mean we have to exclude them just because that’s what normally happens because you might just cost them the joy for the next seven years to

In the words of Tim Burton, “One person’s craziness is another person’s reality.” This is the truth for the magical movies he has put together. Burton grew up different from others; he was an outcast from the people around him. Enjoying B movies, he would watch them a great deal. Out of all the characters, Burton preferred the monsters or strange creatures. Some inspirations to him are Edgar Allen Poe, Roald Dahl, and Vincent Price. He frowns upon conformity, for he prefers individuality. What is normal to Burton could be completely wild to another. In Tim Burton’s distinctive films, he uses symbolism and the comparison of individuality and conformity to emphasize the purity of an outsider.

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.

In the films of Tim Burton, the antagonists are always troublesome, self-absorbed, and ill-mannered, while the protagonists are always the outsiders. Burton, director of many movies such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, Frankenweenie and much more, makes the protagonists outcasts because “‘It’s important to feel like you live or understand the character.’ [...] Like young Victor, Burton grew up feeling isolated in the suburbs, with emotionally-distant parents and a beloved dog, bullied in school and probably a bit depressed…”(Hollywood Reporter). The great contrast between the protagonists and the antagonists convey the tone for how he perceives the world and the people in it. In the films Edward Scissorhands and