Tuesday 10 November 2015

Tim Burton, Edward ScissorHands 1990, Film Review.

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Edward Scissorhands Directed by Tim Burton and released in 1990, is the story of Edward (Johnny Depp), who was created by an inventor (Vincent Price) who he saw as a father figure but unfortunatly died before he could finish making Edwards hands. Edward is thrown into a world unbeknownst to him from his time in isolation, separated from the rest of the world.
The story follows Edward trying to be apart of a community of friendly individuals after he was discovered in an old run-down castle by a kind lady called Peg (Dianne Wiest) who takes him from what he has called home and taken down the mountain to a little neighborhood where gossip travels fast and soon everyone in the community wants to meet Edward and soon become accustom to him and all try to help him with his disability, some out of kindness, some for their own needs.
Edward soon falls for Pegs daughter, Kim (Winona Ryder) and story takes on a Beauty and the Beast style of writing where a girl falls for a man who is considered a beast.

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If you look at other later Tim Burton movies you will see that they all have same atmosphere, same lighting and strange building design, but with this movie there doesn't seem to be any sign of that, instead it takes a more lighter, colorful style of portrayal with each building being a different color to the rest along with the vehicles something that you would probably see in the 50's to 70's. The only thing that could distinguish this as Tim Burton movie is Edward himself with his Dr Caligari's Somnambulist costume design and the overall castle design, being all dark and mysterious on the outside and machines of different sizes and designs located within. Makes you wonder if this is something taken from his real world experience as an outsider.

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From watching the movie from beginning to end, it can be clearly seen as a Beauty and The Beast style of story telling. In the story you have Edward (The Beast) who fall for Kim (The Beauty) and the rest of the community toward the end of the movie becomes the lunch mob lead in a sense by Kim's boyfriend, Jim (Anthony Michael Hall), and we all know what happens at the end of Beauty and the Beast.
Edward is seen as kind hearted man who acts more of a child than a man, probably due to his time in isolation so he would be unable to trust anyone and be scared, until he was taken away from his home and place in front of a crowd who see him as something unique and that makes Edward become less scared and more trusting, to which other certain individuals take advantage of, once that happens you really start to see Edward break emotionally and lash out, mostly at his creations than people.
Throughout the movie you can see Edward is more manipulated to be blamed than actually causing the blame himself, and this causes the community to become the lynch mob you see in Beauty and the Beast.

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Review Quotes:

Burton's modern fairy tale has an almost palpably personal feel: it is told gently, subtly and with infinite sympathy for an outsider who charms the locals but then inadvertently arouses their baser instincts. (Marc Lee, Daily Telegraph)

... this sweet 1990 fantasy ... for the first time crystallized the latent themes in the director's work: the notion of the artist as outsider, of skills that make one special but at the same time different. (Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique)

A personal film for Tim Burton, which also serves as a parable about the artist as an outsider, this lovely fairytale began the long, fruitful collaboration with the endlessly versatile Johnny Depp. (Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.com)

Personal Quote:
Good movie and great character development for Edward from start to finish, visually great in the castle and costume designs, more than the rest of the sets. The story in the neighborhood is more interesting than the visual concept the movie gives the audience.

Images located here:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=edward+scissorhands&rlz=1C1CHWA_enGB609GB609&biw=1920&bih=955&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMInp3-99-FyQIVxD0PCh1hBgL9#

2 comments:

  1. Good to see you restricting the use of capital letters Ben :)

    Please see my previous comments regarding using the quotes - they should be embedded within your writing, not just hanging around at the end. Likewise, the images; you should incorporate them where they are relevant to your discussion, and introduce them. For example, '...all dark and mysterious on the outside and machines of different sizes and designs located within, as shown in figs. 3 and 5.' Only use images that are directly relevant to what you are writing about... sometimes, less is more.

    PLEASE, please read all my previous comments, as I have given you advice there about using quotes and images effectively, and on creating a bibliography and illustrations list. You need to get your head around this before you write your essay!

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  2. ... indeed, this is why writing the reviews from the start of term would have been useful to you, Ben - because by doing so you would have had lots of experience in terms of academic writing and using academic conventions - and all of this would have been second nature by now! Very happy to see you actually committing to these, but please reflect on the feedback you get and act on it accordingly!

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