Suzanne Darkan - Critical Paper- Tim Burton

I must admit, with full honesty, I refuse to pick a director other than the name that first popped into my head when asked to write this paper. Tim Burton, my ultimate favorite director and artist. He is one person that I have truly followed and been inspired by for many years. I know we have specifically been asked not to write of big hit films, so I will avoid mentioning his main hits (which are way too many) and focus on his artistic films that I have paid great attention to.

The famous and talented Tim Burton has directed many films from Batman, to Alice in Wonderland, Sleepy Hollow, and The Nightmare before Christmas, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and many more. He is titled as an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated American film director, film producer, writer and artist. Tim Burton uses a crazy Gothic style to his work, and happens to keep this trait continuously in whatever movie he works on. He succeeds in all aspects that he touches on. He has designed dark Gothic outfits for fashion photo-shoots. (Look to the right) He has succeeded in movies that have been written, produced and directed by himself. But most of all the aspect that has inspired me the most is his art work. He is famous for the dark little characters he creates, and as a fan, I save alot of his art, and create little stick figures of monsters myself. It is through his art that he is most known for his dark, quirky-themed movies. 

The movie I choose to talk about is Edward Scissorhands.
I first watched Edward Scissorhands as a little girl, and I was terrified, I thought it was the scariest movie ever. However, the amount of times I have now watched this movie in total is uncountable. Obviously being that it is an older movie, it no longer scares me.
The movie is about a handmade robot that been created into a human by an old scientist that eventually passes away before the completion of his robot, Edward. He never finished turning Edward into a normal human, leaving Edward with a body of metal and hands of scissors. He lives alone in the big castle like house on a hill, where he is lonely and depressed, thinking of the life he could have had with his maker.
Down in the typically American friendly town, a family decides to take Edward in, he is immediately accepted into a society that he so obviously does not fit into. During his stay there, the people grow an attachment to Edward as he helps them out. He cuts their grass, designs their backyards, gives the ladies stylish haircuts, trims hair of their pets, and helps everybody out. However he is still considered an odd one out. He begins to fall in love with the young daughter of the family, and the obstacles begin through it. He is eventually rejected by the society, and is back in the dark little hill he first came from.


Tim Burton’s style is stamped all over this movie. The use of colors, the awkward characters, the Gothic art. In terms of colors, there is a huge contrast from the spooky house over the hill, to the colorful neighborhood down the hill. The castle like house is big and dark with dusty statues and white furniture. Everything inside is Gothic like. Edward himself has black dark hair, white cold skin, and metal arms, with sharp metal scissors as fingers. Tim has definitely made his trait clear, with his style of Gothic art used on Edward and his home.
Down town, it is brightly lit, the sun is constantly shining people are always smiling, everyone wears colorful clothes, houses are off all colors from pink to green to blue, nothing matches. Cars are colorful, pathways are curvy and perfect, houses are clean, and dogs are friendly. It is a typical creepy awkward looking happy place to be. The fact that he makes it so awkward is what I love. When Edward becomes a part of that society, you can see how a Gothic artistic outsider tries to fit into a world of colors.
So the main thing I loved to focus on in the movie Edward Scissorhands is the combination of two complete different worlds in one area. The contrast of colors used, and again, his Gothic touch that is always added for perfection. 

The second movie I chose to talk about briefly is the cartoon animation, ‘The Corpse Bride’
The Corpse Bride is a movie I was very excited to see right away. Tim Burton is famously known for his art and since I am a huge fan of it, this was an opportunity for me to see how he turned his art into characters with roles and personalities that are made for performance. And what a great movie it was.
Once again, Tim Burton impresses me with Gothic style, and the humor that was added to the movie that created a sort of Irony. The movie is a strange cartoon combination of a musical, horror and comedy. His use of colors are clear, characters have pale white skin that makes us assume they feel cold. Purple under the eyes, dark black hair, creepy long fingers, and awkward personalities made in for the characters. This is a movie worth analyzing and I am confident many of you will enjoy it.

Overall, Tim Burton is a director worth searching, and learning more about, and his influences on me are eternal. I continue to use his work as an inspiration for the creation of my own work.
Thank you for reading.