Edward Scissor Hands Winston Churchill was known to say “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” The film Edward Scissor Hands, directed by Tim Burton, expresses how society gives unfair treatment or alienates those who are different. This film shows how society quickly judges and takes advantage of those who are different making them do their bidding. Once citizens get what they want they are quick to abandon and isolate those distinct individuals. The public disrespects and is generally condemning and unaccepting of those who are different. Edward scissor hands is portrayed as a dark colourless monster who is judged. Edward scissor hands is judged as soon as he is seen. When Edward is seen by Peg here first reaction is fear she tells him to stop moving and stay where he is. She try’s to leave but he stops her. This is showing how Peg judged him and thought he would harm her but he was just a boy how needed help. Edward scissor hands dark, gothic cloths is frightful compared to the towns perfect, bright …show more content…
Edward scissor hands isolation is obvious during the film. Edward scissor hands mansion is geographically isolated from the “perfect” suburbia. You see Edward scissor hands mansion in juxtaposition to the “perfect” suburb homes when the camera zooms out behind Edward scissor hands mansion. When Peg finds Edward scissor hands at the begging of the film the lack of colour and the darkness lighting represent his isolation. The darkness is representing Edward scissor hands life, loneliness and emptiness. Lack of conformity to social “normal.” Edward scissor hands wears black cloths, has scissor hands and he's not complete. Edward scissor hands is not “perfect” and is seen as a monster leading to his isolation. Edward scissor hands doesn’t comfort to what society considers normal. He is an over exaggerated monster evoking intolerance therefor
Edwards gets caught and every friend of his from the neighborhood turns on him. Edward Scissorhands has an overall mood of self-discovery for most of the characters. In the film, Burton uses close-up shots in order to convey an unusual tone towards Peg’s curiosity. For example, when Peg goes to Edward’s house, she continues to walk into the house after seeing topiary in the garden. This achieves divergent tone because Peg being comfortable to walk into a dark home for a customer which contributes to the overall mood of self-discovery, because we discover what kind of person Peg is.
Tim Burton also uses great Lighting to make Edward look like shouldn't be there, for example, it shows Edward cramped into a small car and with bright colors in the background. In the scene where they enter Edwards garden it seem so beautiful up close, but like hell far away because its very dark over there, then when it enters back into the house it seems like it would be from a horror movie. And the make up on his face makes it more fit with the lighting because of the scars with his pale white face and his crazy black hair.
A quintessential element in the preservation of societies social order is a combination of social influences to conform and be obedient. The social influences help to control the individual psyches of entire populations to create a more cohesive environment. Conversely, there are also those who seek to challenge the social controls of society through non-conformity and disobedience. Each of these social psychological themes, obedience to authority, conformity, and non-conformity, are present in director Stuart Rosenberg’s 1967 film, Cool Hand Luke. They are explored through the reinforced social roles of those in authority and those who are obedient, displays of conformity and non-conformity, and how an individual can have an effect on the
Richard Immerman bookends his monograph, The Hidden Hand: A Brief History of the CIA, with reflections on the role of public expectations in the shaping of the CIA’s image, both externally and internally. In-between, Immerman attempts to reconcile the antagonism between the CIA’s actions and its fundamental task. Stated otherwise, Immerman reveals a history of the “competition between covert, particularly paramilitary operations, and its core mission of collection and analysis.” Immerman, who currently serves as a Professor of History at Temple University, has held multiple positions within the intelligence network which has granted him access to privy material. He identifies his main questions in regard to the CIA as: What it does and has
Society tends to associate propaganda films with issues such as Nazi Germany and their film messages for their country; however, it is also possible for small independent companies, groups of like-minded people and individuals to use the media of film to incorporate messages for our society (The Independent, 2010). These messages are often in relation to changes that individuals should make in order to improve the standards by which they live their lives and changes to everyday habits that will benefit the individual, the individual’s family, a group of individuals or even a single person (Barnhisel and Turner, 2010).
Not a single individual is able to watch a Burton film without noticing the lighting effects and how it significantly contributes to the tone and mood of the entire film. In the movie Edward Scissorhands, one might be overwhelmed with the burst of extravagant colors in the scenery. Indeed this cinematic technique, high key, wholly influences the viewers perception and impression of the town. One can conclude that even though flamboyancy pervades the town, iniquity lurks in all directions and hypocrisy governs the minds of its inhabitants. Irony is harnessed in this film. How can an effulgent town harbor wickedness and Edward with a chilling and gothic complexion radiate innocence and righteousness? Burton uses these opposing conceptions brought about by the contrast of lighting to convey the message that materialism has been ingrained in the mentality of society (at least in the neighborhood in which Burton lived in the past), thus yearning for th...
The Bogg’s family have accepted Edward scissorhand’s into their family and have made him feel loved. When Edward was first introduced to bill he ignored the fact that he is different and tries to make small talk. When Kim first sees Edward she is horrified and overwhelmed but in the end falls for Edward and ends up loving him. When Edward enters the restaurant to meet the Bogg’s family, they all scotch over to make room for him and ask him how his day was, this shows to the audience that he has been ‘adopted’ into the family and they care for him. When Edward was in jail Peg and Bill come to see him and are upset at what he has done but Peg blames it on herself, this gives the impression that Peg has taken the role of a motherly figure towards Edward. The Bogg’s family have shown that they care about him and see him as a part of their
Edward Scissorhands is especially reminiscent of the themes and concepts from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein which is also based around the isolation, introduction and persecution... ... middle of paper ... ... arden also is an important symbol in the film as it also illustrates a dramatic contrast to the suburbia’s bare, dull and uniform gardens and emphasises society’s need to conform.
The movie “The Help”, shows that many people will avoid being different in order to fit in with societal norms. When given a choice, societal expectations are considered more important and valuable than embracing differences. Different groups have different expectations that are held sacred to them. These rules are good and bad as they provide a safe acceptable path for people to follow, but also creates a wall that no one dares pass in fear of being belittled and scoffed at. If anyone does happen to intrude past this barrier, then they would be reprimanded by others for their brash behavior. These groups are made based primarily on a person’s sex and race. Throughout “The Help”, the many groups clearly display that societal norms are held
One could easily dismiss movies as superficial, unnecessarily violent spectacles, although such a viewpoint is distressingly pessimistic and myopic. In a given year, several films are released which have long-lasting effects on large numbers of individuals. These pictures speak
“How awful it is for that person which suffers this great wrath and infinite misery!”(Edwards 89-90). This is the best example of Edwards doing what he does best in his sermons; using literary devices to scare people. Why would anyone do this? Well, he uses fear for persuasion. How he does this is carefully and delicately layered in his words. Edwards uses loaded language, vivid imagery, and specific types of sentences in order to scare his audience into becoming better Puritans.
During the semester, race is a big part of the lectures. In class, we talk about how race is distinguishing physical characteristics used to place people in different racial categories (Jensen). The biggest concern with race is racial inequality. Racial inequality is the inadequate or unfair treatment of minorities in areas like income, education, employment, health, the criminal justice system, and media. The article written by Rebecca Keegan from the Los Angeles Times newspaper discusses the inequality of race in media specifically movies. This article relates to the unfairness in films because minorities are poorly portrayed in the majority of films. More often than not, minorities are the “bad guys” in films. They are caught up in criminal activity and live in poorer neighborhoods than the majority. The article gives numerous statistics proving and exploiting that there is indeed racial inequality depicted in films. Also the Keegan touches on how minorities are underrepresented in films in the way that they usually do not have as many speaking lines compared to the white actor/actress.
From the very beginning, Edward is cast as the monster – but is he really? We first see Edward when Peg searches for the owner of a dark, ominous, gothic mansion. She climbs up a set of gigantic spiral stairs that lead to “Edward’s room”. The setting is quite dark and the only lighting is coming through a gaping hole in the roof. Her curiosity gets the better of her, and as she examines this foreign place, we can hear in the bac...
Discrimination is too common in the current day and age. It is used to help ignorant, weak people with insecurities to feel better about themselves. Humanity as a whole needs to learn to be more accepting of others, differences and all. Disney Pixar’s “Day and Night” is a short film about two characters, Day and Night, who couldn't look past each other’s differences in the beginning, yet by the end, they developed a mutual appreciation of each other through getting over their fear of the unknown and discriminating others. In “Day and Night,” the characters’ lack of understanding and prejudice paradoxically assists the characters, Day and Night, in developing tolerance for each other and learning to embrace their differences. Ultimately, “Day and Night” proposes that even though the unknown is not well-perceived by others until they experience the said "unknown" themselves, humanity should be less judgmental and more open-minded because nobody is perfect and everyone is different and perfectly unique in their own way.
Since the communist era, the concept of conformity has been tested on humans thinking it would bring a sort of comfort. These regimes rapidly crumbled due to their often authoritarian nature. Following these dictatorships, we often associate conformity with misery. Similarly, in Edward Scissorhands, through the characterization of Peg Boggs, the symbolism of Edward’s castle home and the change in Edward’s behaviour, director Tim Burton rejects conformity since it leads to fakeness, boredom, and corruption and, instead, promotes the benefits of authenticity and old habits.