edward

Year 11 English: Film & Media Elective: Hollywood and the auteur

[one essay] [brainstorming the film] [interpreting symbolic codes] [a Frankenstein film] [2001 essay]
Discuss three scenes in Edward Scissorhands in terms of their technical and symbolic codes

1. Bill spreading the false snow on the roof while Jim bullies Edward

Overarching air of normality; the glitter of the lights and snow and the bullying go together in this horror suburbia
Bill misunderstands Edward; Edward does not call for help, support or understanding;; he has learnt as the lonely monster he must fight his own battles
Jim is fit strong mainstream and can lord it over this freak; he sees threat where there is none; his jealousy is his own fault.


2. Edward is rejected; he sits by the roadside wondering what to do where he can go now

he is lonely rejected at a loss; police headlights and searchlight adds threat - rejection
the big pooch bounces up and sits by him - unexpected, unthreatening company, Edwards uses his powers to cut a lock from its right eye, he can do that for someone; for once it seems his caring for someone does not draw blood
Yet it bounces away ungrateful, no licking, no hanging round,
alone again.


3. Kim wraps Edward's scissorhands round herself at the window

is a turning point in his emotional development
is resolution of his disability
ignores his disability for once;
respects his humanity his power to love and be loved

G. Smith
June 2001

Symbolic Codes give meanings and associations
What meanings are suggested by: the cookie production line Edward's art the devil bush outside Esmerelda's house teddy bear topiary run over by Jim's van unnatural manufacture love through art his art through the street suggests his goodness spreads, is appreciated her religious obsessions Jim's loss of innocence. clothes Peg dresses him in acceptable clothes Edward tears off his suburban clothes Kim always wears white Edward's disability is particularly ugly disenabling self injuring (face scars)

Technical Codes

camera angles

point of view

editorialising

viewer is part of the fantasy

surreal shadows of the castle -suspense mystery unnatural uniqueness loneliness rejection

good in daylight bad in dark

suspending belief going to the toilet dressing himself eating shaving

upside of the disability: can jigger keyholes, topiary, win a girl, evoke's Peg's sympathy

Vincent Price's appearance and death
Discuss

impact of the film
interest in the film
how it satisfies criteria of fantasy, action, romance, drama genres
theme of 'normality' in the film


2001 Essay in response: Use of symbolic codes to demonstrate these themes:

individualism: nature or nurture: made not born - no choice. incomplete - maker dies

prejudice: Jim's attitudes to the monster; Esmerelda's "kill the freak" attitude

self-identity: knows himself different; separate; unable to hold/ love Kim.

One plan: Take a couple of incidents and describe how the codes deliver themes there

Another plan: Slot in symbolic codes used and how they promote these themes:

Individualism
set design
body language
actor's appearance
lighting
sound

Prejudice
set design
body language
actor's appearance
lighting
sound

Self identity
set design
body language
actor's appearance
lighting
sound

Year 11 elective: Hollywood Artistic Film Techniques

1999 Major assignment:

" Although it contains elements of a number of genres and the distinctive style of director Tim Burton, Edward Scissorhands is primarily a "Frankenstein" film." Discuss this statement referring to narrative
elements within the film, the technical and symbolic codes used throughout the film and the distinctive style Tim Burton brings to the film.

Resources:
"Hollywood and Artistic Film Techniques" Michael Dezuanni 1996 course booklet
Tim Burton (1990) Edward Scissorhands 20th Century Fox.
Class handouts: Comparison of Frankenstein & Edward Scissorhands.

1. Introduction:
Respond to the topic broadly: Suggest your view whether it is in the Frankenstein genre.
How this essay will go: what areas you will cover to "prove" your view.
A sample introduction:
Now that the Frankenstein genre is so well established and has been remade and spoofed since Whale's 1931 version, it is not surprising that sixty years later Tim Burton can adapt it to tell another story about a victim with drama, humour and pathos. This report will show that when analysed on its major elements: narrative techniques, technical and symbolic codes and individual style, it demonstrates a shift from the Hollywood formula. Although Edwards Scissorhands is very much a mass consumption film of the nineties with its mixture of genres, it is essentially a "Frankenstein" movie.

2. Select narrative elements (see my grid and the 2 page Peter Alderson spread in Workbook.)
Pick a few similarities and differences from these to illustrate your belief that differences with Frankenstein outweigh similarities.
This is only part of your argument. Two other big areas follow.

3. Scissorhands differs from Frankenstein also in technical and symbolic codes
Draw on your class work/homework from the grids Appendix 5.
You now argue that Burton follows some of the genre's codes but varies in some.

4. Because Burton's style is distinctive, he is not working within the Hollywood formula all the time. It is a modern film allowing some artistic freedom in his direction.
Draw out the differences in style: drama mixed with humour, pace, kinds of dialogue unused, etc.

5. Review your essay and argument telling the reader what these major elements of analysis indicate.
Conclude that Burton does or does not use the Hollywood Frankenstein genre formula for the most part and so you justify your belief, using the wording of the question statement.

Brainstorming Edward Scissorhands

eternal story of the hero unfinished and alone; Beauty and the Beast; mild mannered temperament at odds with his deformity; made not born; an artist deserving of respect who see life more freshly and creatively than most

fable - a moral purpose?

the surreal; haunting fantasy

from cookie cutting to boy construction

scant dialogue

fierce longing of the gentle Edward; the everyman of silent movie clowns (e.g., Chaplin's The Tramp)

town is up in arms lacking only the torches of the complete mob scene

absurdities of suburbia; fifties suburbia with a nineties twist

topiaries; Burton's pictorial flair

everyone is stylised and peculiar

how much Elfman's music and visuals say; much more than dialogue

when Edward ties to comfort those he loves, his touch draws blood

"Burton is a true visionary with uncommon insights into hearts in torment"

Kim dances in the ice flakes Edward cuts from the sculpture: the ballerina in the snow bubble; a cathartic moment; artist shares a potent intimacy

the problem of the lame ending: Hollywood allowed Burton his own quirky ending (auteur); nothing is resolved

framed by a tale about where snow comes from

Peg, Kim, Bill, neighbour Joyce, neighbourhood lout Jim

box office popularity of teenage fare
Discussion starters / extracts from script of Edward Scissorhands

lemonade!!

background soundtrack Tom Jones' "It's not unusual to by loved by anyone."

technical code example: baseball crowd cheering on radio just as Edward finishes the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Peg's family as topiary

Esmerelda: "He's straight from the stinking flames of hell"
"You must . . . trample down the perversion of nature."

another memory carry over: as Peg uses the electric can opener, Edward
remembers the castle machinery loud drums, tuba regular beat Wagnerian
type music. zylophone percussion, celeste, solo oboe, heavenly choir voices

Hawaiian music for the suburban bbq

doing the women's hair in the backyard

the seduction in the new salon

the bank scene

Jim's robbery gone wrong; the police raid traps Edward

A terrible misunderstanding: police think hands are weapons: "Hold you
hands in the air. . . . Drop you weapons. Looks like we got a psycho."

saves Kevin from Jim's drunken truck: scissorhands cut him, neighbour
think it is an attack

stripping off the clothes - choir, drums

Esmerelda's organ beat, a piercing string, drum roll leads to scream

Peg: "You know when I brought Edward down here to live with us, I really
didn't think things through and I didn't think of what could happen to him,
and to us, and the neighbourhood."

while in Kim's arms, a flashback to broken hands in the castle

Lesson 15: Comparing Frankenstein (1931) and Edward Scissorhands (1990) as
narratives
Complete the following table:

Narrative Feature "Frankenstein" "Edward Scissorhands" 1. Opening . . 2. Setting . . 3. Characters . . 4. Conflict . . 5. Climax . . 6. Resolution . . 7. Parallels / myth echoes . . 8. Motivation . . 9. Cause and Effect . . 10. Closure . . G. Smith 1996
Page Devised by G. Smith in Brisbane Australia June 2001
Return to The Best Secondary English Resources page

Narrative Feature	"Frankenstein"	"Edward Scissorhands"
1. Opening	.	.
2. Setting	.	.
3. Characters	.	.
4. Conflict	.	.
5. Climax	.	.
6. Resolution	.	.
7. Parallels / myth echoes	.	.
8. Motivation	.	.
9. Cause and Effect	.	.
10. Closure	.	.