Abstract- Do Tim Burton Movies follow the same pattern and
has Tim Burton as an auteur perhaps created his own hybrid genre?
Abstract: The purpose of this essay is to explore if Tim Burton movies follow the same pattern and if he has in fact created his own hybrid genre. I will travel through the years by contrasting and finding similarities in his creepy dark, quirky directorial style. I will analyse such movies as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland and Edward Scissorhands in which I am most fond of. My sources of research will range from cult fandom individuals such as source one: which features an array of websites which have been created by Burton fanatics, two: examples of the a logical narrative ideology that links his present day cinema to his past , 3 a Google image that shows Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter through their recent movies as an insight to notice the similarities in appearance and 4: YouTube videos that give an insight into the opening title sequences to his movies and how cinematography is crucial to his work to produce this creepy, dark and quirky hybrid to name just a couple. I will not only explore the Tim Burton interviews and link them to how they apply here but I will be searching blog sites, as well as YouTube, Student’s various slide shares and reading into Burton’s childhood an perhaps making some explainable links.
Essay:
Whenever the spectator is plunged into his mad world, they
are also introduced to even ‘madder’ characters. In regards to Mise en scene,
Burton’s characters are made up colourfully and creatively which appear to us
as eccentric, weird and some may say grotesque. If we consider some examples of
his work we can ponder Willy Wonker perhaps.. With female characters, Anne Hathaway
who plays the ‘White Queen’ wears a snow white dress, has white hair but wears
black make-up making her appear beautiful in a creepy Burton way.
Tim Burton uses the binary opposition’s theory along with
the theory of semiotics in synergy. The White Queen (the good) and Helena
Bonham-Carter’s character ‘The Red Queen’ (the bad) are both sworn enemies. We
use semiotics and also Roland Barthes character codes to consider why the two
sisters seem to contrast each other. We know the white connotes purity denoting
the White queen is the better behaved ‘Hero’ whereas the red connotes danger
denoting a villain.
If we consider each of Burton’s masterpieces, one iconic
view on some of his characters in his movies is they always feature something
overly dis-proportioned. In fact maybe not the most obvious character is that unconfutable
‘chubby Weasel’ -like character like Tweedle-dum and dee (Alice in Wonderland),
Augustus Gloop (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Oogie Boogie (Nightmare
before Christmas) to name just a couple recurring themes in which the audience
love to pick out for themselves. This links to the uses and gratifications
theory as the audience can make their own judgements on how they like to view Barthes
characters theory for themselves. Another example of recurring characters is
‘The Skittish Outcast’. This character is very eccentric and usually a main
protagonist, such as ‘Willy Wonker’ (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory),
‘Edward Scissorhands’ and also ‘The Mad Hatter’ (Alice in Wonderland). All of
these characters have the sense of adding to the creepy mise en scene due to
their bizarre appearances. Burton uses a strange persona which is combined with
an eccentric hair style. Examples of similarity here are in Burton’s more
recent Alice in Wonderland with ‘The Mad Hatter’ and his wacky hair style. His
hair has high contrast with the usual gloomy background with his bright red
hair. The bright red hair could be symbolic of the great fire we see in ‘The
Mad hatter’s’ flashback. This is also the case for Edward Scissorhands because
he not only has very distinct features but his hair style is also very whacky and
contrasts the saturated town colour symbolising ‘The Outsider’. Tim Burton focusses on hairstyles with Willy
Wonker but he actually seems to have perfect looking brown hair, symbolising
chocolate to add to the factory setting.
Some say that Burton produces an escape for his audience in
his world. We are led to explore with our own assumption which is very clever,
producing an escape into why Burton did this. The secret to this lies in the
narrative but not through what is said, rather –un-said. Tim Burton almost
never shares to us when or even where the films are set. We through iconography
alone guess the setting to be London, like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
where we guess just through the scenery. However pounds are not used but
dollars are, generating the theory of enigma. We cannot make the assumption as
to when the movie was set either, leaving a puzzling sense of mystery. There
seems to be a clash between Charlie’s simply ‘old fashioned’ life and that of
the other ticket winners and the postmodern esc look of the chocolate factory.
It might be that Burton leaves these details out so viewers get lost in his
films, rather than get blasted by details.
