Friday, August 9, 2013

We All Have Scissorhands

Thank God it’s Friday because here’s a new entry of The Magical Mystery Blog.

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the famous movie director, Tim Burton. Mr. Burton has created classic hits like Mars Attacks, Vincent, and Corpse Bride. He has even aided in the production of other movies like James and the Giant Peach and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Growing up, I wasn’t too fond of the strange director and producer until I hit my teenage years Or as everyone remembers these years as, the time when puberty struck and life was a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world.

Needless to say, I was in that same boat of confusion. At the age of thirteen I finally watched The Nightmare Before Christmas and was completely fascinated by this director’s work. I loved his work so much I started to watch other movies created by him, including Edward Scissorhands.


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Edward Scissorhands is the story of an Avon saleswoman (Peg Boggs) discovering a leftover, unfinished invention in a deceased inventor’s palace. The invention is none other than Johnny Depp with scissors for hands. Intrigued and concerned by this man made man, Mrs. Boggs invites Edward to stay with her in her cheery little neighborhood.

The rest is a cause and effect story of what happens when you try to introduce something different and new to a town that likes an unchanging routine. How it not only effects the people in that specific location but the lengths they go to, to use this new person to their means. Only then do they reject him for the “wrongs” he has committed, when it was their doing from the start. In the end, they just shrug it off as if nothing ever happened, and return to their daily ritual.


This movie is a treat for anyone who wants to step inside the world of Tim Burton’s early years. As for myself, I've watched this film at every chance I could get because it’s my favorite Burton flick. However, as the years rolled on I began to realize a few things about it.

              1)      It’s easily relate-able to everyone - when I originally viewed this movie, I could easily understand it because I was an outcast much like Edward Scissorhands. I had just transferred from Catholic to public school at that time and despite trying to put my best foot forward, it failed in the end.

At first I didn't realize it, but as I grew older I began to see that everyone could relate to this movie. You may find that notion insane because when people think ‘Tim Burton movies’ they immediately imagine the gothic and/or emo kids who blast Slayer and wear spikes on every single article of clothing they own.


With Edward Scissorhands I find that people can relate to this film because at some point in our lives, everyone is Edward Scissorhands. You’re the new kid changing (or starting) school and know no one, you’re the new person in the office and don’t know how things are. You're strange to the new town, school, or workplace because you're new and different. Some kindhearted people will take you in, show you around, and make sure you're all right. However, there are those out there who will use you to their benefit. It happens to everyone in life, just as it did in Edward Scissorhands.


Even Burton himself has said that he was Edward Scissorhands. In fact, he had created Edward long before the movie was even made.


             2)      The inspiration – in the time that Mr.Burton made this film, he was an unknown producer and director who was still making a mark in the world. He wanted to show Hollywood a new lease on life through his style, stories, and ideas. As a teenager he often drew various things and Edward was one of themEdward was drawn as a representation of himself growing up and even the film was a symbolization of Burton's time growing up. This movie was an outward expression of Burton’s means of finding himself in the world as the outcast he was.



              3)      The meaning of the end – SPOILER ALERT.

THE FOLLOWING IS A MASSIVE

SPOILER TO EDWARD

SCISSORHANDS
. IF YOU HAVE NOT

SEEN IT YET, PLEASE DO NOT READ

ON.



When I viewed this movie, I honestly did not expect to bawl at the end. But I understood why I cried and called Kim Boggs (Winona Ryder’s character) a bitch.

flicker.com
Get your hands off my man, woman!
It was because she tarnished my hopes for a happy ending for this movie by leaving Edward  alone in the inventor's palace. I was rooting for the underdog in this film so that their romance could blossom and face the challenges of having a partner with scissorhands. It would be something different as opposed to your standard boyfriend/girlfriend relationships.

I was hoping for them to be together forever because it would bridge the gap between the strange and the normal. I believed that if that chasm could never be filled in life, then at least let me have it from a movie I enjoy. This was not the case but then again, I’m rather glad Burton did not give his audience a joyful reprise.



What he gave the audience was life. There will always be the outcasts in life that no one wants to bond with because they interrupt the daily routine. But in the world there are those like Kim, Peg, and the rest of their family who embrace those who are different from them. When Kim sacrificed her future with Edward, she broke the possible idea of bridging the gap between the different and the routine. She could have stayed with Edward and explained what had happened to the crowd but they would have assumed that Edward started it and would have still considered him a villain. Kim knew he was never an enemy to the neighborhood although they believed otherwise. 

Well that about wraps up this week's blog entry. For my readers, I ask you a question: what did you think about the ending to Edward Scissorhands? Would you have preferred
 a happy ending, why? Or did you like it the way it was and why?

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