Film Review: Edward Scissorhands

Figure 1.

Re-watching Edward Scissorhands is like shaking a beloved snow globe for the first time in years and realising the magic is more authentic than ever before. Released in 1990, Tim Burton’s poignant tale of love and difference still holds a particular atmosphere over two decades later, which is partly due to the film very compelling mise-en-scène. 

The still below (figure 2) introduces us to the two main worlds of the movie. With this distinctive contrast framed in a single shot, the viewers are lead to base their first impressions on the common, stereotyped tropes both environments are attached to: the colourful suburbs look like a safe and lively area whilst Edward’s mansion, distant and sombre, towers menacingly above. The story’s primary theme being about the fear and admiration a creative mind can inspire, the castle on the hill has a curious and inhospitable appearance because it is an individual world others don’t and can’t understand. Whilst the first few minutes of the movie get us acquainted with the tranquil town, we indeed cannot help but being unsettled by the sudden sight of the edifice. 

By having Edward’s sanctuary not fitting in the general landscape, Burton successfully conveys the feeling of being ‘out of place’. In its wish to make us look through the eyes of an outsider, the film furthermore brings an alienating perspective on what is considered normalcy, as well as unveiling the sensibility behind the misunderstood ‘other side'. The audience is thus shown, as the uncanny tale unfolds, that “the apparently gloomy castle is in fact a shelter from the seemingly happy outside world, which is in fact much darker and sinister underneath its bright colours.” (Esteryn, 2012)

Figure 2.

The two universes meet when, after another fruitless round of door-to-door selling, Avon lady Peg decides to pay a visit to Edward’s remote residence. As we enter a place radically different from the American suburban streets, the director and his team capture the chill of the unknown by shooting the sequence just like the prelude to a classic horror movie. Peg’s petite and bright silhouette accentuates the spacious dimension of the set as she walks through the seemingly abandoned, monochromatic interior (see figure 3). We are soon to understand however that the only lugubrious thing about the aslant mansion is its loneliness.

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

Figure 5.

Descendent of European traditions, Edward and his creator’s gothic lair perfectly mirrors its inhabitants’ emotional state. Although the Inventor had populated the hall with not-so-functional but delightfully expressionistic machines (see figure 4), the grandeur of the premises betrayed his longing for company. After his death, the grief and isolation Edward experiences are similarly transposed in the emptiness of the rooms, while a huge hole in the roof represents his strong feeling of loss (see figure 5). These dark sentiments extend beyond the environment only, leaving painful marks on Edward’s face, fixed it in an ever-melancholic expression. But if the inside of the young man and his castle feels cold, the outside of the domain is where the lonely soul uses his difference to manifest himself creatively, turning his sadness in enchanting topiaries.

Figure 6.

When Edward is brought back down the security his refuge to finally discover the storybook city he’s been looking at for so many years, Peg tries her best to make the gentle spirit fit in. But what the latter just entered is a milieu that appears increasingly unsympathetic, its community only caring about each other’s surface. That critical approach to the suburban world transpires in the set design: “Welch explains that for Edward Scissorhands he shrunk the windows of the house “to be a little less friendly, a little more masklike and to heighten the hiding-in-suburbia feeling”. He and Burton also came up with a four-color scheme for the houses, “sea-foam green, dirty flesh, butter, and dirty blue”. (Edelstein, 1990:35) The reductive aspect of the inelegantly named colour palette, also applied to townsfolk’s clothing, is what makes the initially perceived as a bright and charming dwellings feel very cookie-cutter. Consequently, the interiors of these ‘shoeboxes’ are painfully bland and uncreative (see figure 6). The way furniture is arranged makes the rooms seem empty – this time not in the expressionist fashion of the Inventor’s mansion but in a much colder, impersonal way. The low ceilings of the corridors and basements, contrasting greatly with Edward’s previous domicile, couldn’t be more claustrophobia inducing. It is almost as if the walls were trying to confine and prevent its residents from thinking outside of the box. Only Kim’s bedroom, with its canopy bed and mirror covered in pictures, has something comforting to it, bearing a resemblance to Edward’s own private nest up in the castle (see figure 7).

Figure 7.

If they had first considered Edward as an exciting oddity, the neighbourhood who fails to engage with the young man and understand his nature are quick to turn against him. This is where the scissors metaphor, both a motor of fright and wonder for the town residents, works the most efficiently as it is can be interpreted in two ways: on the one hand, as a creative tool and on the other, as a destructive, dangerous instrument. If Edward is able to express his artistic personality into the world by shaping everyday elements into something completely new, his hands also have the capacity to communicate his frustrations onto his surroundings. Cinematographically speaking, the effect offered on-screen by the lethal appendices is a very evocative way of translating the character’s emotions without relying on speech or facial expressions. Edward can thus be seen as experiencing anger when he uses the blades like claws on the wallpapers or to damage his creations. But most importantly, it is the handicapping aspect of these scissor-hands in everyday tasks that visually emphasises his inability of ‘being like the others’. Though, as Steve Biodrowski reminds us, Tim Burton’s final intention is to demonstrate that “the very characteristic that separates him from everyone else also makes him special.” (Biodrowski, 2000)  

Although the director’s depiction of suburbia might be viewed as judgemental, the film nuances its comment by showing the goodness and acceptance that can simultaneously emerge from that eccentrically banal environment. The most evident example being Kim’s journey from mistrust to love, we can also take into account Joyce’s last distressed look towards the place where Edward is said to have met his end, giving an unexpected glimpse of depth to the character. As Tim Burton is reported to have stated in an interview, suburbia is after all not specifically “a bad place, it's a weird place”. (Easton, 1990) 

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Hi Jackie! I apologize if there are more spelling/grammar mistakes than before as I haven't been able to get my last four reviews checked by a native speaker. I try my best to minimize the amount of them though :)

Bibliography

Biodrowski, S. (2000). Edward Scissorhands – Film & DVD Review | Cinefantastique Online. At: http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2000/10/edward-scissorhands-tim-burtons-elephant-man/ (Accessed on: 06/12/14).

Easton, N. J. (1990) “For Tim Burton, this one’s personal” At: http://www.timburtoncollective.com/articles/es7.html (Accessed on: 08/12/14)

Edelstein, D. (1990) ‘Odd Man In’ In: Burton, T. (2005). Tim Burton: Interviews. Jackson: Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp.35

Esteryn, A. (2012) “Edward Scissorhands: A review of Tim Burton’s film”. At: http://coco.raceme.org/films/edwardscissorhands/review.php (Accessed on: 06/12/14)

Illustration List

Figure 1. Edward Scissorhands (1990)  [Poster] At: http://www.moviepostershop.com/edward-scissorhands-movie-poster-1990 (Accessed on 08/12/14)
Figure 2. Castle and Town Still. (1980) From: Edward Scissorhands. Directed by: Burton, T. [Film still] United States: 20th Century Fix. At: http://anthonyho-arch1390.blogspot.co.uk (Accessed on 08/12/14)
Figure 3. Castle Staircase Still. (1980) From: Edward Scissorhands. Directed by: Burton, T. [Film still] United States: 20th Century Fix. At: http://anthonyho-arch1390.blogspot.co.uk (Accessed on 08/12/14)
Figure 4. Inventor's Lab Still. (1980) From: Edward Scissorhands. Directed by: Burton, T. [Film still] United States: 20th Century Fix. At: http://anthonyho-arch1390.blogspot.co.uk (Accessed on 08/12/14)
Figure 5. Attics Still. (1980) From: Edward Scissorhands. Directed by: Burton, T. [Film still] United States: 20th Century Fix. At: http://anthonyho-arch1390.blogspot.co.uk (Accessed on 08/12/14)
Figure 6. Suburban Living Room Still. (1980) From: Edward Scissorhands. Directed by: Burton, T. [Film still] United States: 20th Century Fix. At: http://aloneinneverland.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/movie-i-want-to-live-in-1-edward.html (Accessed on 08/12/14)
Figure 7. Kim's Bedroom Still. (1980) From: Edward Scissorhands. Directed by: Burton, T. [Film still] United States: 20th Century Fix. At: http://aloneinneverland.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/movie-i-want-to-live-in-1-edward.html (Accessed on 08/12/14)