Tim Burton: Hollywood's Alienated Artist
Ed Wood to Wonka: A Look At Burton's Most Outlandish Characters
Sep 4, 2009
For years, both the Hollywood film industry and film audiences has been mesmerised by the world of Tim Burton. A world that no other Hollywood director could ever encapsulate more convincingly then Burton himself. The visionary director's twisted, dark tales are pleasing to the eye, but it is his protagonists that resonates among his fans.
Perhaps it is Burton's own early experiences that has fuelled his commitment to presenting characters that are marginalised and constrained by society. Speaking of his school years, Burton says, "I think I was the quiet one at school. I had friends. I never fell out with people, but I didn't retain friends. I get the feeling people just got this urge to want to leave me alone." This feeling of isolation and alienation from others was apparent when Burton was employed as an Conceptual Artist for Disney. In interviews, the director discloses his feelings during that period as riddled with emotional and identity issues, while being branded 'weird' amongst his work colleagues. It is no wonder then, that the theme of the alienated artist is revisited time and time again with such great conviction.
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Burton's fable of the young, childlike man of the title is arguably, one of his best films to date. Edward, (played with real zeal by a young Johnny Depp) is found by local Avon lady Peg (Dianne Wiest) and swiftly taken away from his gothic, lonely castle to a Peg's suburban home. The audience follows Edward's journey as he adjusts accordingly to his new environment and to those around him. The second half of the film concentrates on the developing romance between Kim (Winona Ryder) and Edward, as well as the aggressively hostile treatment that he receives from the neighbours. At the end, Edward is literally chased from the suburban streets to his original home. Edward is an outsider from the outset; hands are scissors, his ghost white face is mired with scars. In short, his appearance is bizarre. Edward represents, amongst other things, the tortured artist. His scissor-hands are the source of his creativity and initially the source of fascination and wonderment with his neighbours. However, they are the very thing that alienates him; he cannot get close to what he desires because his scissor hands destroys anything he touches. Edward is too fragile, too trusting and innocent to belong to Kim's world.
Ed Wood (1994)
Beautifully shot in black and white, the film tells the story of one of the most marginalised figures in Hollywood history. Dubbed as the 'worst director of all time,' director Ed Wood falls victim to Hollywood's scorn. Burton concentrates on the most productive years of Wood's life; the 1950's, where Wood directed Plan 9 from Outer Space, Bride of the Monster and Glen or Glenda. Burton presents Ed Wood as excitable, enthusiastic but delusional. Despite the mockery he receives from Hollywood insiders about his film ideas, Wood is determined nonetheless to see his creative visions on the big screen. Burton is not only an outsider within Hollywood circles. The only meaningful and lasting relationship Wood has is with aging actor Bela Lugosi, (played by Martin Landau) who at the time of meeting Wood, was rejected by Hollywood, his career very much over. Depp is exceptional in his role as the good-natured yet talentless director and the relationship between Wood and Lugosi is magical to watch. This film is a fitting tribute to a director that was truly original in every way.
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Burton transforms this gruesome story into a gothic spectacle. Depp plays constable Ichabod Crane, a detective that is sent to the town Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of gruesome murders. Ichabod, while successfully saving Sleepy Hollow from the terrifying Headless Horseman, is not your typical Hollywood hero. In true Burton style, Ichabod is not without his quirks. He is a misfit; unable to convince his fellow peers in the justice system that his techniques of forensic science and investigative methods holds the key to catching real criminals, he is sent to Sleepy Hollow to prove his theories. Once at Sleepy Hollow, Crane is also subject to ridicule by the locals, who are convinced that a Headless Horseman is responsible for the deaths of their towns folk. This goes against Ichabod's scientific and medical beliefs, making Crane an outcast in the first instance with those he encounters. Depp is wonderfully eccentric as Ichabod, his unheroic demeanor is amusing to watch, and his advanced theories of forensics and scientific explorations are comic and refreshing in a world that seems to be dominated by brutality and superstition.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Unlike the Gene Wilder version of 1971, Burton's film remains faithful to Dahl's classic book. Subsequently, it is dark and somewhat sinister, delving into the childhood years of Willy Wonka, in a series of disturbing flashbacks. Depp plays Wonka, the reclusive chocolate factory owner who opens up his factory to five lucky children. The audience is transported into a world of heightened 60's technicolour and amazing special effects. One by one the children learn a valuable lesson during their time in Wonka's factory and only Charlie Bucket (played with wide eyed innocence by a young Freddie Highmore) succeeds in becoming the new heir to the Wonka fortune. Wonka is portayed as peculiar from the outset; from his velvet-clad outfit to his rather bizzare dentures and his exaggerated haircut. His detestation of children is hilarious to watch and Depp bring alive all of Wonka's eccentricities in another outstanding performance.
With the much anticipated release of Alice in Wonderland in 2010, it seems Burton's fascination of the unconventional is far from over. Hopefully Burton will delight cinema-goers for many more years to come.
