Film Review: Edward Scissorhands

Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1990) takes the viewer to a condemnatory neighborhood, where an unfortunately lonely but talented outcast attempts to fit into a mainstream crowd. Edward (Johnny Depp) Is the innocent protagonist who gets manipulated, abused and rejected by the non neighborly town, that neglectfully push him away and force him to feel like an outsider. While all houses on the streets are brightly coloured and practically the same all over, Edward's house opposes this repetitively styled mainstream set of roads, situating upon a dark and quiet hill, away from everyone else. The gothic habitat emits a feeling of abandonment and quietness, which reflects Edward's story with the way that his creator died, leaving him to have to adapt on his own. With this incapability and insecurities of being different, Edward stays up in his personal territory, until benevolent Avon lady Peg (Dianne Wiest) Visits his home and takes him to live at her house, introducing him to the real world. The strong contrast between these two worlds expresses Edward's true perception of his surroundings, and gives us more of an insight towards his personal feelings and natural instincts when it comes to interacting with others. What makes this movie increasingly interesting and personal is that it is "based on Burton's own feelings of isolation as a teenager in the California suburbs it is a part mix of Beauty and The Beast, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame and Frankenstein." (Tauchert, 2009)

Figure. 1. Edward Scissorhands Movie Poster

Despite Edward's detectable individuality, he has a positive output on his surroundings and spends his time helping out. He does this by beautifully decorating people's lawn bushes or by cutting their hair for them, gaining him a reputation and a lot of positive attention. He is hugely taken advantage of, and eventually everybody turns against him for being a monster, even though he is completely innocent. Although he might not really be human, he still has feelings and a self critical conscience that audiences can relate to personally. Obviously Tim Burton doesn't actually have scissors for hands just like nobody else does, but it is deeply personal because the scissors are symbolic of a flaw that tackle self esteem. It is about uncertainty and self doubt, and feeling that a flaw can hold you back, when throughout the whole movie Edward's scissors are a trophy, as they make him artistically capable of a lot of things, sculpting being the main one. All of his sculpting and hairdressing attracts crowds and it creates positivity throughout, despite his suspicions of being publicly excluded. It is this very flaw that makes him special, whether he realizes it or not. 

His rough and grubby hair match his hands with its sharply shaped spikes. Along with this, his tight black outfit strays far from the mainstream and popular fashion that everyone around him has coated themselves in. Whether with the scissors or without the scissors, his character is visually antithetical to everyone else from just his costume, home, voice and body language. These things push the point further easily whereas the scissors are just there to give a visual example of a flaw or insecurity. "The title of this story also gives away to how incomplete the main character Edward is with only one real name. The last name 'Scissorhands' is just a blunt term and definition of who Edward is. Meaning, Edward is different than any other person because he has scissors for hands." (Film Harlot, 2012)

Figure. 2. Edward Scissorhands Movie Still

The fresh looking houses that are positioned neatly over the neighborhood are representative of the mainstream society, and its false aims to be stand out and be different from everyone else. The colour coded houses make the citizens feel like they are standing out and being an individual, with a personalized house. Whereas in reality they are all doing the same thing in the same place, the only difference between the houses is essentially the colour. Edward though not only has a different coloured house, but everything is different about his. It is out of the way of all of the others, distancing itself like it is unfamiliar, and certainly doesn't fit in with the rest. Also it is gloomy and painted in black darkness, which is a visual representation of Edward's life and his mind. If you think about all of the colour coded houses too, the exact same thing applies to them, in the way that all of these people copy each other's style and are basically all the same. Of course, it is a bit of a preposterous assumption to say that Edward is the only individual that has insecurities and self doubts, and that everyone else's lives are totally perfect without any problems. But the film's set isn't fully showing the facts and total truth, instead it portrays Edward's perception and what he is seeing. He sees all of the houses as perfectly neat, happy and popular because he feels extremely alienated to absolutely everyone around him. He obviously is surrounded by pity, emptiness and darkness when alone at his home, and to him everybody else that isn't him is flawless and capable, and something that he sees as a complete opposite to him. He feels the same about everyone in general as a society, and so he visualizes this every time he looks towards at else. As designer Bo Welch even said "we designed the neighborhood to appear as though you're seeing it through Edward's eyes." (Chernov, 2015) When looking at the film with these themes, it is very sensible and encourages a whole new level of sympathy and remorse towards the characters, as you can understand a deeper level of emotion and perception now. 

With the saddening result of Edward hiding himself away from the world by the end of the film, it doesn't all have to be gloomy. Edward begins to create ice sculptures from his home with his hands, which then breaks off into snow flakes that showers the neighborhood. Before he ever appeared, there was no snow, and since he came and left it always snows. Whether people know it or not, he is leaving a magical mark on the environment and giving them something positive. The idea that nobody knows it is him raises more suspicion about it being personal to Tim Burton, in the way that his gift is greatly enjoyed and appreciated, but what makes him different to everyone else is what he keeps behind closed doors. Coincidentally, just like Edward, what makes him different is what triggers him to feel like an outcast, but it is the same thing that creates this distinct and recognizable magic. 

Illustration List.

Figure. 1. Earnshaw H, Edward Scissorhands movie poster. http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/movies/greatest-fantasy-movie-posters-538363.html

(Accessed on 12/11/17)

Figure. 2. FilmGrabber, Edward Scissorhands Movie Still. https://www.google.com/amp/s/film-grab.com/2012/12/20/edward-scissorhands/amp/

(Accessed on 12/11/17)

Bibliography.

Chernov M. (2015) https://www.google.com/amp/variety.com/2015/film/news/edward-scissorhands-25th-anniversary-johnny-depp-tim-burton-1201653236/amp/ 

(Accessed on 12/11/17)

Film Harlot. (2012) 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/filmharlot.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/edward-scissorhands-analysis/amp/

(Accessed on 12/11/17)

Tauchert C. (2009)

http://www.denofgeek.com/uk

(Accessed on 12/11/17)