Edward Scissor Hands Film Review

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Tim Burnton's Edward Scissorhands (1990) is a movie that shows the depiction of isolation and how this can affect people when they are introduced into society. Edward had been living on his own for many years in isolation and then was introduced into a picturesque town where everyone knows everyone and the introduction of a new strange character will have the whole town talking. As Rodger Ebert said "He is intended, I think, as an everyman, a universal figure like one of the silent movie clowns, who exists on a different plane from the people he meets in his adventures." (Rodger Ebert 1990)

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One of the visually enticing features within this movie is all down to the production designer, Bo Welch, who was responsible for the design of this picturesque town in which the film is set. The brightly coloured town which appears to be based on the 60s, with the classic retro pieces of furniture and the houses all brightly coloured and all on different colour schemes to help define the residents individuality. The look and feel of the town is very artificial. The way in which there is this quite town where everyone is stuck in their ways and has their routines down. Then in the background of this town we see a big dark, eerie house on top of an out of place mountain. The people in the town rarely even seem to acknowledge the existence of this place, Edwards home, during the start of the film but as it goes on so does the use of this part of the town. Which some people believe is used to represent the dark side of this quaint little town. As Peter Travers said "lives in a dark, musty mansion overlooking a small town of pastel-colored tract houses." (Peter Travers 1990)



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The way in which Edward acts within the film is how you would expect a 'person' who has been in isolation for almost off of their life to act. He has had no interaction with a human for how many years after his creator had passed away. We see this in a dramatic flashback scene where Edward was finally about to receive his hands. When first entering the society of this town Edward is the talk of the town, something new to disrupt the repetitive lives of the people who live in the town. Everyone wants to meet him and after first meeting him they all want to be friends with him, the new, strange person who in reality isn't even a person. Throughout the story we see the views on Edward change very quickly as the towns people start to loose their obsession with the towns new feature and they start to realize Edwards strange behavior and even though his intentions are always in the right place. Being the shy and timid person that he is, he is always seen as the bad guy because of his odd features, his hands, which people see more as weapons then Edwards actual hands. As said by Desson Howe "Those blades turn out to be Rodin-tested when it comes to lonely women's hairdos, poodles and garden shrubbery. But they're not so good with people; he keeps hurting himself and others unintentionally." (Desson Howe 1990)

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Throughout the film we see an attraction from Edward towards Kim, the daughter of the Peg, the woman who took Edward in. Edward and his somewhat primitive mind at points seems infatuated with Kim almost from before the two characters even meet, when we see Edwards admiring a picture of Kim when he first enters Peg's house. As the film goes on we can see a sense of caring start to build within Kim but it seems more of a sympathy rather then of attraction. What helped push lovers storyline between Edward and Kim was Kim's boyfriend Jim. Jim is seen as the antagonist in this film, always treating Edward like he's less of a person and picks on him. This backfires on him as it pushes Kim away from him and towards Edward. This is another factor that builds tension between Jim and Edward. All of this tension builds up to its boiling point in the final scenes where a fight between Jim and Edward takes place. The result of this fight is a rather anti climactic ending for the film. As Jim threatens Kim which leads to Edwards protecting her and stabbing Jim with his hands.

This very shortly results in the end of the film, with Edwards staying in the original old dark mansion at the top of the cliff in which he was found in but in a different way than before as after the experience he is portrayed as more human then as previously seen.

Bibliography

Ebert. R 1990 - http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/edward-scissorhands-1990 

Travers. P 1990 - http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/edward-scissorhands-19901214

Howe. D 1990 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/edwardscissorhandspg13howe_a0b2c5.htm

Images

Fig 1 - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3b/Edwardscissorhandsposter.JPG

Fig 2 - http://modern-vinyl.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Edward-Scissorhands.jpg

Fig 3 -https://roisinmcloughlin.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/castle1-500x3122.jpg

Fig 4 -https://fogsmoviereviews.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/edward_scissorhands_haircut1.png