Text: Tuanzi sister
Edward Scissorhands is Tim Burton's most famous gothic fantasy film, with a fairytale romantic and tragic ending.
In 1991, the film won many awards such as the 63rd Academy Awards and the 18th Saturn Awards for Best Fantasy Film, with a Douban score of 8.7 points.
As a landmark work in the history of contemporary Gothic cinema, after many years, it is still a classic in the minds of many people.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > film style: a strong Gothic style, creating a unique film and television atmosphere and effect</h1>
Gothic cinema is a style of cinematic culture, derived from Gothic literature and Gothic music, whose style is lonely, dark, gloomy but full of yearning for beauty.
Tim Burton is an internationally renowned ghost director and the culminator of contemporary gothic films, and Edward Scissorhands is a classic masterpiece of his gothic style films.
01 Gothic movie plot and themes
"Edward Scissorhands" is like a strange, dark, sad, lonely adult fairy tale. The film tells the sad love story of Edward, a robot with scissor hands, and the human girl Jin who falls in love but cannot keep each other, and the experience of being questioned, slandered, and hurt in the process of getting along with humans, from initial popularity to later being questioned, slandered, and hurt.
The storyline of the movie is fantastic and absurd, with robots and people getting along as the theme, under the surface of fairy tale love, the essence is intended to profoundly show the good and evil of human nature, beauty and ugliness, gain and loss. The theme of the whole film is distinct, full of discussion and reflection on the good and evil of human nature, and the gothic essence runs through the whole film.
02 Gothic movie scenes
Shortly after the beginning of the film, a dark and secluded deserted castle with a large panorama suddenly created a mysterious atmosphere of the film. The heavy stone walls of the castle, the dusty iron gates, the gray light in the castle and the cold scissor hand that lives in the castle, the pale and bloodless Edward....... All the sets and characters have very obvious gothic elements, which quickly transport the audience into this gothic magic world.
In stark contrast to the grey castle, there is a fairytale-like town at the foot of the mountain, with bright colors and soft light.
However, after watching the movie, you will find that Edward, who lives in the desolate castle of the forest, has a pure and beautiful heart like a child. And the seemingly colorful, bright and beautiful town full of laughter and laughter is secretly full of snooping, speculation, misunderstanding, conspiracy and even evil.
The director uses two different film scenes, the dark castle and the brightly colored town, to contrast and show cold and warmth, good and evil, evil and good, dark and light, the contrast is sharp and strong - this is the consistent style of Gothic films.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > mirror imagery: through the clever and flexible use of mirrors, the rich meaning and connotation of the film are displayed</h1>
Mirrors, in the film, have artistic functions such as changing the narrative perspective, constructing a multidimensional space of the image, and deepening psychological experience. Many films use mirrors as a medium to show the richer meaning of the film. The movie "Edward Scissorhands" also shows a richer connotation through several clever and precise use of mirrors.
01 Automotive rearview mirrors: cut space, create space and psychological distance
Peg, an Avon salesman, saw a dark and towering castle in the rearview mirror of her car after repeatedly hitting a wall in the town salesman, so she plucked up the courage to break into the castle to try her luck.
With the help of the mirror prop of "car rearview mirror", the film cleverly divides the castle and town that originally belonged to the same spatial structure into two different worlds, "on the mountain" and "under the mountain", creating a sense of alienation between the world inside the castle and the outside world, making the castle more mysterious and distant.
And this kind of space cutting realized by the mirror also metaphorically describes the difference in identity and psychological estrangement between Edward's robot and the ordinary residents living in the town, that is, one side is "human" and the other party is "non-human", and the opposition of this identity and the indissoluble distance of human nature also pave the way for the development of the subsequent plot.
02 Mirror Edward: A metaphor for the appeal and desire of the inner psychology of the character
Edward saw himself for the first time in the mirror at Peg's house, the familiar but strange self. The "self" in the mirror does not look much different from the real "human" person, except for the pair of different scissor hands, which represent his "robot" identity.
According to the structuralist psychoanalyst Lacan, the image of the subject obtained in the mirror image is an "ideal me", and this "ideal me" constitutes the root of all secondary identity processes, that is, later people use this image as the basis for self-identification.
However, for Edward, this self-identification and self-identity confirmation is difficult to achieve: the "me" in his ideal mirror is a real person, while the real "me" outside the mirror is a robot, that is, "non-human", and the real self and the "ideal me" in the mirror are split and inconsistent.
In the mirror, Edward's shy, curious, confused, and at the same time with excited, happy expression conveys his complex and delicate inner world at that time. Through the use of this element of the mirror, it is a metaphor for Edward's inner appeal and desire: he is lonely, longing for the warmth of the world and the confirmation of his own identity, looking forward to becoming a real human being, realizing the identity transformation of "robot-man", being accepted, being recognized, and truly integrating into the human world.
So he attends parties and agrees to come into contact with doctors, all in order to change his identity as a robot and thus become a member of the human community.
03 The Unreal (Symbolic) Mirror: Edward himself is a mirror that reflects the complexity of human nature
In addition to the use of physical mirror props, in my opinion, the director has a strange idea, and he even uses Edward directly as a virtual mirror to reflect the ugliness and evil of human nature.
Although Edward looks strange, he has the kindest, beautiful and pure heart, and his existence is like a clear mirror, reflecting the various beings of the people in the town, and clearly reflecting the selfishness, hypocrisy and evil of the townspeople, so Edward's encounter is actually an image of people's hearts.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > theme presented: under the shell of poignant love, loneliness and alienity are the eternal themes that the director really wants to express</h1>
The beautiful, sincere love between Edward and King has touched too many people. The eternal sadness and regret of loving but not being able to love each other but not keeping each other has made too many people cry for it.
However, if you think that director Tim Burton only shows the poignancy and regret of love in the film, it is too underestimated to look at his ambition and ability.
In fact, under the beautiful and touching shell of fairy tale love, loneliness and alienity are the eternal themes he wants to show at a deep level.
01 Loneliness may be the norm of life, but every lonely person looks forward to love, understanding, and warmth in loneliness
Tim Burton is arguably the face of loneliness, much of which stems from his childhood experiences.
He was born into a terrible family of origin. As a child, his room did not know why, and was nailed to a lot of wooden planks by his grumpy parents, and he only had two thin slits to see the outside world. The lack of father's love and mother's love, coupled with poor grades and almost no friends, such a closed childhood experience has made him live in loneliness and loneliness all the time.
Like Edward in the movie, the scientist who created him has passed away, he lives alone in a great castle, isolated from the world, with no friends and no relatives. Coming to the town, but not at odds with others, is an outlier in the eyes of others, he wants to fit in but is not truly accepted. Later, I met Jin who understood him and understood him, and felt the sweetness and warmth of love, but I could not stay together, and could only return to the castle again, falling into deeper pain and loneliness.
In reality, there are too many people who are not understood and accepted by their peers, lack of people who really understand themselves, and everyone has their own loneliness. It is precisely because of this that it will trigger the emotional resonance of so many people. Yes, at some point, we are all lonely "Edward".
However, Edward in the film is so eager for love, understanding and warmth, eager to achieve a connection with the outside world. So, when Pegg stumbled into the castle where he lived and wanted to leave, he said "don't go"; when Pegg brought him to his home, he was filled with curiosity and joy; he struggled to adapt to the life of the town, to be kind to people, hoping to be liked and accepted by the townspeople; he fell in love with Kim, who gave him warmth and understanding, and was willing to do anything for Him.
All of this makes us feel how much the lonely Edward longs to love and be loved, to the warmth, understanding and acceptance of the world.
The director integrates loneliness into his films, as if to say: loneliness is the normal state of life. But at the same time, it also conveys a message through the movie: even if you are in loneliness, every lonely person has a deep desire and expectation for family, friendship and love.
02 Perhaps, each of us is Edward, don't easily lose your scissor hand
What the group pursues and believes in has never been truth and reason, but blind obedience, cruelty, paranoia and fanaticism, knowing only simple and extreme feelings. - "The Ragged Crowd"
Edward, in contrast to the ordinary people of the town, was undoubtedly a strange being, an absolute outlier.
In this town, as the most special being, he was lonely. Although the desire to be recognized and accepted, this road is so bumpy and difficult.
In the town, the inhabitants were curious about him at first, he was so different, with a pair of scissor hands. Later, Edward helped everyone to do various things, and the townspeople were happy to associate with him. However, just because of a misunderstanding, a farce, everyone pointed the finger at him, regarded him as a "demon", he was slandered, hurt, and excluded.
Only the Peg family, who truly loved him and hurt him, only Kim saw the lonely heart and beautiful soul under his strange appearance. For the vast majority of the town's residents, he was always an outlier, a different existence from himself. So they were full of fear, speculation and distrust of Edward. Edward can cut beautiful gardening with scissors, but he can never cut off the uneasiness and misunderstanding of the world. He tried to change himself in order to be accepted but failed. In the end, he could only return to his castle again, carving beautiful ice sculptures for his beloved girl, and ice sculptures flew down from the ancient castle on the mountain and raised snowflakes.
Human society, for the outlier, is always an attitude of scrutiny and reservation, never really accepted, prejudice has always existed. Gustav Le Pen has long told us in The Ragtag Crowd that groups are blind and extreme. People are unwilling to understand "aliens", as a small number of people's "outliers", often not recognized and accepted by society.
And the role of Edward, in a sense, is also the inner portrayal of director Tim Burton.
Because of the poor and gloomy growth environment and experience in childhood, the director has a strange personality, autism and stubbornness, and is also an outlier and freak in the eyes of many people.
In The Misdemeanor in Hollywood, Tim Burton talks about his thoughts on Edward Scissorhands: "In that environment, you either cut off most of your personality and are assimilated, or you have a self-enclosed life and make yourself feel free from the crowd."
However, Tim Burton did not give up on himself, did not cut off all his personality to gain the acceptance and recognition of secular society, but chose to face all loneliness and doubt, and insisted and worked hard alone.
During that long period of doubtful and ridiculed loneliness, he always persisted silently. Later, he went to Disney to work as an animator. Later, because he got a chance, he began to work as a director and direct his own films. Since then, his films have been liked and recognized by more and more people, and his life has also gone to a broader world.
Perhaps, each of us is Edward, and we all once had a pair of scissor hands. However, in the process of growing up, when we see the doubtful and speculative eyes of the people around us, when we are not understood and recognized, many of us slowly lose our pair of scissor hands. There may be pain and entanglement, but in order to better adapt to society, in order to better integrate into the crowd, we still lose part of the original "self" and become an ordinary member of all sentient beings, with similar looks and faces on the outside, convergent ideas and pursuits on the inside, and live a similar life like others.
And the director wants to tell us: many times, please don't be so anxious to lose your scissor hand. Even being a so-called "outlier" and "freak" in the eyes of others does not mean that you have to completely change yourself and erase your original characteristics. Sometimes it is "different" from the people around you, the so-called "freaks", but it may open up a wider world for your life. Blindly pandering to others and pleasing the world may make you completely lose yourself and let your life fall into a more confused and difficult situation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > written at the end</h1>
The film "Edward Scissorhands" has a rich spiritual core, telling not only fairy tale love, but also the exploration of complex human nature, as well as the profound display of human loneliness and alien themes.
It makes you want to relive and reminisce again and again, and every time you see it, you will have different feelings and understandings. Perhaps, this is the magic of a good movie, but also the power of classics.