Anastos Blogspot: Edward Scissorhands (1990): Review

Figure 1: Film Poster

The film shows the story of an artificial man named Edward, who is an unfinished creation with scissors instead of hands. Edward is a weird and a different person who tries to fit the society. The film has received many awards and has been a financial success. The movie has been characterized as Tim Burton’s personal film. “Edward Scissorhands also serves as a classic parable, a mythic fairytale about the lonely, misunderstood and alienated artist. Burton has invested each and every of his pictures with the pain of the adolescent outcast, the outsider who just couldn't fit in." (Levy, 2005). The film contains many theatrical scenes and also gothic scenes. “His gothic tones always mask a feeling of wonder and an endearing love for everything that is possible in life and death” (Cabin, 2005).

Figure 2: The Gothic mansion

The film starts with an elderly woman describing to her granddaughter the story of a young man Edward who had scissors instead of hands. He was a creation of an inventor where he didn't make it to give him real hands because of a heart attack.

Figure 3: Edward with his creator and the real hands scene

During the movie we see some flashbacks with Edward and his creator. The film is quite perfect and has very good concept art design. Also we can see that the film has a flavor of European expressionism. Peg Bog a salesman visits the Gothic mansion in the neighborhood and finds Edward. She decides to take him home. After making a home with the Boggs, Edward starts to have feelings for their daughter Kim and falls in love with her. The neighborhood s are really excited about him and about his “talent” he has, the scissors. “Burton shows a fascination with the unusual and the bizarre that urges you to look closer rather than turn away in disgust and it’s not just because of the humanity underlying the deformed exterior.” (Biodrowski, 2000).

Figure 4: Edward sculpting the Bogg family

Figure 5: Edward giving Peg a haircut

The Boggs live in a rigid middle-class suburban neighborhood where everybody is curious about Edward. The meet him , and Edward uses his hands to cut their hair and even sculpture their bushes. By virtue of his scissorhands he can touch others, but only through his art. They are only interested to Edward only for his deformation. In the end a couple of incidents happen. Edward is in a difficult position and goes away furious and scared back to his Gothic mansion in top of the neighborhoods hill. The whole neighborhood is against him and goes to his Gothic mansion up in the hill to deal with him. “The main thrust of the fable is exposing the exotic gentle freak to the boring middle-class suburbs and seeing how they relate to each other, with the monster being the sympathetic innocent and society being the one to fear because of its evil nature.”

(Schwartz, 2008). The movie questions Christianity and people who tend to be good at Christmas time. In the end the film ends with Edward kissing Kim, and the elderly woman finishing her story to her granddaughter revealing that she is Kim and the reason why it snows is because Edward sculptures ice and creates snow.