Edward Scissorhands

Edward Scissorhands is a movie written with Caroline Thompson and directed by Tim Burton released in 1990. The movie (which Burton describes as very personal) is a fable set in an exaggerated stereotype vision of the United States that intentionaly combines cliches from both the 1950s and late 1980s. It also has a central theme of the isolated, misunderstood major character; a theme that shows up in a lot of Tim Burton's work. It stars Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder. Further, many of the motifs and much of the plot from the 1931 film Frankenstein are reprised in Edward Scissorhands.

Motifs and Themes

The plot of Edward Scissorhands bears resemblances to Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, inasmuch as Edward is an artificially created man; however, such similarities to the novel are limited (for example, no conflict occurs between the creator and the created being, in contrast to a central theme of Shelley's Frankenstein). Rather, Edward Scissorhands follows more closely the plot of the 1931 motion picture Frankenstein in that Edward, a creature without malice or knowledge of deception, is naïve to the selfish, malicious, deceitful, and fearful nature of his human hosts. As a result, an innocent mistake by Edward is interpreted as a malicious act by the people of the neighborhood, and leads to his ultimate "destruction" by a crowd of those Edward had trusted and had thought of as friends, but whose apparent friendship may only ever have been a mask for their underlying fear and misunderstanding of Edward.

Related Topics:
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein

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Danny Elfman, who composed the film's score, likewise refers to work done on Edward Scissorhands as his most personal creation.

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Similarities and common plot developments are also seen between Edward Scissorhands and the classic story Beauty and the Beast; in both, a misunderstood and visually frightening (but nonetheless emotionally sensitive) "beast" earns the affection of the lead female character, only to be eventually attacked by a lynch mob of townspeople. From there, it is easy to find a parallel between "Edward Scissorhands" and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of The Phantom of the Opera. For while Erik the Phantom is a considerably less naive character, capable of malice and obsession, the climax of "Edward Scissorhands", in which Kim breaks a scissored implement from one of the scientist's machines and holds it up when the lynch mob arrives as proof of his "death" bears a striking resemblance to the final moments of "The Phantom of the Opera", in which the character of Meg Giry produces the Phantom's mask to that lynch mob (and the audience), to tell them that the unhappy man is gone forever.

Related Topics:
Lynch mob - The Phantom of the Opera

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