Elkins Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy

http://fictionworms.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/ahern-ps-love-you.jpg?w=640

One poem that really stood out for me was “James.” It is only two lines (short and sweet), and centers around one of the simplest of actions: Santa offering a teddy bear to a little boy named James. However, Burton gave the story a twist and said that James had been “mauled by a grizzly earlier that year,” making this simple good deed of Santa’s an unknowingly cruel one. The picture is even telling, showing a down-on-his-luck boy with a mauled eye (presumably from the bear) being given a toy bear. I can imagine that James is feeling a sense of abandonment as this figure that supposedly cares for all is seemingly mocking his predicament.  The picture reminds me of The Nightmare before Christmas, where a man (or skeleton) wanting to do good for others instead ends up causing a crisis. This may be a stretch, but I can see how James might feel alone in his current state, as a jolly man that supposedly brightens children’s’ lives makes light of his situation.

As for Jung’s archtypes, I do not see how any of them might perfectly apply in this situation. I can, however, see how Santa might be a Wise Man/Sage. It would require looking at the figure of Santa in a different light from the one I cast in the first paragraph, but, if one were to imagine Santa as knowing all (thus knowing about James’s bear attack), then giving James the teddy bear might not be so much a gesture of mocking him so much as a gesture of telling James to “toughen up.” It could be read as a way to tell James (albeit harshly) that life can be tough and that it is best to stare life’s challenges right in the eyes and laugh. Or, it could be that James already tried laughing at and staring a bear in its eyes and was mauled for that reason. The teddy bear could be Santa’s way of saying “bears are not all that bad – like this one, for instance.” Maybe it is something entirely different.  Whatever the case may be, Burton is trying to deliver some sort of profound message (a message that could, in fact, state that not all bears are bad).

Elkins Mardi Gras

http://bigfishpresentations.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Mardi-Gras-3.jpg

I have lived in Louisiana all my life and was indoctrinated into Mardi Gras at a very young age. However, from what I have heard (I was not able to be in New Orleans during Mardi Gras), there is a huge difference between my experiences and what New Orleans offers – mainly in the degree of what one can get away with, which is what I want to blog about.

            In social psychology, I have learned that when a person is in a group where all are wearing masks (making it difficult to identify one single person), then that person is more prone to behave in a way that he/she would never do under normal circumstances. In Mardi Gras, this effect is very much in play with the practice of masks and parades. Also, there is the fact that Mardi Gras takes place right before the Catholic tradition of Lent (a very restrictive time), so people are much more desperate to get in as much as possible before being made to restrict themselves.

            Do not get me wrong, I enjoy Mardi Gras well enough. I enjoy the sights and the spectacles, but I also think that there is a dark side to it that goes unnoticed a lot of the time. I hear of people fighting for Mardi Gras beads (and of people getting injured from these fights), which normally, people would not really give a second glance (at least, I do not). I know that drunken people do many crazy things with no thought to responsibility, which I know is somewhat part of the fun.

            This somewhat darker side of Mardi Gras is present in many of Tim Burton’s films. For example, in Edward Scissorhands, one person is not enough to confront him, but, when it becomes a bunch of housewives and their husbands, they create enough of a force to drive “the monster” away (showing that one sole person does not have to have all of the blame). In Beetlejuice, Betegeuse uses carnival tactics in order to scare away the Deetses, and to “put on a show.” I am not sure what Burton is trying to say in these scenes, but I have a feeling that he is critical of how the normal person celebrates in the Carnival atmosphere.    

Elkins Edward Scissorhands

http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/23300000/Edward-Scissorhands-edward-scissorhands-23334084-1140-1200.jpg

Fairy tales are no strangers to using violence in their stories to teach a moral. However, more often than not, they usually take place in some far-away place. This is not the case with Edward Scissorhands, which makes the violence in fairy tales all too real.

Edward Scissorhands is not your typical fairy tale. In fact, the only real things it takes from a run of the mill fairy tale are a mysterious castle (which blends kind of awkwardly with the suburban setting of the rest of the movie), a book-end type of framing, and a so-called “monster” that no one really understands. Edward’s creation is pulled straight out of the confines of a fairy tale world – he is in the middle of human and creature, and no one really knows how to react to him.

Edward, as the story progresses, gets taken in by a more or less friendly family and, by the end of it, becomes known to be a murderous monster by the suburban families (except for the family that takes him in). What goes on in between those two events is a commentary on human morality – and how it is shown in a more modern setting. The movie asks the question of “Where did all the good people go?” It is a question that most people will likely point to themselves in answer. I, however, think that the “good people” asked about never existed simply because people cannot be categorized as either good or bad.

While I would not say that the suburban townspeople are evil and want anything that is different to go away and die, they do have normal human faults. They use Edward for his creativity and his scissor hands, but, as soon as they are given reason to believe he is a monster through and through, they forget what he has done for them and shun him for the supposed “monster” that he is made out to be.

I think Burton has shown us a unique new perspective on the fairy tale that is fairly ironic. Burton manages to make the typical monster that has nothing but hate for those it terrorizes (seen in countless fairy tales) the townspeople, and he manages to make the innocent thing being terrorized the so-called “monster” – Edward Scissorhands.