Elkins Ed Wood

http://www.thefilmyap.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ed-wood-inside31.jpg

Let me start off by just saying that I thoroughly enjoyed Buton’s Ed Wood. I thought it was well-done and really brought me in like a sort-of drug. With that said, I absolutely hated watching what I could of Plan 9 from Outer Space. I understand that it is supposed to be terrible and that it is supposedly the “best B-movie of all time,” but I could only get through about thirty minutes before I had to start asking myself, “What am I doing?” Taking the risk of sounding arrogant, but I truly think (in this rare case) that I could do a better job. But that is not the point of this blog. I want to talk about three elements of Burton’s Ed Wood that pay homage to what Wood was doing in his films.

In his films, Wood was following his own vision, delving into what he loved, and using what he could to complete his films. In Ed Wood, Burton showed how desperate Wood was to “make it big.” He got the frugal amounts of money from wherever he could and tried to live his dream however he could. All he wanted to do was live out his vision (even though one would have a difficult time arguing that his vision was 20/20) and he did just that. I am reminded of the scene where Wood meets the great Orson Welles (incomparable in success) who tells him to just do what he loves, and not to let anyone else get in the way of that.

I do like how Burton included the filming of some of the scenes of Wood’s actual movies (such as the graveyard scenes from Plan 9 from Outer Space). It seemed to me that the scenes from Burton’s movie looked a lot faker than those in Wood’s actual movie – sort of like Burton saying, “You know, guys, it could have been worse.” I think Burton did this for no other reason than that the movie would not be Ed Wood’s life if there were no scenes of him actually filming his masterpieces. And when I say masterpieces, I am talking from Wood’s perspective.