ELTHAM HIGH SCHOOL ANTHOLOGY   

Tim Burton’s film, Edward Scissorhands explores loneliness and isolation with Edward’s mansion, and the time he spends there.

 

The dark lighting on the inside of the mansion induces a feeling of creepiness in the audience, along with the vast, desaturated rooms, covered in cobwebs and dirt. The huge hole in the roof of the attic shows that the house is not being taken care of. The castle is far away from the town, implying it is isolated because it doesn’t fit in with the nearby town. The topiary in the garden is painstakingly detailed, suggesting that the creator has a lot of time on their hands. The newspaper cutouts stuck to Edward’s bedroom alcove show his longing for human contact.

 

The dark dreary mansion has a dead, lonely aura. The robotic contraptions coated with cobwebs add to this feeling, as it implies that the person that lives in this mansion is too lonely and depressed to clean their house, or they perhaps don’t understand the concept of cleaning. This applies to Edward, he is deprived of human contact, and he only wants to be like other people, and he does not understand many human concepts and customs. The hand topiary in the center of the garden emphasizes his longing to have human hands, so he is no longer stuck with giant blades instead of fingers.

 

Tim Burton’s use of dreary lighting and props show that Edward has a lonely and sad existence in his mansion, and all he wants is to have friends and family, and to have a pair of human hands, so people will not fear him.