Edward Scissorhands Movie Analysis Essay Example

The film Edward Scissorhands directed by Tim Burton is a  horror, romance, fantasy, and science fiction film. Being the first of nine collaborations with Johnny Depp this film was the revisionist take on Frankenstein.

Edward Scissorhands is about an artificial man that is discovered alone in a castle by Pegg Boggs, an Avon salesperson while trying to sell makeup products. Covered in cuts, messy hair, and scissors for hands Pegg senses that Edward can do no purposeful harm and decides to bring him home with her. Given clothes and a bed to sleep in Edward gets along with Kevin and Bill, Pegg’s son and husband. Seeing that Bill is out in the yard, Edward goes to join him and begins to cut the hedges. The end result is a dinosaur and he begins to gain recognition around town. He also ends up cutting human hair and dog fur. Edward is finally beginning to fit in and everyone loves him. One may be a little too much, Joyce a stay-at-home wife who first tries to seduce the plumber at the beginning of the film chooses Edward as her next victim. Citing his ability to cut hair Joyce offers to help open a hair salon for Edward. While touring the salon space Joyce brings Edward to the back and begins to strip. He rushes out completely scared. Kim is Pegg’s daughter, she got home from school, most likely college when Edward first arrived. Kim’s boyfriend is Jim, Jim wants money to buy a new van but needs help to break into his father’s office. Knowing that Edward can pick locks, Jim lies to Edward and says that he just needed help getting some stuff that people stole from his house. Edward agrees and along with all of Kim’s friends he picks the lock. The alarm rang and everyone was able to escape other than him. Edward is arrested and the whole town is starting to see him differently. Still upset that she wasn't able to seduce Edward, she comes forward and claims that he tried to rape her. Edward is released because he was kept in isolation for so long impacting his ability to tell right from wrong. The town distances themselves from Edward and the whole Boggs family. During Christmas, Edward creates an ice sculpture, the shavings that fall down imitate snow and Kin begins to dance in them. Jim comes barging in trying to make amends with Kim and Edward ends up accidentally slicing her hands. Jim creates a commotion and Edwards runs away. Jim and Kim have officially broken up and he heads into his van to drink with his friend. Jim makes his friend who has also been drinking to drive and they almost hit Kevin. Edward pushed Kevin out of the way and ends up also hurting him. At this point, the whole neighborhood is out of their houses and everyone is terrified of Edward. When the police arrive, he heads up to his castle and they don’t even attempt to catch him. Instead, the police officer fires bullets hoping that the community thinks that Edward to dead. They don’t believe it but would not dare to go check. Except for Kim, she heads up to the castle and finds Edward, they confess their feelings for each other. Jim followed Kim up and begins to attack Edward, they fight until the roof caves in onto top of Jim. Kim heads back and tells the townspeople that Jim and Edward both died fighting each other and holds up a scissors hand.

The protagonist, Edward, is being introduced into a society where he doesn’t know how to behave. While learning the means of everyday life such as cooking, Edward is triggered by the can opener. He is reminded of the factory where he was created and how they also made cookies. This makes him begin to trust people in the suburban town because he knew that they had good intentions. Edward begins to feel comfortable in the neighborhood until Joyce seduces him unsuccessfully and is found in Jim’s house. Edward realizes that he just doesn’t fit there despite only wanting to help.

The plot was surprisingly something that I did not remember a few days after. I actually had to watch the film three times in its entirety in order to complete this paper. This was odd because I was able to remember more complicated plots even weeks after the first watch. However, the plot is important because it could be very relatable to people who struggled with or are currently struggling to fit into society.

Edward Scissorhands is probably the first film in which a framing device was used. The beginning was the same as the end. It also has a fish out of water theme, in which the main character is in an environment that is completely new to them. Tim Burton’s personal style was also in full effect. Tim used a variety of bright colors to represent how different the town and Edward were in the film.

This was a film that I thought I was going to like more than I actually did. It seemed boring at some points and there wasn’t much happening that captured my attention. I think that if there were more side story’s happening it would intrigue the attention more. But, I do think that it is a good film just not something that I would go for my choice.