Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

Tim Burton: An Auteur?

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Tim Burton: An Auteur? 'My movies just sort of ended up being representative of the way I am' - Burton In Hollywood, where film making is a business ruled by profit and loss columns, and respect and admiration are bestowed upon film-makers by virtue of their films' box-office success. Tim Burton is considered to be a genius blessed by the Midas touch. But while his films have to date reaped nearly a billion dollars worldwide, they are as far from being slaves to common-denominator commercialism or audience demographics as Burton himself is to fully embracing the Hollywood mainstream in which he has rather uneasily existed throughout his career. ...read more.

Middle

Themes present in his work: 1. Characters are generally outsiders, misunderstood and misperceived, misfits very often encumbered by some degree of duality. - Batman and Batman Returns deeply disturbed, deeply psychological, full of frustration and characters with major personality disorders, including the hero himself. (Danger of making big-budget movies, interested in things he relates to.) - Pee Wee Herman - alienation as a theme trying to find his bicycle. - Dark Knight (not a comic book fan) disturbed alienated split personality emotional connection - Edward Scissorhands (most personal connection to a character in his films) outsider figures in society. - Nightmare Before Christmas - misception, isolation and longing. ...read more.

Conclusion

- He was moderately destructive as a child, ripping off heads of toys and terrorizing other children. - Would seek refuge in cinemas on his own watching horror films. Hammer Horrors - Sleepy Hollow, casting Christopher Lee from Dracula. - Huge fan of Vincent Price and actor - Vincent and Ed Wood - Price contributed the narrator in Vincent. 3. Symbolic icons in his films are recognisable. -black and white stripes are seen in almost every single one of his films - especially in clothing - Edward Scissorhands, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory etc. ?? ?? ?? ?? Beth Tim Burton Auteur Themes 2005 ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our University Degree Film Studies section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Here's what a teacher thought of this essay


This is the beginning of an interesting analysis of Burton's style and thematic preoccupations. It raises some interesting points, but is somewhat lacking in detail.

I would have liked a much more considered analysis, for instance, of the strong role of childhood fantasy in all of his films, some attempt to approach exactly what it is that alienates his characters from "normal society".

I'd also have liked to have seen some reflection upon the relationship of the fantasies that drive Burton's films to their wider cultural context, specially the "dream factory" of Hollywood itself, if only because such an analysis might challenge the author's contention that Burton's dreamscapes are something radically new or different from the mainstream... I'm not saying it's a false hypothesis, I'm saying it needs a considered defense that is aware of the evidence to the contrary.

This brief list of lists is the skeleton of a good and insightful essay, but it is not yet that essay.

2 stars

Marked by teacher Govinda Dickman 10/09/2013

Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related University Degree Film Studies essays

  1. How Do films Tell Stories?

    show and it looks natural, this is a typical feature of a high concept film.

  2. Cinematographic techniques used in the film 'Taxi Driver'.

    This shot illustrates Travis's fear of not only black people but also the scum. Duration shots are very useful when a director is trying to illustrate the characters state of mind. There are many examples of this throughout his movie such as when Travis visits the shooting range near the end of the movie.

  1. Film Analysis - Edward Scissorhands - by Tim Burton

    The kitsch pastel colors and uniform shapes of the suburban houses differ completely from the derelict castle which can be associated with the conventional horror film image of the`haunted house�. The suburban world is apparently perfect with its cloudless blue sky, spotless houses, well-kept gardens and sereotypical inhabitants who are contrasted with the imperfection of the unfinished Edward.

  2. The representation of black culture in contemporary Hollywood films, in response to Spike Lee's ...

    (Pieterse, 1992, p.132). The black face tradition began in the early 1800's on stage, with white actors using burnt corks to darken their skins, and makeup to give the impression of big lips and large eyes, thus allowing them to portray black slaves, often as childlike and lazy.

  1. Write a film review of 'Spirited Away' directed by Miyazakiand write comments on the ...

    In the Japanese version, Rumi Hiiragi voices Chihiro, and Daveigh Chase being her English counterpart, both skilfully communicate Chihiro's determination and bright outlook. Spirited Away draws loosely on Japanese mythology and a never-ending imagination to create a small yet elaborate universe inhabited by all types of creatures.

  2. Costume design in the Hollywood musical, Funny Face (1956).

    It is very clear that the main theme of this movie is fashion. The contemporary costumes in the fifties are featured in the movie, and the fashionable women's costumes are presented as the main subject in some musical numbers. The main title, the musical number of 'Think Pink', the scenes

  1. 'Bend It Like Beckham'.

    as it is her sisters wedding but her dad gives in and lets jess go in time for the second half she plays. At the end of the game the scout wants jewls and jess to go and play professionally in America jess really wants to go and her parents eventually allow her to go.

  2. How does the contemporary femme fatale differ (if at all) from the femme fatal ...

    The score by Jerry Goldsmith harks back to noir (including a few jazz inspired notes) and the earlier scores of Bernard Hermann. Venetian blinds slice through many scenes and the colour palette in the set and costume design uses black and white to invert the themes of good and evil.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work