Settings In Edward Scissorhands

Tim Burton is famous for his unique cinematic style in films such as Edward Scissorhands, and his renditions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland. In these three films, I will focus on the extreme contrast between the settings, and what that leads the viewer to assume as they watch the movie. Many elements in his films are deceiving at a first glance, but once you get another perspective, their true natures are revealed. In Alice in Wonderland, Burton introduces Alice in a rich, privileged world where she is being forced to marry someone. Saturated colors and lush greenery surrounds each person, and everyone is clothed in white. However, when Alice falls into Wonderland, Burton uses an establishing shot of the garden

In one particular scene, Burton uses an establishing shot of the neighborhood in the foreground, and the mansion in the distant background. The mansion itself is almost a silhouette, just because it’s so black compared to the bright popping yellows, blues, and pinks of the houses in the town. Not only does this set up parallels to Edward’s character, it produces a similar effect to the techniques used in Alice in Wonderland. Ideas are planted in the audiences head that whatever is in the mansion is the villain, and the neighborhood is safe, purely based on the color choices. Not having watched the entire movie, it’s a perfectly reasonable estimate that the happy little town is the protagonist and the spooky mansion is the antagonist, but that is just another way Burton’s style shines through. He builds up all of this tension that Edward is the thing to be feared, and the audience believes it. However, once you see both sides of the story, you start to root against the neighbors and cheer for Edward. In Burton’s settings, colors and extreme contrast in establishing shots add to this common theme of misleading good and bad things. We can’t always tell what is right or wrong, which leads us to do things we probably shouldn’t, like what the neighbors