Dupuis: Frankenweenie

Weird Girl

Choosing between a live action film and a stop-motion animated film is not hard when it comes to the content of the film. When it comes to Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, I think he makes the right choice by re-making it in stop-motion. The 1984 version of Frankenweenie is limited by the emotions and laws of nature whereas the 2012 stop-motion animated Frankenweenie can be anything it wants to be. The basis of film I think screams for stop-motion. The 1984 film seemed restricted by the normality of life, when the film is based on a larger than life element; I think it just makes sense for the film to be outside the boundaries of life. The stop-motion allows for there to be other monsters but also allows the characters to be how I think Burton imagined them to be, considering Staring Girl was a member of the animated cast. Personally I did not like the live action 1984 short film. I had other problems with it other than the live actors and the effect that had on the characters. First off, the film was too short and did not allow for much context about the relationship between Victor and Sparky. Second, the short film does not deal with death in any way. After Sparky is killed, the town brings him back and he is revived right away. The 2012 at least had a little break between when Sparky died again to when he was revived that allowed a little self-reflection and acceptance of death. My final problem with the 1984 film was, of course, the live-action element. Going into the movie I expected animation but when it was not and the actors came out, it felt forced. I did not feel like this is what Burton wanted the film to be, and that caused me to lose interest and dislike the film. But when I saw the 2012 Frankenweenie I knew it was Burton, I could feel it. The emotions were in it more than the 1984. Knowing about Burton’s passion for making stop-motion films, it made the film more like this was Tim Burton’s baby. The stop-motion made the characters more intense. The weird girl could look as weird as Burton wanted her to look. And Edger could have be the strangest, creepiest thing that Burton could imagine. Burton would never have been able to find a character that looked as weird as he wanted Edger to look. These odd characters add to the effect of the film, like the science teacher. Burton got to exaggerate his look because he used stop-motion. Also the monsters that the kids created made the film’s action scene at the end more intense than the 1984 short film. The plot line of the film also makes more sense to have in stop-motion. Victor is bringing his dog back to life because he loves him so much; it sounds more like a bedtime story. The stop-motion gives the effect that this film is a bedtime story coming to life. 

Dupuis: Sweeney Todd

Sweeney Todd

I was surprised how much I felt for Sweeney Todd even though he was killing people and feeding the bodies to other people. It reminded me the TV show Dexter which has a serial killer as the main character; it seems messed up at first but after you watch an episode you are rooting for Dexter to be able to kill and not get caught. I think Burton overcomes the moral revulsion and murder by showing us why Sweeney is angry with the upper class of London before he starts killing people. The audience sees Sweeney’s background of being taken from his family by an upper class-men which shows why he is sad, but the audience is hopefully he can be reunited with his family until he learns that his wife is dead and his daughter was taken. After learning what happened to his family the audience feels angry with Sweeney and they want revenge as much as he does. But after the judge gets away before he is able to kill him, Sweeney is in a very delicate state which Mrs. Lovett takes advantage. Sweeney has all this stored up anger which he cannot do anything with until Mrs. Lovett presents him with an idea to kill more people for meat as a way to get back at the upper class. Sweeney accepts the deal because it is a way for him to get back at the upper class and allows him to release some of his anger. But also, killing others connects him to life, which is the same for Dexter. I think the audience recognizes this in the beginning of the movie which contributes to them being able to connect to Sweeney and see past the murder and cannibalism. Sweeney even fulfills the archetype of a good father and a murder; he is the shadow and the hero. His wanting to kill the judge can be seen as him wanting to protect his daughter from the judge’s unnatural desire to marry Sweeney’s daughter. Sweeney is a sad, murderous, but a relatable character. Everyone feels cheated by life at some time and wants to get back at the people that cheated them. Sweeney just takes people’s buried desires and brings them to the surface.

Dupuis: Big Fish

Edward and Carl

Tim Burton merges the sunny character of Edward Bloom with the darker grotesque characters of the film by using humor. When Edward meets Carl, the giant, the first thing Ed says to the giant is that he is here, before the giant, as a human sacrifice. This is obviously a joke and brings humor to the fact that Ed is standing in front of someone that could crush him if he wanted to. But instead of eating him, Ed tells the giant that he is just too big for this small town and convinces him to go in search for bigger and better things. Edward likes these darker grotesque characters like Carl because they, like Edward, need something more from life. On their search of bigger things, Ed and Carl come across a circus, which brings Ed to another unusual character, the circus owner, Amos Calloway, who happens to be a werewolf. As Ed stands before the werewolf that could eat him any minute, Ed picks up a stick and throws it into the forest, causing the werewolf to go chasing after it like a house dog. This aspect of humor again brings light to this dark scene. Amos Calloway sees Ed as a hard-working man and respects that about him. Ed views Amos Calloway as a man-to-his-word which he also respects about him. People are drawn to people with similar aspects of their life, which Burton shows in Big Fish. Edward is on a search for his life, which brings him on the same path as the giant and the werewolf. The giant is always too big for everything, until he finds the circus, where he fits in perfectly. The werewolf just needs someone to play with, which Edward provides when he plays fetch with him. Everyone is one the search for something, which they may not know until they find it. Edward is on the search for love, he realizes this when he sees his wife for the first time. He did not know he was on the search for love until he saw her. After that, he did everything he could just to get closer and closer to her, including shoveling elephant poop. 

Dupuis: Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy Hollow

The film Sleepy Hollow by Tim Burton takes the original short story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” by Washington Irving and puts a new spin to it, well, a few spins to it. I like both versions of the story of Ichabod and the headless horseman. I think Burton takes the elements of the story individually and creates a whole new story with those elements. He takes the character of Ichabod Crane and gives him a back story that we do not get in the story, which I like. By changing that Ichabod’s mother was a witch and that she died before his eyes, it created a whole new story for that character. In the story we assume that Ichabod had a normal childhood considering there is no special attention given to it in the story. He creates a Batman-like character by adding the element of Ichabod’s mother dying before his eyes in his vivid dreams of his mother. After that he clings to science and technology. There has to be a logical explanation for everything, and there is a reason behind everything. Those are two philosophies of the two characters: Batman and Ichabod. They are both absent of greed, which is unlike the character of Ichabod from the short story, because they know what greed does to the soul.

In the short story, it is not stated directly if Ichabod was in fact chased by the headless horseman, and whether or not the horseman even exists, which I like. But I like Burton’s version of this legend better. He made the horseman real, but he is controlled by someone else, a soul greedy for vengeance. I like how Burton incorporated Irving’s original idea of the greedy soul in the villain, giving the horseman a greedy soul also. The themes of the short story are still there, just in different ways. Both stories have a happy ending, in which the unclean soul is expelled and the people of Sleepy Hollow live on in peace. I do not think Burton just uses the character names to enhance a horror story because the themes of story are still there, just in a different way that, I think, is more accessible to film. If Burton would have kept the original plot the movie would not be as enjoyable I think because I feel the main character is flat. He does not seem to change in the story whereas in the film he leaves Sleepy Hollow with a new outlook on the supernatural and love seeing as he falls in love with the beautiful Katrina Van Tassel, and not for her money.

Dupuis: Planet of the Apes

Planet of the Apes

The way a person reacts to being enslaved says a lot about a person’s character, to fight or not to fight, that is the question. Davidson fights for his freedom because he knows what freedom feels like. In the dinner scene he feels what it is to have your freedom taken away. The apes say that he has no soul. Thade even opens his mouth to look for Davidson’s soul. But is he really fighting to just switch the enslavement back to the apes? Does he really just want to have the power again? If so then, what does that say about his character? When does one cross the line between civil liberties and just fighting for power? Civil liberties in the eyes of the enslaved are freedom, but slavery in the eyes of the slave holders is power over a lesser being. Davidson admits that his world treats animals terribly, just as bad as the humans are treated, but yet he still wants to go back to that world. He is fighting to get back to the world he knows is just as bad as the one he is trapped in. But he cannot stand how he is treated in this world. To be told you do not have a soul is probably the worst feeling in the world, even though Americans said the same things about African Americans in the 1800s. Davidson fights for his soul which makes his character self-righteous. The scene in which the apes are rounding up the humans after violently captured says a lot about the mind-set of the apes and the humans. Judging by the looks on the humans face they definitely do not just accept this, they fight…only to a certain extent though because they know they cannot win. The apes are vicious to the humans because they are afraid of their potential. The humans multiply too quickly and beat the apes in numbers and fighting spirit. The humans want to fight for their freedom, but the apes are too powerful. The humans are involuntarily submissive to the apes because the generations of oppression. The apes want to be powerful, their treatment of the humans demonstrates that, but the humans also want power. They want to be able to live peacefully away from the apes. But history teaches us that the moment anyone gets power, they abuse it. So again, when does granting civil liberties turn into enslavement of the lower species? When does the switch happen? 

Dupuis: Mars Attacks!

Mars Attacking

The movie Mars Attacks by Tim Burton show the president as just a figure-head that does nothing to help the human race. He rarely appears in most of the scenes in which the Martians are attacking to ensure that he stays safe. Mars Attacks almost portrays the president as a coward. The scene in which he dies opens with him crying in the situation room. Also throughout the movie the president is shown to present no ideas about the aliens. He listens to the scientist and just does what the scientist says; whereas, in other science fiction movies the president is seen as the savior through his courage and wisdom. Jack Nicholson counters acts that view by being a coward that just follows what he is told by the person he deems the smartest. In the opening scene of the movie in which the president is talking with all his advisers he gives the scientist all the power in the scene and the president is just seen as a man sitting behind a desk asking “what should we do?” Burton does this to parody the role of the president by showing that the men Americans are supposed to look up to in times of danger are just as scared as the citizens and really have no idea what to do, so they pass the task on to others.

               Burton also parodies the view of American nationalism through Richie’s family. The family is represents the “normal” red-blooded Americans, rednecks, that are not afraid to fight for their land, or in this case a trailer. The manner in which they die also plays a role in Burton making fun of them. They die by the aliens picking up their trailer and running it into another trailer which is meant to show that just because you pick up a shotgun in the science fiction movie does not mean you going to survive it, like it is shown in most typical science fiction movies. Burton uses these stereotypic roles to poke-fun at what Americans see as a sacred institution that will never fail…unless the Martians take over! 

Dupuis: Ed Wood

Johnny Depp as Ed Wood

I think Burton and Wood have many similarities as directors. They both share a passion for the movies they make; they have close relationships with their mentors; and they stay true to their vision even if no one likes it. The major difference between Burton and Wood is that Wood wants to be a part of the main stream Hollywood which Burton despises. This is ironic because Burton is a success and Wood was not. These two men just represent the difference between having talent and not having talent. They both had the drive; Burton just had the talent to go with that drive.

Burton does have an appreciation for Wood’s movies and as a person despite Wood’s failed movies and despite Burton’s movie Ed Wood was a flop. Wood always stayed true to his vision of the movie he wanted to make, even if they were not popular in his time; he did not let his constant failures to change his movies. Burton admires this aspect of Wood’s films which I think he does because Burton feels that sometimes he has to stray from his original vision for the movie for the sake of his audience or because of the people paying for the movie to be made.

Burton relates to Wood in sense that they both have a vision that they are criticized for, but they both have a deep passion for it. Burton was criticized for his strange vision, but when he brings it to life in his movies, the audience falls in love because they are so relatable and unlike anything else they have seen. I think Wood just was not appreciated in his time because he dealt with issues that were new to the world and not ready to be shown on screen, like cross-dressing and sex changes.

I think Burton used original scenes from Wood’s films to show how much Wood loved his films. By using the original scenes Burton shows that Wood’s films were his life, they were not just a job, which is another thing Burton and Wood have in common. Their films are not just films; the films are their lives.

Dupuis: Voodoo Girl

Tim Burton Characters

Voodoo Girl shows Burton fear of being hurt by someone close to him because the girl cannot let anyone get close to her because of the pins in her heart. If someone got to close the pain would remind Burton or the Voodoo Girl in this instance to pull away because if the pin goes into her heart then she is basically dead. The pins could represent the pain Burton felt from his parents as a child. Parents are supposed to be the closest people to a child and Burton’s parents hurt him the most by rejecting him from, basically, birth. The pins were in put in Tim Burton’s heart by his parents and every time he would try to get close to them, they hurt him. Burton was just different as a child, like Voodoo Girl, nothing wrong with that, but because of the pins put in Burton by his parents he will never be able to love without pain because the pins will only push in further.

The reference to pins being a curse suggests that they were put in the Voodoo Girl by a magician, or archetypes. Being hurt by love is also an archetype. With love comes pain, which is a common thought among people, especially now-a-days with the divorce rate at 50 percent. Love completes pain like death completes life; I think this is how Burton views love, which is why he created Voodoo Girl.

I think the pins could also represent the outsider trying to be close with people. Like when Edward Scissorhands was trying to be a part of suburbia but people ended up rejecting him and hurting him because he was trying to get close or he hurt other people. When the outsider is trying to get close to people he just gets hurt because people keep rejecting him or sticking pins in his heart. This is represented in Voodoo Girl by all the zombie men that follow her around but end up hurting her when she tries to get close to them, like the outsider. I think Voodoo Girl represents the pain that comes with getting close to someone and the risk that they could, at any time, pull the pin out and destroy you. 

Dupuis: Mardi Gras

Dinosaur Float!

Honestly, I hate Mardi Gras, beads thrown at my face at outrageous speeds, people screaming in my ear, walking EVERYWHERE, and never a place to use the bathroom, but out of all the Mardi Gras I've been to, New Orleans is the best. Usually I hate having to stand for about an hour at parade, jumping up and down for a bead I could get for 50 cents, but something about these New Orleans parades just got to me this year. Maybe it was the beautiful floats or the personalized beads to match each float, but whatever it was, I had fun. I think people having fun because it is a long drum-roll until you catch those beads that you were screaming for, for the past half hour. Even when you catch one, you get greedy and just want more and the drum-roll begins again. It is like when the Joker is throwing money at the people of Gotham and talking about their greed. And the people throwing the beads know they are torturing the people below but that is what is fun for them, they are the tricksters of the Mardi Gras world, that is why they wear masks. Like when Beetlejuice takes advantage of the Maitlands because he knows they will do anything to get the living (beads) out of their house (in their hands).  I never understand what happens when you catch that one bead and then you just want more, I guess it just makes you feel good about yourself, like somehow you earned those beads and no one takes them from you...until the person next to you says the beads were going to go to them until you stole them, and then they try to take them from you. Even then, it is a weird bonding experience with you and  your friends, because you know next year at Mardi Gras you will be saying, "Remember last year when that crazy person tried to take my beads from me!"
I just think the tradition of Mardi Gras has been ruined. Originally Mardi Gras is about letting loose before we have to give up things for Lent, but now it has become a marketing scheme. You need money to but the beads for the float; you need money for the float; you even need at least ten dollars to pee in a business on the parade route. I just think the Mardi Gras tradition has strayed from what it used to be, or maybe I do not enjoy it because I am not Catholic and do not give anything up for Lent. But maybe I do not like it just because I do not like parties.

Dupuis: Fairytales and Edward

Beauty and Beast

The world from the view of a child can seem trustworthy and magical because of the reoccurring fairy tale lessons they learn that become an absolute truth to them. Childhood is a precious time for learning, but these false fairy tales really teach children nothing about the world today. The world in which we know today is cruel. Good does not always triumph over evil. The guy does not always get the girl, etc. But everyone in society knows these stories, so we all know the morals that these stories teach us. If that’s true, then, where do they go when we get older?

Childhood is a time to be creative and different but as we get older, society teaches us that we should not be that way anymore. Modern society just sees childhood as phases that everyone eventually grows out of, and then they conform, like they are supposed to. But Edward Scissorhands can’t conform. He will never be able to leave this stage of life because creativity is all he has that makes him a part of the community, for a while. But eventually, the community decides that he can’t live here because he will never be able to conform to their standards. He can never be finished. This apparently beautiful, perfect town rejects him because he will never be normal. The town’s flaw is programmed into every mind of the residents. They take on look at him and see a monster that does not match their pretty, bright houses, and their cookie-cutter lifestyle. The town violates the moral code that every fairy tale teaches every child, to accept everyone for who they are, unless they do bad things. But Edward never does anything bad; he doesn't seek out harm on other people. He just wants their acceptance, but they are unable to give him that because they see him as bad due to his lack of hands. He just like the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, no one accepts him because he looks like a monster, but on the inside he just wants someone to love him for who he is. 

Dupuis: Batman Returns

Catwoman is an iconic character of the Tim Burton’s Batman films. She portrays what every woman wants to be without men, strong and independent. But she is also in love with a man. Her human half is attracted to the wealthy and powerful Bruce Wayne, but also destructive to his alter ego, Batman. She is very conflicted by the feelings she has for both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Catwoman wants to kill Batman because she hates everything he represents, the big strong man that rescues the damsel in distress. However she is also grateful to him because he saved her from being raped before she became Catwoman. Her hate for men causes her internal conflict when it comes to Batman, especially after she learns that he is Bruce Wayne. They know they are perfect for each other because they both understand the need to be two different people, but they know they can never be together because of the two people that they are. Catwoman is not exactly a villain, but she is also not a protector, even though the audience sees her rescue a woman from being raped, she criticizes the woman for relying on Batman to come and save her.  For Batman, she is a villain; she kills Max Shreck, which is against Batman’s moral code to not kill people. Catwoman and Batman have a fatal attraction that is instant upon meeting each other, the second time. When they first meet after Batman saves her from being raped, he quickly overlooks her just like every other man in her life which only fuels her hate of men. Bruce Wayne falls in love with the confident Selina Kyle after she becomes Catwoman, but Batman sees Catwoman as a threat to be eliminated. But when he discovers that Catwoman is Selina Kyle, he is immediately confused. And so is she, which she shows by saying, “Does that mean we have to start fighting now?” They are both devastated knowing that they can’t get what they want, which is each other, but also Batman wants to protect Gotham City and Catwoman wants to be free.

Dupuis: Batman

The Joker

Being a huge fan of Batman, either Burton or Nolan, I have always seen the Joker character as a classic trickster, and not just because of his name, although that was the reason when I was little, but because of his actions. He wants to create chaos and he manipulates his surroundings and people to do what he wants, sounds like a classic trickster right? But after examining the Joker more closely, I’m not sure if I would call him a classic trickster, maybe an untamed trickster. When I think of a trickster, I think of a cunning character that has a plan to get what he wants, while creating as much chaos as possible on the way. Maybe my view of a trickster is wrong, but I think a trickster can be seen in many ways. On the one hand, they are very smart in the art of strategy but on the other hand, they are kind of crazy, some more than others. That is why I think the Joker is great trickster, he is definitely a strategist, but he has more of the crazy in him. Because his goal is to create chaos, I think that gives him the freedom to do anything and just do what he wants when he wants. During the entire movie he is not trying to kill everyone and create chaos, which is his ultimate. He wants to kill some people, so he kills them by putting toxins in their skin and hair products; but then he gets side-tracked because he wants Vicki Vale. As he is trying to get Vicki Vale, Batman stops him, so he goes after Batman. So yes, he has one goal, like a trickster usually does, but he gets distracted more than once which causes him to unravel. I think Burton uses these distractions to undermine the view of the trickster character. Showing that he is easily distracted shows his weakness, but also shows his lack of care for life. He sees himself as already died once, so because he escaped death, in a way, now he can do anything that he wants. The part of him that died was his control; his voice inside his head that told him not to do things because it would not be smart. When he becomes the Joker he is no longer limited by the bounds of human life and emotion which makes him the untamed trickster character. I do not think the Joker’s need for chaos was demonstrated as well as it was in Nolan’s version of Batman, but that is another thing all together.  

Dupuis: Beetlejuice

Betelgeuse

Death is a sensitive subject for almost anyone; no one wants to talk about death. Death is scary to most people, especially Americans, because no one knows for sure what happens after death. Humans have been looking for proof of life after death, mostly in religion, since the beginning of man. But as humans we always try to find the easy way out of dealing with death, which is denying it; however, just because someone denies or ignores death, does not make it disappear. In Beetlejuice, there is a direct link between ignoring and not seeing. After the Maitlands die, no one can see them because everyone denies death, only Lydia can see them because she is strange and unusual. As long as people deny death it won’t be there, just like the ghosts were not visible to other people besides Lydia until the end of movie when they were forced to see it. But death will always be there. Tim Burton is calling out all the people that ignore or deny the existence of something, like death. But it is not just about death, it is about everything strange and unusual. People, especially Americans, tend to ignore people or things that do not fit into their picture of a perfect world. In a perfect world, there is no death, but Tim Burton is showing that we do not live in a perfect world; we have strange and unusual things everywhere, so we just have to accept it. But that is harder than it seems. Even though Tim Burton is trying to teach the audience to accept death, in the end death is still not accepted. The Maitlands do not move on, instead they continuing living like they are alive. The Deetzs interact with them as if they are still alive, showing that they have not accepted death as what it is, the end of life. Because they continue to live with the Maitlands, they do not see death as the end, rather as an extension of life. Beetlejuice shows death as a mockery of life. The Maitlands still have to do all the mundane activities they would have to do if they were alive, like dealing with annoying pests in their house or filing paperwork. The scenes in Beetlejuice that show other dead people, like the waiting room, as if they are just waiting to file their taxes. Tim Burton shows that death is just like life,with a few more interestingly dressed characters, which I think would be much worse than simply ceasing to exist.  

Dupuis Introduction

Hello, my name is Amy Dupuis, and I am a freshman English writing major. I am hoping to become a published writer someday so fingers crossed. But if I don't get the chance to be published, I would love to become an English teacher. Growing up I always wanted to be a teacher, even when I wanted to be a ballerina for a week; I always returned to teaching. I don't remember exactly why I started writing; maybe I just got bored one day and thought it would be fun to create my own little worlds. I would fill up journal after journal, but I would always keep them locked and hidden from my siblings' prying eyes. I am originally from Memphis, Tennessee, but my family currently lives in Lafayette, Louisiana. I am the youngest of three children: Dana, Ryan, and myself. I am half Italian and half Cajun so naturally I love to cook and eat! Every family reunion is filled with yelling, laughing, usually something breaking, and most importantly food. My dad would cook the Gumbo, and I make dessert, chocolate cake with pineapples was always a favorite for everyone. My perfect day involves either lounging around watching movies or having a busy day full of outdoor activities. When I was little, my dad and I would always watch movies together on Saturdays, usually the oldies. I came to love movies so much that I work at movie theater in Lafayette now because I could not afford to keep paying for all the movies I saw. But if we weren't watching movies, we were camping, usually in the backyard which was just fine for my siblings and me. As a kid my mom would not let me watch Tim Burton films because she said they were too scary; and I had my brother as proof because after he watched Nightmare Before Christmas, he was terrified. So as I teenager I caught up with my Tim Burton films and after Edward Scissorhands, I immediately fell in love. I still cannot watch Nightmare Before Christmas without being scared, but I still love it.