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.