Arceneaux-Beeteljuice

I think that Americans are afraid of death because the English culture is generally afraid of death. If you look at Spanish cultures and Japanese cultures, they revere death way differently than most Western cultures do. I think that Burton likes to poke fun at the universal idea of death as being "the end." He likes to create characters that involve death into their personality. Lidia was strange and unusual, Beeteljuice physically looked like death. He incorporates all of these elements into his directing as well. It's interesting to see the way his characters move and in the manner in which they speak. You can tell Beeteljuice's way of speaking was vastly different when compared to Lidia's or the Maitman's. Burton denies death very obviously: the main characters deny death. The main characters are supposed to represent the basic cast of the movie, the basic story, and so on. Burton is not the only director to make fun of the seriousness of death. In a way, one can view "Beeteljuice" as a satire on death. I particularly like the scene in which Oslo says "You know they say when you die you become a civil servant."...that really is apparently what happens. Also, I noticed the way the flat receptionist jokes about how he died. He says he looks a little...flat.

Burton's particular sense of comedy undoubtedly comes from his lonesome childhood. You can see traces of Suburbia in "Beetlejuice." The main characters are typical suburban yuppies. You can also see traces of gothic lore. Ghosts, possessions, lost spirits, and even some of the architecture in the film reflects this influence. Lidia's step-mother's sculptures gave Burton an excuse to use his stop motion techniques to make the inanimate objects come to life. Which goes to say that in every movie he has ever done there are traces of the mystical or supernatural. He also has an abundance of favoritism that comes into play with his actors and composers. Lately, he has been using Johnny Depp as his actor of choice and Danny Elfman as his composer of choice. Perhaps he feels as if he and Elfman have a similar way of thinking? If that is the case then Tim Burton could be offering an insight into his world through the various arts. if he chooses Danny Elfman then he must have a certain appeal to Burton. Burton thinks Depp acts in a way that reminds him of himself  otherwise he would not cast him in so many roles.