Friday, September 6, 2013

Beetlejuice to the third power - Devin Bogle

    Death is a five lettered word that every American is terrified to hear, speak, and experience. We all must meet the angel of death one day, but blissfully ignorant are we Americans to this. Death is just an abrupt, scary and terrible ending to us. This is not how it is in other cultures. Instead, death is perceived as a beautiful metamorphosis. Sure it isn't a known fact as to what happens after death, but that does not mean death has to be some ugly, scary thing. 
Burton's "Beetlejuice" attempts to break down that barrier American's have towards death. Tim Burton shows that death is confusing, but it is ironically a part of life. After the opening scene where there Maitland's get into a car crash, it is unknown if they have actually died. Not until Barbara notices she cannot be seen in the mirror, and "the Manual for the Recently Deceased" is found, do they discover they have died. Death obviously is not a devastating as perceived if the Maitland's did not even realize they had died.

     Although Burton does have most of the characters in the after-life appear to look monsterly, they are not scary. The waiting room scene shows many dead waiting for their case worker for their death. Each obviously has his or her own story, including the receptionist. The receptionist makes a comment on how if she had known what being dead was like, she wouldn't have had her "accident", showing her slit wrists, making it an obvious suicide. The waiting room bursts into laughter. Obviously, if that was stated in normal American society, there would be no laughter. Although some may consider Burton pushing it on that joke, this is just an instance where he is attempting to make others laugh and not take themselves so seriously. 
     Burton is making a message through the whole film for people to not be so serious. He wishes for death to not be taken as serious, since it is natural anyways, and he wishes for people to just be goofy. This is shown in the use of Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice is an absurd, very trickster-type character. He considers himself a "bio-exorcist", removing the living from the dead's houses. This is ironic because in American culture there have been many "exorcists" removing the dead from the living, or their homes. Throughout the whole movie Burton uses many different ways of making death, life and people as absurd as possible, which is a known Burton skill.

2 comments:

  1. I really like how you incorporate the contrast of other cultures thoughts about death in relation to how our culture thinks about death. This comparison really enhances your point that maybe death doesn't have to be something that we are afraid of. I also think that your point that, although the characters in the waiting room appear monster like, that they are not scary. This also strengthens your point that it is possible that death is not something to fear, and instead we should just accept it. I agree with your point that one of Burton's main messages throughout the entire film is that people nowadays, especially in the American culture, take themselves too seriously. Since death is a natural thing and there is no way to avoid it, I think that we should all live our lives to the fullest and not waste time worrying about death. Death is inevitable, so there is no use using up energy worrying about something we cannot avoid.

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