Eljumaily-Ed Wood

If there was any subject matter and man that Tim Burton could put all of himself into, Ed Wood and his horrendous movies would be quite honestly the perfect combination of the two. Ed Wood was ironically one of Burton’s best films, a story that follows the life of a bad movie director through his many problems and quirks. The ironic part of the whole situation is that this movie became a box office flop. It seems as if maybe the curse of Ed Wood followed him into every cinema.

            Burton obviously chose Ed Wood’s rollercoaster of a life to make a movie about because of the many comparisons that he could make between himself and the deceased director. Three of these connections include Wood’s individuality & uniqueness with his work and personal life, his overall rejection by the masses, and his relationship with mentor actor Bela Lagusi. Through all of these similarities, Burton was able to truly understand and bring Ed Wood fully to life. Burton is so very similar to Ed Wood that it even seems Tim just got lucky with his success.

            The first connection that one can draw between Burton and Wood is their obvious obsession with horror movies and odd works of art. Burton’s short poem book The Melancholy Tales Of Oyster Boy & Other Works is a mash up of object-bred children, grotesque tragic tales of families and murderous romances. Wood quite apparently had an obsession with the strange and unusual as well. Between movies like Plan 9 and Bride of the Monster, Wood was known for his odd ways of going about horror and sci-fi movies. His close friend and mentor Bela Lagusi was a famous horror movie actor before he aged and declined, only to come back for his death to perform in Wood’s movies.

            The second thing that Wood and Burton shared was their familiarity with rejection. Wood’s entire life was filled with rejection, so much so that he got awards for being the worst director of all time. Every movie he put out turned into a flop, so his rejection was not only contracted from the public but his peers as well. This same thing occurred to Burton when he worked for Disney. His art was too vulgar and gross, so his colleague’s and the public wouldn’t except any of the work that Burton truly made from his heart, until he went into the directing business. Even as a child, Burton was restrained from doing what he truly wanted to do by being locked in his room. Wood was restrained by the fact that nobody wanted to watch his movies, so no one would pay to help him make a good movie.

            Finally, Wood’s relationship with Bela Lagusi really struck a note with Burton. Vincent Price was one of Burton’s closest friends, and acted as sort of a mentor and guide for his films. For this, Burton put Price into his films, much like Wood did with Lagusi. Overall, the many similarities that Burton and Wood shared made it almost second nature for Ed Wood to be directed by Burton well.