Johnston - Ed Wood

     Ed Wood was a B-movie director who was ultimately deemed the “Worst Director of All Time” in the book The Golden Turkey Awards. One of the ironic things about Tim Burton’s film Ed Wood is that this movie is about one of the worst directors the world has ever known and it also turns out to be known as one of Burton’s worst movies of all time.
     Even from the beginning of his film Ed Wood, Tim Burton is paying homage to world's worst director. The beginning credits are very similar to those in Ed Wood's actual film Plan 9 with the man in the beginning talking about the horrible story that the viewers are about to see, to the grave stones and the extremely cheap looking UFOs.
     Burton can relate to Ed Wood as a director because they were both told many times by producers that what they were creating was not going to intrigue audiences, which would mean that these films would ultimately be unsellable. Both directors were/are extremely passionate about their works no matter how many times they were shut down by the film industry. Burton admires Ed Wood’s passion and how he stands behind his works even if other people don’t think that they are of quality. Even with minimal to no monetary funding, Ed Wood’s passion and love for his works is evident in his films.
     Another way Tim Burton and Ed Wood relate as directors is that they both created films that have very personal themes. Ed Wood enjoyed cross-dressing in his spare time and decided to create his film Glen or Glenda, which was almost a direct parallel to his life. In Ed Wood, Burton really displays how comfortable cross-dressing makes Ed feel, but at the same time he shows the struggles Wood’s relationship goes through because of this secret. Burton’s film many times have themes about isolation or characters that have been isolated because they are different from other people, which is similar to how Burton felt for the majority of his life.
     Similarly to Burton, Ed Wood created a family with the band of misfits he used to create his films. As Christina said in class, outcasts in a group no longer are outcasts because they have found others that are similar to themselves. This is what similar to what Tim Burton did and still does in his own life. When he was a child, Burton felt like an outcast in his own family, but through his films he has created the family he has always wanted.