In Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy,
Tim Burton reoccurring theme in all his movies are all portrayed in this book.
The poems are about unwanted, isolation, different vs normal, and judgmental society
From the
moment Oyster Boy was born he is rejected. He was not what the parent had in
their minds about a child, they had their own idea of what they wanted and it
wasn’t oyster boy. His personality wasn’t different but, his physical
appearance was. Hid parents never gave him a chance to even get to know him because
they didn’t think him of his own. “they just called him Sam or sometimes, that
think that looks like a claim.” The parents don’t even give Sam a chance to
love him. The concept of the parents not wanting their child from birth is just
like in Batman returns. When the penguin was unwanted because he was a mutant.
Time burton reflect on his past where he himself didn’t even relate to his own
parents at all so he moved in with his grandparents. So this is the reflection
of parents not wanting their children at all.
Tim Burton
also plays with the idea of image, of what we see and responsed with a response
with the mutant faces in all his movies; the joker, beetleguesse, Edward scissorhands,
and the penguin. The image of how you look is something in
our society as a
whole. You must always have the “image” for what ever you do. When you see
someone wearing Prada shoes, Prada jacket with a Chanel dress. You just them on
who they are as a person as you first impression. You might not try to but you
do unconsicously. Until you get to know them and you say (or think) “They were
not what I thought they would be ilke.” How the mom and dad of oyster boy take
one look at him and don’t even give him a chance as his some because he isn’t
what they want him to look like. Being misunderstood and rejected is mainly
what he is trying to say.
The ending
of oyster boy really puzzled me. Why would the father devour his son. He devouring
his son reminded me of the painting Saturn devouring his son by Francisco Goya.
Even thought the story is different because of the greek myth of Titan Cronus
fearing his son would overthrow him so he is eaten at birth. The story doesn’t match but, the pure image of someone killing
their won son is just so dark and heart breaking it captures your attention. Time
Burton was doing the same thing with this poem and trying to get our attention
and to really grab of attention to focus on this particular poem of the book.
Not just because its title of the book.
Through imagery and story line Time burton shows his re-occuring themes of unwanted characters, isolation, different vs. normal, and judgmental society we live in.
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