Allen, Jacqueline - Sweeney Todd

What you see here in Burton’s adaption of Sweeney Todd is no surprise if you have already seen majority of his movies. Burton like many directors and artists of film have their own signature and a way to make a film theirs and recongnizable to a person just by looking at one scene. Burton’s signature is his dark witty play on up to date social and econoic problems that are widely common in any place. Such as segregation and conformity but even more noticable; Death. Burton uses death as his main focus in many of his films, but none had shown the evil gory side of death that is accompainied by murder like Sweeney Todd did. Canniabalism is not  very common through any place, it is frowned upon. It is seen as unhumane, it is literally man eating man! That phrase “man eat man” is used when describing how one must do anything to survive in this world. It is every man for himself and may the odds be in your favor. In Sweeney Todd this is noted as Todd purposely kills people of high stature and feeds the unknowingly to the poor people of London. One might say by feeding the high statured people of London to the peaseants they may become or inherit the soul and being of that person. I would agree with that because people do say “you are what you eat”, however I feel no mercy for these oblivious customers who soon become dinner because London at this time in age was corrupt from the ground up. People of high power, such as Judge Turpin, abuse their power and screw up the lives of many people who really did nothing to deserve such treatment. But To answer how Burton overcomes the relvusion about canniablism and murderis easy. Burton makes murder a righteous act in order to help ones self. He makes canniablism an act of humor because it is funny how all of these people could eat human flesh and not see a difference in the taste to any other meat. Canniablism is also still an iffy subject for Todd and Lovett… You did not see them taste a pie right?  The mudering of all of the higher people of London is also a shock, it is surprising how Mrs. Lovett could be open and have a full house every night and no one wonder, “hmm, I havent seen the priest lately.”