What happens when a demon barber, lost love, manipulating shop owner, and an evil judge are all stuck together in one dark, dirty, overpopulated city? Tim Burton answers this in his film Sweeney Todd with cannibalism. Burton is known for embracing the unusual and conveying this theme of acceptance of abnormality in his films. However, what makes Sweeney Todd different is that it directly challenges and conflicts with what we as a society have come to ultimately and universally accept as what is sacred: human life. Ironically enough we, as an audience, find ourselves sympathizing with Sweeney Todd throughout his murderous rampage despite the fact that we are so consumed with contemporary crime TV shows that demonize criminals and murderers. So why does Sweeney Todd serve as an exception? Burton portrays Sweeney Todd as the outsider of the film. He was forcefully exiled from London by the symbol of corrupt justice, Judge Turpin and as a result, returns more than a decade later to find that everything that was taken away from him (his wife and daughter) is now virtually irretrievable. This on its own creates an immense sense of sympathy for the character of Sweeney Todd. The colorful and bright flashbacks to his former life as Benjamin Barker where he was a happy and successful barber in London contrast greatly with the dark, gray color scheme of the London that he returns to as Sweeney Todd. This emphasis on the past and present explains why Sweeney Todd is so sure that he will get the vengeance that he so passionately and, arguably, manically desires. He takes this hunger for revenge to another level, though when he sings, "We all deserve to die." Sweeney Todd is now the outsider as he is struggling with coming to terms with the fact that those around him have what he cannot possess. Because of the overpopulated, gothic, urban setting he is in such close quarters with those that have more than he does that he is unable to have any sense of faith in justice or fairness of any kind given his tormenting past. He truly believes that everyone, including himself deserves to die. It is for this reason that murder and cannibalism become options. He is assuming a powerful role under the radar; indirectly and silently challenging Judge Turpin's power within the city as he murders more and more people and sends them down to be grinded into the meat that their fellow neighbors will eat. We witness this progression throughout the film and also see that Mrs. Lovett manipulates him through each step of the way. So although the themes of murder and cannibalism that Burton explicitly portrays are grotesque and extremely taboo, we are still able to sympathize with the outsider as we have seen in Burton's other works.
Friday, November 22, 2013
An eye for an eye, and a meat pie for you!
What happens when a demon barber, lost love, manipulating shop owner, and an evil judge are all stuck together in one dark, dirty, overpopulated city? Tim Burton answers this in his film Sweeney Todd with cannibalism. Burton is known for embracing the unusual and conveying this theme of acceptance of abnormality in his films. However, what makes Sweeney Todd different is that it directly challenges and conflicts with what we as a society have come to ultimately and universally accept as what is sacred: human life. Ironically enough we, as an audience, find ourselves sympathizing with Sweeney Todd throughout his murderous rampage despite the fact that we are so consumed with contemporary crime TV shows that demonize criminals and murderers. So why does Sweeney Todd serve as an exception? Burton portrays Sweeney Todd as the outsider of the film. He was forcefully exiled from London by the symbol of corrupt justice, Judge Turpin and as a result, returns more than a decade later to find that everything that was taken away from him (his wife and daughter) is now virtually irretrievable. This on its own creates an immense sense of sympathy for the character of Sweeney Todd. The colorful and bright flashbacks to his former life as Benjamin Barker where he was a happy and successful barber in London contrast greatly with the dark, gray color scheme of the London that he returns to as Sweeney Todd. This emphasis on the past and present explains why Sweeney Todd is so sure that he will get the vengeance that he so passionately and, arguably, manically desires. He takes this hunger for revenge to another level, though when he sings, "We all deserve to die." Sweeney Todd is now the outsider as he is struggling with coming to terms with the fact that those around him have what he cannot possess. Because of the overpopulated, gothic, urban setting he is in such close quarters with those that have more than he does that he is unable to have any sense of faith in justice or fairness of any kind given his tormenting past. He truly believes that everyone, including himself deserves to die. It is for this reason that murder and cannibalism become options. He is assuming a powerful role under the radar; indirectly and silently challenging Judge Turpin's power within the city as he murders more and more people and sends them down to be grinded into the meat that their fellow neighbors will eat. We witness this progression throughout the film and also see that Mrs. Lovett manipulates him through each step of the way. So although the themes of murder and cannibalism that Burton explicitly portrays are grotesque and extremely taboo, we are still able to sympathize with the outsider as we have seen in Burton's other works.
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I have seen this film on numerous occasions, and I would say it is my favorite Tim Burton Film. What I find interesting about watching now as part of a class is that for once I am questioning my sympathy for Mrs. Lovett. In class we discussed how she manipulates Sweeney Todd into becoming a monster and how she portrayed herself as a mother figure to Toby, though she was not being genuine. I do of course have more sympathy for Sweeney Todd, but I do not believe Mrs. Lovett is completely at blame. Sweeney Todd lived a happy, perfect life until he was exiled by a jealous judge. He stole Todd’s wife and daughter and left him to rot for 15 years. Todd already had strong feelings toward London’s society, which we see in “No Place Like London” where he describes London to be a corrupt and filthy city. He already lost in faith in society so I do not believe it was just Mrs. Lovett who formed the idea to kill more than just Judge Turpin.
ReplyDeleteI like how you took the fact that us modern people watch so many criminal mystery shows yet we sympathize with Todd’s serial killing cannibalistic affairs. I also spoke about how the scenes that portrayed his old life were so sunny and bright but yet his new life is so dark and dreary. That contrast really shows the difference in views that stretch from Barker to Todd. You also made the idea that Todd kills because of his hate for those above him more clear. I didn’t think of it in the light that Todd was angry with those above him because they had so much more than he did. He was angry for what they took from him, and all he must do is kill to get his revenge. Overall, this is a very good blog post that goes over all of the good reasons for why Sweeney’s killing cannibalistic ways are better than normal killers.
ReplyDeleteAidan