Eljumaily-Sweeney Todd

Tim Burton’s film Sweeney Todd takes the very vile, disgusting act of cannibalism and puts a very plausible, emotional reason behind it. Viewers find themselves sympathizing with Mrs. Lovett and Mr. Todd, all while they are slaughtering people like cattle and serving them to others. This cannibalism is a symbol for the way humans saw each other and treated one another in mid-nineteenth century London. Sweeney Todd plays off the idea that it’s a “dog eat dog” (man eat man) world out there.

            The first initial scene where Mrs. Lovett and Mr. Todd convince themselves that cannibalism can be justified is when Sweeney kills Parelli and Mrs. Lovett makes the suggestion that they just use the meat from the body to make pies. They sing about their menu, and how they will “serve anyone, to anyone”. They make commentary on the different tastes of people, how some are worse, like lawyers, and how priests are a bit too fat. They also bring up the idea that “those who serve will serve those up above”, meaning that society will be flipped over and those at the bottom will rise to the top.

            This is exactly how times were in London around the mid-nineteenth century. People were starving, the government was corrupt, creating a huge gap between the wealthy and the poor. The average man who got miniscule pay compared to those officials up above also heavily fueled London’s industry. This made for a very hateful relationship between the rich and the poor. Sweeney takes this matter into his own hands and begins eliminating the problem, one by one. Todd, however, kills everyone, showing that the real problem in the world of man is man.

            Sweeney’s initial idea of ridding the world of man is to merely kill every last one of them until he gets to the judge, but Mrs. Lovett takes it to the next level by suggesting that they serve the dead to the living. This symbolizes how all the conflict and corruption in London at that time was causing the population to implode and eat themselves. Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett were merely helping the cause out, by taking two wrongs and creating a right in their own mind. This is how Burton’s film takes the most disgusting of primal human cruelties in cannibalism and backs it up with an innocent reason.

            The reason for Todd’s carnage was obvious in the fact that he had been sentenced to hard labor overseas for a crime he didn’t commit and had lost his beautiful wife and child in the process. The scene that shows Barker with his perfectly happy family is a very bright, picturesque scenario in which Benjamin has a very optimistic, sunny view of life. Life when he returns, however, is dark, dreary, and obviously seen through a completely different view by the newly-named Todd.

            This new, horrible view of life represents the measures that civilians in London were pushed to at this time. Food was scarce, innocent men women and children were being hung, and the streets were dirty with blood and corruption. This is where mankind turns on itself and it becomes a man eat man world. Overall, Burton’s film Sweeney Todd shows the carnage and vileness that society pushed people to in mid-nineteenth century London.