Tim Burton’s
version of Washington Irving’s The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow takes many liberties. There are many differences between
the movie by Burton and the story by Irving but Burton does incorporate many of
Irving’s story’s elements. Firstly, the main character is very different in
Burton’s version. Ichabod Crane is described in Irving’s short story to be
lanky and unattractive. He is also described as being very superstitious and a
schoolteacher. However, Burton changes this in his movie. He cast Johnny Depp
as Ichabod and he is not by any means lanky and unattractive. Burton’s Crane is
the opposite of superstitious; he is a skeptic and when he is finally coerced
into believing in the magic and ghosts, he is very brave. Depp’s Ichabod is not
a schoolteacher but a detective. However, Burton does keep the element of
Ichabod’s romance with Katrina Van Tassle--though this is not quite the main
plot of the movie like it is in the story.
Furthermore, the
ending of the story and movie are very different. While Burton incorporates
Irving’s ending into his movie, Burton’s actual ending is much different and
much more final. Irving ends his story with Ichabod being chased of by the
Headless Horseman and never being seen again. Burton does have Ichabod being
chased by the Horseman several times but his Ichabod does not disappear.
Irving’s ending is very open-ended and it seems as though the Horseman may
never have existed but was merely a ghost tale that Brom used to his advantage
to drive Ichabod out of town so that Katrina would not marry him. However, in
Burton’s movie the Headless Horseman is very real, well he is a ghost but he is
a real character. Burton does, however, show a scene in which Brom dresses up
as the Headless Horseman to scare Ichabod but he is not driven away like in
Irving’s story. He even incorporates the Headless Horseman throwing the pumpkin
at Ichabod into the movie.
Just like Burton’s
Mars Attacks! pays homage to Ed Wood’s
Plan 9, it almost seems as though Sleepy Hollow is paying homage to Irving’s
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Burton
changes a lot of the elements of the short story for his movie but still
manages to incorporate many in. Burton uses Irving’s characters and plot to not only enhance a horror story, but also to pay homage to Washington Irving and the story it is based on.
I like how well you organized this blog post, it made it very easy to follow and understand your points. I also really enjoy how you pointed out that Johnny Depp was so attractive, which is the exact opposite to Ichabod Crane by Irving. It made me laugh a bit. Your statement about how Irving left the story very open-ended was very interesting to me because it was not something I had thought of before, while ironically all your other points related to exactly what I was thinking. Well done on your blog!
ReplyDelete