Quincy Coby - Thanks Tim Burton

 

 

Throughout my time in this class I learned why directors make films. Tim Burton makes his films to make his audience feel some type of way about themselves and the setting around them. He made me think about what other people could possibly be going through, and made me realize that no matter how different someone is , they can make such a deep impact on you .

 I went through my high school years battling clinical  depression, severe anxiety  and thoughts suicide , while everyone else was happy with their luxurious lives ." Quincy Coby, that one kid who sits in class and doesnt say a word. Oh Quincy? You mean that weird chubby black kid everyone hates? That one poor kid who eats alone in the cafeteria everyday?  OH he doesnt have this , he doesn't have that, he dresses like that , he talks like an idiot, he walks so abnormally, his smiled is weird, etc." These were the remarks i would hear everyday that would shred clumps of humanity right off my innerself. This drove me to not feel anything . I was numb because I lost 90% of my will to wistand the buffeting remarks i would i hear about my ownself. So numb, so numb  I would sit outside when it rained just so i could feel something . I would put out ciggerettes on my arm , just feel some sort of rush or emotional pain from the physical damage. I would do so much to myself, just so i could feel. But no amount of burns , cuts, or rain drops  could cure my numbness and at the end of my day  i would  asking myself why do i still breathe.

 My life drove me to not take anything for granted , because throughout those 4 years of high school , I held on to my last shred of sanity. These kids had something to live for while I on the otherhand was still thinking about why i even exist. While everyone else would mock at my existance , i would join them  . While I was chastized for being different, I accepted it , because i was . None of these kids knew about what i had going on . None of them . While they had their birthdays, Christmas celebrations and Thanksgiving dinners, I stood by my mother's side as she cried and i went  about these days as they were nothing . While they had their religion, i had my philosphy .  As they smile with their friends , i fought with myself . While they accepted hugs from their parents before being dropped off at school in morning, I accepted the concept of death with open arms every morning. While they smiled for pictures being taken by their parents after band concerts, I packed my trombone and made my trek home . While they lay cozy in a bed waiting for a kiss on the forehead from their parents, I lay awake on my couch waiting for the sun to rise . While they had their happiness, parents, friends, i had my sadness, my emtionless mom, and myself.  

This class made me realize that no matter how different someone is , they matter. How someone walks, talks, dresses, or even smiles, doesnt define them . We define ourselves, as we accept what really mattters in this world. And what really matters in this world to me , is love. Thats it. We are created by love and happiness and no one is taught to hate . We learn to hate from the society in which we live. Tim Burton , is a film director that processed his differences and relayed them into movies thus broadcasting powerful messages that could poke at ones heart. Watching his films with an open mind not only poked at my heart, but opened my heart to so much.  I don't want to be like everyone else. I would hate myself, because i let society define me . I couldn't allow such a monsterous entity to tell me who i should be . I felt like an Oyster Boy, or an Edward Scissorhands, minus the sharp digits. As i will always struggle with my thoughts , i will learn to accept them and deal with because i know i matter. Thats what Tim Burton thinks at least. I know eventually i can open someones eyes to this demonic society.

  

Williams-Tim Burton in a Bucket

    I wrote a lot. I delved deeper into movies than I really wanted to. I discovered the World of Tim Burton, and I enjoyed it.

    I have never written so much for a class, except my creative writing class, than this one. Trying to come up with original ideas and thoughts once week was a struggle and most times a failure. I mean it was nice being able to sit down once a week to watch a movie, but it was a true struggle to analyze a movie like I would analyze a book. In all honesty, I hated it. Movies are not really my genre, but I will admit that I love Burton, which is why I took the class, I guess. I, however never expected for it to be so taxing. On the other hand, I learned that my writing skills need some expanding and that my thinking needs to be a little more critical, which I guess is the point of this class. I enjoyed trying something new, though I will probably avoid film classes from now on.
     So I wish we took more time in class to talk about cannibalism in Sweeney Todd. I know, it is strange but it has always been an interesting topic for me. I mean of all the ways to commit murder, to make people feel less than themselves, to subserve the upperclass society why did Lovett choose grinding theM up into meat pies and why did Todd agreed with it?
    Alright, so what I pretty much learned from Tim Burton is that world sucks and there is not much you can do about it. It is a depressing and cynical way to view life, but Burton show the harsh reality the world that most people try to ignore. I disagree with somethings, like the boring synchronization of suburbs seeing as I am from one, but others like about how people treat outsiders and strange ones are kind of on point. I was intrigued that man as strange as his movie characters can be so loved in this type of society. Yes, people call Burton strange, but they love him for it. Burton's characters are hated, but excepted by other outfits that they use to create a family. Burton uses his actors to create a family that truly accepts him, which is why think many of Burton's movies are so touching.
     I never realized how poor my memory was until I took this class. I would set out to start do my blog, I would proceed to open my computer and everything. I would then gracefully fall into a deep slumber and wake to a blank screen and past due date. My memory would proceed to get worse. I would point blank forget to the statements at all. My roommate got so irritated at me waking in the morning at 2am screaming Tim Burton that she started to write Tim Burton on my mirror and my walls and text it to my phone. It was sweet, but I still forgot to do it. 
     Overall I really enjoyed this class. Would I take it again, I doubt it, but I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. I think it is a class worth experiencing and I am glad I got the chance to do it. 

Seals- Last blog :-( - Always All Ways A Color Map of the Sun

Well… this was an interesting class and semester.  From the beginning, I new I was going to be writing a lot which is both good and bad due to the fact that I love writing, but hate how long it takes me to get ideas out.  I had an idea of how much material we were going to analyze.  It's an english class so I figured we were going to truly dig deep into the mind of Tim Burton.  But it was really great to do so.  There were so many aspects of production that Burton and other writers/producers use that I had to knowledge of.  To be honest, I know/knew nothing about film.  The whole mise en scene world and technique for films were a revelation for me.

Something else that was interesting to me was how, overall, I didn't find Tim Burton that dark of a person.  Or maybe just his films weren't as dark as I thought.  His past is..sad, none the less.  I don't know how to back up this point really.  Maybe I just always affiliated him with a lot more darker films.  I think that's because all I knew was "Corpes Bride" and "Nightmare Before Christmas."  I guess I expected more grotesque themes or something.  Actually, his films are pretty dark now that I look back on it.  Gotham city was one of the most claustrophobic and depressing settings I've ever worked with.  I don't know- I guess I'm two sided with that.

Learning about his past was awesome though.  I definitely felt a good connection to him when learning about his view on suburbia which was cool.  Overall I enjoyed this class.  It definitely opened my mind a little bit on how much stuff can actually be packed into a good film.  Tim Burton has so many personal references thrown in his works which is fun to be discovered.  As soon as I thought we were getting repetitive within our task to discover these personal references, another theme was to be found.  From the twists on politics to all the death satire, the man is truly brilliant.

As for myself- I need some work.  This was a class that I "got by" in, which I'm disappointed with.  I fell back into the crappy habits!  And I don't know why.  This goes with all my classes too.  We had about 13 worksheets and blogs and I probably did about half of them.  AHHH.  My first semester was weird.  I'm really good at overanalyzing the purpose of everything which causes distraction…and depression. :-(  I got a great feel for what I need to do and how everything works though.  When it comes down to it, I just need to do what I need to do.  Same problem same b.s. I've pulled my whole life.  I'm slowly getting the hang out of it though.  In high school I barely did any work, but that can't slide here.  I guess it doesn't work to suddenly change bad habits.

I had fun in this class.  So long Timmy Burton.          

         

Suarez- The World of Tim Burton

When I began this course, I was but a mere infant to the world of Tim Burton, but this has changed in my 14 weeks spent in this class. Prior to this class, all I knew about Tim Burton was that he made movies I enjoyed, and that he loves Johnny Depp. I had no idea his past was so struggled filled, that he published a poetry book; I really just had no idea he did anything besides movies with Johnny Depp. Without this course I would have never known that in every Burton film are aspects of the struggles he felt he had to overcome. I can now watch any Tim Burton movie and relate it back to his life is some way or another. I did not just learn about Tim Burton though, I also learned about new ways to analyze films; I learned to not just watch it for the plot, but to think of other aspects that influence the characters and themes, such as political and social. I had never heard of a mise-en-scene analysis until this course, but now I know what it is, and the importance it holds. Some other interesting information I learned about film making—that also relate to mise-en-scene analysis—are the types of ways to describe a scene; the proper terms used to describe lighting, camera angle, the most important object in a scene, the colors, etc. I already knew that the world is a terrible place at times, but a lot of things I learned in this class just reinforced this phenomenon. I found the denial of death to be one of the most interesting topics we discussed all semester. Because I have lost people close to me, including my mom and my grandfather, death was something I unfortunately was very familiar with. Prior to this class, I had never really thought in depth about the way Americans think of death in comparison with the rest of the world; I have never really thought about death as not a bad thing. My overall ideas about death haven’t changed, but I definitely feel as though some of my thoughts were challenged. I liked all of the films we watched in class; almost all of them were films I had seen before entering this course, some were even films I didn’t know were directed by Tim Burton. The picture I chose for this blog is a picture from my favorite Tim Burton movie, Big Fish. This picture is from one of the very last scenes in the movie where Will Bloom is describing to his father, Edward Bloom, the way in which he is going to pass away. This scene always makes me cry because of how it represents two rivaling personalities coming together as one. Having lost my mom at 13 years of age—a relatively young age—I feel as though I never got to know her as well I would have liked, which is some ways is linked to how Will Bloom feels about his father. I didn’t have a bad relationship with my mom, but we did butt heads a lot because school and grades, and it wasn’t until a few months before she passed that we really began to get along well, and she began to really appreciate the young women I was turning into. To me, this scene is Will finally accepting his father for who he has and will always be, and it is at the end of his life, which is parallel to how things were with my mom. This scene means a lot to me, and that is why I chose this picture.

O'Doherty - The Last Hoorah

Throughout this course, I have learned many things about Tim Burton, myself, and how the world works. Before this course, I thought that Tim Burton was just a really creepy individual who enjoyed making really dark films. Now I realize that I was right...but there is a reason behind the darkness and the mayhem. I did not know about his parent's troubled relationship with his parents, or how he was misunderstood as a child, or that he felt like an outcast all his life. I also did not know that he worked for Disney at one point in his life (though now that I think about it, I should have because there is a ride at Disneyland that is based of Nightmare Before Christmas). One of the things I really enjoyed about this course was learning about the themes, archetypes, and symbols in each of Tim Burton's film. I thought it was clever how Tim Burton incorporated his troubled past into each of the films by making the underlying themes of each movie alienation, rejection, and isolation. It made me realize that, similarily to how Edward Bloom is the stories he tells, Tim Burton is the movies he makes. In fact, many of the characters he creates share some of the same qualities and characteristics as him. For example, many of his characters are misunderstood outcasts who are trying to be individuals in a society that is trying to get them to stick to the status quo. I also really enjoyed learning about the archetypes because I feel like it was a necessary thing to learn. I've gone all my life watching movies with the same types of characters in them. The only two I ever really noticed were the heroes and villains. Now it seems so obvious to me that there are others-- the nurturing mother, the strange outcast, the manipulative trickster, etc. The symbols were also pretty cool and interesting to learn about. I love how much detail and thought went into each scene (how certain objects, like things that people are wearing, give you context about their characters). It takes a lot of work, and I feel like only really good directors who are passionate about their work take time to do so. Now whenever I watch a movie, I can't help but to do mise en scenes of some of the scenes. I ask myself: what is the dominant? What does it mean? Why did the director think that was important? I never really go in depth with these thoughts, but I think it's funny how I acknowledge it. Another thing I learned from this course is how to write faster and more efficiently. I remember I spent well over an hour and a half on the first blog, but by the end of the year I got better at articulating what I have to say.
Overall, I really loved this course and would take it again in a heartbeat! I had so much fun watching movies, analyzing them, and figuring out their deeper meaning. I also really enjoyed having Dr. McCay as a teacher!

Buzaid- Tootles Tim Burton

This course, The World of Tim Burton, has been my favorite part of college thus far (academically speaking.) It has opened up a whole new world to finding the deeper meaning behind things, specifically film. What was so appealing about this course was the focus on reading visuals and making connections with the seen and unseen. More so, I should say watching the film and taking in the storyline, characters, setting, and linking it with either a controversial issue, a statement, or a message. For example, Edward Scissorhands is a film I originally watched and enjoyed because I liked the plot. Now, after watching the film in class and making interpretations with my classmates, I have come to enjoy the film for more than just the interesting storyline. Rather, I have gained respect for the film and its play on conservative societies and outcast individuals.  I was not expecting to find so many of Tim Burton’s morals, and himself as a person, in each and every one of his films. With every picture Tim Burton has worked on, he morphs the story to mean something to his life story and views. In return, he is able to create films that audiences can understand, relate to, and make their own meaning of.

I was taken a bit back when I watched Tim Burton’s Batman. It was my first time watching the two movies done by him and I was totally not expecting to the like them so much. I have always been a fan of Batman as a super hero. Although, before this class I had never taken into mind of how much of a tortured character Bruce Wayne really was. I think it was because of the way Burton portrayed him through Michael Keaton. Burton has good taste in actors, there is some sort of comfort in knowing that he likes to reuse actors in his films- making his own family and such. Another great thing about Burtons Batman was that his artistic side really came out. Through the settings and scenery- shots and framing, he reflected the mood of the film in the dark musty colors.

I have a lot of respect for Tim Burton as a director, but what makes me love him as an entertainer is his undying ability to instill his crude humor in almost all of his creations. From Beetlejuice, to Catwoman, to the parents of the Oyster Boy, Burton has a character with a twisted sexual jokes. Without fail he can capture the attention of any audience, whether they like it or not.

Because of this course, I have a new found love for film. Most of my phone calls to back home have held conversations on this class about all the assignments and the time I have put in for it. As well as sharing with my family everything that I know about Tim Burton and his personal twists in his movies, (and telling my parents to watch the movies too!)  It is true when I say that I am not leaving from this course with zero knowledge. Instead, I am taking wider eyes for visual observations.

Honestly, if I had never taken The World of Tim Burton, I would have continued my future on with under appreciating a lot of film.

Aidan Eljumaily-Reflective Blog

            Over the course of this semester, I have learned many great things about Tim Burton, his work, and about how perception can make everything beautiful. Burton and his deep dark ways have made me take completely different views on certain things, and also have provoked me to watch movies with attention to much greater detail. Every movie that Tim Burton directed held some sort of special dark meaning to how his life and personal experiences were. It was incredible to go from watching huge grossing films that the man created to reading Oyster Boy and other Stories and seeing how really dark and unusual he was.

            From Fantasy to Science Fiction and even Musicals, Tim Burton’s library of successful films is immense. All these different films brought to light so many different issues and ways of thinking throughout the semester. From looking at the end of the world in a satirical sense like in Mars, to complete and utter world and time disaster in Planet of the Apes. Burton shows that you can take any sort of idea or story and find ways to put bits of yourself into it. This makes for a much more personal and direct way of directing.

            The correlations between Tim Burton’s movie character’s and their lives are numerous. His focus is on stories that involve tricksters and the unusual, and through this focus he makes positive thinking experiences with his films. Sweeney Todd, Edward Scissorhands; these are just exampes of characters Burton truly relates to. His effortlessness to take his bleak past and put it into the art form of filming is incredible. From it I have actually grown to be a better musician and artist.

            When you watch film after film after film of different Tim Burton productions, you start to see the underlying common lessons and emotions he is trying to portray. This honesty, that Burton believes in the beauty of the unusual and a world where even the strangest of people can do good, has inspired me to be more honest in the work that I do and the things I want to present about myself. Burton took a very dreary, negative life and made a positive one out of it all by being honest in his work and never lying to himself.

            The fact that he also used many of the same actors for different movies surprised me. Burton using actors that he was comfortable with and knew showed that he wanted to really have people he could trust. He wanted to know that an actor was going to go out there every day and have some personal connection that he could put onto his or her character. This is an incredible way of filming, because Burton makes it so personal and comfortable. With movies as dark as Sweeney Todd and fantasies as bright as Alice in Wonderland, all with similar casts, Burton shows that you can take any group of people that make art together and merely shift the tides every time you make a new project.

Frederick- This Class

The Tim Burton Seminar turned out to be much more than I expected the first day. The first day of class I had a terrible headache, and class is two hours.... I was ready to leave right away. Throughout the year though it had become one of my favorite classes. First impressions usually aren't even close.

Last year I had a great english teacher who taught a great class. The whole class was about literary analysis and writing. I have always enjoyed taking apart literature and art to get to the deeper meanings and symbols within it, but I had never analyzed film before. The Tim Burton Seminar taught me how to understand films in a different way. Instead of just watching movies superficially, now I can see them for what they really mean underneath. I also learned how to do a Mise en Scene analysis. This not only helps me in this class, but also in my art classes this year, since I had to do a short animation and critique other works. 

I learned a lot about Tim Burton the man as well. He has some pretty deep problems, but to be honest, not much worse than anyone else. He is a very relatable guy. Burton's films express him and his story, no matter what they are about, there is always something about him that it goes back to. One of my favorite things about Burton is his love for the outcast. America always says it cheers for the underdog, but that is only true if the underdog is the ideal strong, cool, man that belongs at the top and just in not there yet. Burton supports the more realistic underdog, even though he expresses it in fantastic ways. Burton loves those individuals that are strange, abnormal and would never fit into that ideal person. 

I got to watch some movies that I had never seen before in this class. I enjoyed watching Ed Wood. I like the idea of making a movie about a terrible movie director, and I thought that Johnny Depp did a great job at being cheesy. I had also never seen Tim Burton's version of Sleepy Hollow, and I really enjoyed it. Big Fish was probably by favorite movie that we watching in this class. It was full of emotion, and the fantasy world was wonderful. Sometimes the things that are not really real are the best parts of a story, or life for that matter. 

This class showed me how much I really love movies. For a long long time I wanted to be an animator at Pixar. This class showed me how much I really love movies. For a very long time I wanted to be an animator at Pixar or Disney. I love animations and I love cartoons and drawing. Now I think I  am going to minor in film studies, or something about film. I'd love to really get into animation and maybe do something with that in my life. I am a graphic design major, but I want to mix film and animation into that. 

I am really glad that I ended up in this freshman seminar class. I learned quite a lot, but I had fun doing it. I also got to meet some wonderful people. It's been inspiring.

Prevost-Wrapping up the course

Throughout the course I have learned how to critically analyze a motion picture, give positive and negative feedback on a film, and also how to write a proper movie review. Also this class has helped me with writing using MLA format. Another helpful and very interesting aspect of the film world that I learned was how to properly present a mise-en-scene analysis. The scene analysis were very interesting and it was very eye opening on how you are able to predict outcomes of movies based on one still frame of a film. This course also taught me a lot of key elements in Tim Burton’s movies such as his favorite collaborators Helena Bonham Carter, Jonny Depp, Winona Ryder, and many more. Also the grotesque elements in his film and how he repeatedly references back to hiss childhood and past life experiences in the films. My favorite Tim Burton film that we watched and discussed was “Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” because of the Victorian Era style and the gruesome and twisted plot. He kills his wife, the only one person that could make him happy, and he ruined his only chances. Mrs. Lovett who only wants Sweeny Todd to be happy, but with her is the reason that Sweeny’s wife was murdered, she had him believing she was just a homeless lady up to no good. So they infinitely ruined both of their chances of ever having a happy life. The one thing I wish we would’ve discussed would be why didn’t Sweeny Todd ever realize that his daughter was Joanna and tried to save her, I feel as if he was so focused on revenge that he forgot what and who he was actually providing clarity and justice for. My favorite Burton picture is the beach scene in “Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” where Mrs. Lovett and Sweeny Todd are sitting on a beach towel and both of their attitudes are complete opposite of one another. It shows the differences of two people’s idea of a happy ending. Sweeny Todd only wants revenge and Mrs. Lovett only wants Sweeny Todd. My first semester of college has been very nerve racking, but the hardest week has still not come to a close. Finals next week are just making me cringe and my toes curl, I feel as if I cannot prepare enough. Because some of the teachers’ exams are just insanely difficult covering topics and information we have yet to discuss fully in class. I guess I just have to bite the bullet and face fact if I want a diploma and a job in a few years. Aside from the fact that my roommate was awful and the fact that I was homesick, I guess my first semester was great, maybe. Aside from all of that nonsense I’m very glad I took this course it made my Tuesday and Thursday nights enjoyable! I loved the information we were learning about it was very interesting. Thanks for a great semester!

Lilly - Final Blog

 

When I told some of my friends that I was taking a class on Tim Burton they were definitely jealous and they were right to be because this class was pretty cool. The assignments for this class made me think a lot more and pay closer attention to the movies that we watched where as normally I wouldn’t think as deeply into things. It was also awesome that we just got to watch movies for half of our classes. I got to see movies I haven’t seen in a long time and movies that were on my list to watch but never did. I think my favorite film we watch was Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; I wasn’t that into movies when it first came out so I never really had any intent to watch it or even knew of it. I have a decent size movie collection and this movie is certainly one I want to add to it, it’s a movie I could watch more than once or twice. It was the perfect movie to show how relatable some villains are, the corruption of power, and a twisted sense of justice. It was dark and mesmerizing all the while adding music to match. It’s uncommon to see a movie with the main character being evil and cruel but this story does it in a way that causes the viewer to be sympathetic with Todd because they know why he does the things he does and the reason for his insanity. Learning what we did about Tim Burton definitely gave me a different perspective to his movies considering all the Biographical Criticism there is in them. College is the place you hear some of the most interesting stories and life experiences. This first semester at Loyola has certainly given me such experiences, some very unneeded. It’s a cool place to be as long as you get a roommate you actually like (wrong roommate can make it miserable). The teachers here, at least the ones I got, are all pretty nice, fair, and always willing to help. There were a few things that stood out to me the most like: how many different kinds of skateboards there were, how many people did not know how to do laundry or make food, how everyone kind of does look the same, and other things. One of the things I don’t like about college in general is that is a place you go to have a career goal and go after it. They tell you that you need to know what you want to do and these are the classes you need to take and to forget about other stuff because there isn’t really any room for them. It’s hard to be in a place you don’t want to be and succeed, especially if you’re the kind of person that doesn’t care for thinking about the future and just takes things as they come. I have a lot of miscellaneous interest like film, art, psychology, neuroscience, astronomy, philosophy, etc. but they’re not things I want careers in, they’re just hobbies. Perhaps though, since it’s just the first semester and Loyola seems like a pretty cool place, I will get to take some of those classes and end up with a career goal.

Bogle

     It is hard to believe that my first semester of college is ending this week. It has been said many times by many people, but college is such a big change. Going to college means leaving your comfort zone, learning how to live alone, and eventually finding yourself. Obviously this will not all occur within the first semester, but I can tell you it has started to happen.
     Having my freshman seminar as "The World of Tim Burton" was such a fun way to ease my transition into college life. I have always loved Tim Burton movies, and a whole class on him is perfect.  Although I have always loved his movies, I never knew the meanings behind them, or who Tim Burton really is. Through this class I have learned why Burton is who he is. He does not write movies just for fun, (although sometimes he does have fun with them) but he writes movies to convey a message to the world. Growing up in the suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s, Burton saw conformism at its peak. He knew he did not fit into this conformist society, he did not even fit into his parent's ideal lives. He moved in with his grandparents and began to truly bloom as this individual he is today. The movies Mr. Burton directs are usually about conformism versus individuality. In his movies he often utilizes satire. By using satire he pokes fun at today's society, the American government, and archetypical characters.
     One thing that now is extremely obvious to me, which was not before, is how Tim Burton reuses characters. I particularly noticed a link between the characters of Frankenweenie and those of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The one link which I picked up on right away was the character of Igor in Frankenweenie, and the minion of Dr. Finkelstein in the Nightmare Before Christmas. A more general character, or archetype, which Burton reuses is the trickster. This character is shown in many of his films such as Beetlejuice, Batman, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. The trickster is a character who is out for his own good. He tricks (hence the name) and manipulates people in order to get what he wants, is mischievous and usually inappropriate. Early on in the class, we learned that Burton himself, used to play practical jokes when he was a child. Although he is not, and was not manipulative, I find that as a why he uses the trickster character so much. He is entertained by the trickster and what the trickster does.
     Along with reusing characters, he reuses his films' casts and crews many times. Although this is a known fact, I did not realize all of the cast and crew members which he reuses, and why he reuses them. It is a well known fact that Burton uses Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter, but there are many more he uses. I did not realize how Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Catherine O'Hara, Christopher Lee, and many more were reused so often. Also, Danny Elfman, writes almost all of the music for Tim Burton films. Often, people like to make fun of Burton as being in love with these actors and actresses, but that is not the reason he chooses them. Burton has made a film family with the reuse of actors, actresses and film crew. It is his own little island of misfits, which is how I see the classmates I have in this class.
     We are all very individualistic people, and Dr. McCay respects that about each of us. In a sense, she is our Tim Burton. I am very happy I chose to take The World of Tim Burton as my freshman elective, and I am sure everyone feels the same as I.

Jump - Final Blog

I must say this was one of my favorite classes of this semester, and it is not just because we watched Tim Burton movies every Tuesday, though that was enjoyable. I enjoyed this class because of my newfound appreciation and understanding of Burton and his films. My family is a huge fan of Tim Burton and I have been watching his films since I was a young child, but to be honest I knew very little about him as person. I never knew of his resentment towards his parents, and that Burton eventually moved in with his grandparents as a young adult. I never realized how much of himself and his personal experiences he incorporates into his films. Now that I know of his estranged relationship with his parents I notice the constant theme of parent abandonment. He reflects these emotions in Batman, Batman Returns, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, and other films as well. This made me realize why he works with the same actors and crew over and over again; Burton tries to form the family he never had.

Another theme I now take notice of in Burton’s work is isolation. Burton not only was an outcast in his own family, but he also was an outcast in his town. He made films, he played pranks, and he had very few friends. Isolation comes up in Ed Wood, Sweeney Todd, Frankenweenie, and many others.

Tim Burton is a perfect example of how our hardships are what can make us great. As I explained, Burton is reflects his experiences and his lingering emotions in his films, stories, and his characters. He is now a successful and world renown director, and it is due to the genuinity of his work. He puts himself in his work as a form of personal reflection and expression, but I think he also hopes that his work will be relatable to others. I think he hoped the new kid in town can relate to Edward Scissorhands or a child who feels ignored by their parents can see themselves in Lydia Deetz.

Not only does Burton give people characters to relate to, but he also creates characters that make people reflect upon themselves and their actions. For example, Planet of the Apes is a criticism of how humans are treating the Earth. The film takes place on what we eventually find out to be Earth in the far future that has been destroyed by humans and now is being run by apes. Burton is trying to point out that our planet may have a similar future, maybe without the apes as the ruling species though. Burton comments on a lot of issues in society, for example 50’s suburbia conformity in Edward Scissorhands, the corruption of Victorian England in Sweeney Todd, and the difficulties of working and receiving acceptance in Hollywood in Ed Wood. He uses comedy as to merely poke fun at society and soften the blow; Burton means no harm with his commentary, and he tries to make fun of himself also as to not take himself too seriously. I believe there is a lot we can learn from Burton’s films about society and about ourselves. I will continue to watch Burton’s films, but I will watch with my new knowledge of his work and I will try to reflect upon myself through his work.

Allen, Jacqueline - Final Blog

Over the semester I have come to learn a lot about Tim Burton. This class has opened my eyes to the more meaningful side of movies in general. Before this class I never thought much of movies and the deeper meaning of them. The director’s life or feelings toward a specific issue in society do matter, they incorporate those emotions and opinions into their own works of art, which in this case is film. For example, before this course I could watch a movie such as Big Fish and never know that the movie was created to show the relationship of a father and son who both have so much in common but neither of them take the time out to realize it.

My favorite Burton film that we got to watch would have to be Big Fish, that movie made me cry. . . TWICE! It was so heartfelt and happy, what if death is really like that? I really liked that movie because it made me feel like I was back in Mississippi with my grandfather during the summer with all of that southern hospitality and country accents. 

Now when I watch movies, literally any and every movie I watch I feel like I am a critique whose job is to analyze movies. I could be watching a scene and the lighting could be different in one part of the frame versus a separate part and my faces lights up because I know that something so small as lighting makes a difference in the entire meaning of that scene. I guess one could say that this class widens the perspective of it’s students, as every class should, but this class is different. This class is something students actually enjoy. You know? 

One thing I disliked about this class was Ed Wood, I absolutely hated that movie. It was terrible, I could not keep focus during that class. I also never understood why Tim Burton always uses the name Edward in all of his movies. 

Moving on, My first semester of college was easy yet rocky at the same time. This class taught me that I need to not wait ti the last minute to complete assignments and especially essays! However, I loved this class so much because Professor McCay was so helpful in everything. I changed my major and even got help with French. I am very thankful for the guidance she has given me. As for Loyola in general it is pretty dull. I am actually thinking of transferring somewhere else. I am on the fence though because this school has nice teacher to student ratios and a friendly atmosphere. Occasionally parties and unreligious related events would be nice... You know?

I wish this class has a second course of something that made us do the same things we did in this one. I love this Class if it had a major I would probably switch to it. Oh! I did not mention Pearl but I’ll miss her too! I love you Pearl! :)

Vielma- Its only goodbye for now

This class has been a unexpected journey. I though taking this class would be relaxing and care-free but it really made me think about every Tim Burton movie I've ever seen and will see in the future. These films that I once only saw as creepy and weird since Burton was weird. But after analyzing his movies we see how his movies aren't weird because he is but because weirdness is one thing we tend to see as not normal but Burton wanted to show how not being normal is ok. Burton puts a piece of himself in every movie he makes, not only in adding some sort of quirkiness that has been prevalent in his life, like the dislike to suburbs because they force normality and conformity. This dislike is seen in Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, Beetlejuice and in his works in The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy. Not only does he connect his movies to his own life but he creates the movies with a lot of darkness. I first saw this darkness simply as creepy qualities of himself in movies but I now see this darkness as a way to show the darkness inside of his characters. I first really disliked Burtons take on the Batman movies, because of this darkness and such a gloomy look on Gotham city. Now after this class I see that the gloomy darkness seen in Gotham city not only represents the destruction going on in the city but the destruction going on in Bruce and his villains like the Penguin, Catwoman and the Joker. All of these characters struggle with their feelings and the loneliness they feel and the darkness inside of them due to that loneliness. 

I never thought anything of most of this signature actions Burton includes in many of his movies. But now in analyzing these movies I see how Burton is simply an artist trying to create his mark on the world. And I really enjoy the mark Burton is trying to leave on the world. In the weird and creepy movies Burton has made so popular and mainstream he is converting weirdness to something normal. His works all show how being odd is never a negative. In being odd and weird Lydia finds a true home in Beetlejuice, Edward finds love in Kim in Edward Scissorhands, and Sweeney Todd finds comfort in killing in Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Ed Wood finds comfort in dressinf like a woman in Ed Wood. All of these characters are incredibly odd but find comfort in their oddness. Burton's movies are perfect examples on why being odd is so normal. I consider myself to be quite weird. I'm weird, I've been called that my entire life, but I love being weird. It means I'm not conformist, it means I'm an individual. I've never had to question who I am because I've always been content with being weird. Regardless of my surroundings I keep to being weird. I think this is what Burton tries to get across in his movies, even saying stating that in Alice in Wonderland,  "you're mad. Bonkers. Off your head... but I'll tell you a secret... all of the best people are."

Shubert-"I promise [I'll come back]. Someday. When I'm really supposed to."

At first when I signed up for The World of Tim Burton I imagined a class where we solely watched Tim Burton’s movies and wrote papers on them. However, now that I’ve actually been able to take the class I see that it has been so much more than that. Not only did I get to learn about Tim Burton and his movies on what I have felt is a personal level, but I have also learned about film-making, analyzing films, writing, mise en scene, society, and even a little bit about myself.

 

            Firstly, before I came to this class I was not a Tim Burton junkie. I definitely liked his movies and had seen some of them, but it was not until I took this class that I was able to truly appreciate the movies properly and all Tim Burton had to offer me. I myself am an artist, though I like to act, sing, and dance, not make films, and seeing the process through which Burton has developed into his own genre has changed my view on my life. Burton puts so much of himself into his movies, which makes them, even as a viewer, so much more personal than most movies on the big screen today. Through Tim Burton I have learned to never stop being your own person as an artist and to never let someone change you just to make a buck.

            Furthermore, the fact that Tim Burton’s movies actually teach viewers about society and the world in general was startling to discover as I had only ever regarded his films as entertainment. Also, that the scenes are so exact as to convey specific themes and information about characters, as we have seen by doing mise en scene, baffles me. It had never occurred to me that they put that much thought into each and very scene but I find it very interesting and possibly something I would like to study more in the future.

            Another interesting Tim Burton fact that I had not quite thought about in detail before this is the fact that he works with the same people for almost all of his movies and that he created a sort of artistic family through this. I also thought it was very neat that this was often reflected in his movies such as in Batman Returns with the Penguin’s circus family. However, by far my favorite Tim Burton reflection in a movie was in Big Fish. Not only was this my favorite movie because it was so touching and made me think about reality versus fantasy in a way I had never considered, but also because, as I discovered in one of the class lectures, Tim Burton embodied both of the characters in his own way. I would have never even thought about that movie in such a complex and analytical way had it not been for that very lecture and the whole course in general.

            Overall, although this course flew by very quickly and was a lot of fun, I have learned some very valuable information that I can take with me into my next three and a half years at college and beyond. "The biggest fish in the river gets that way by never being caught."