Vielma- Cutting a Fairytale apart?

Most of the fairy tales I recall from my childhood are all pretty tame. A girl falls asleep in a bed then runs away when seeing bears, a girl bites an apple passes out and wakes up due to a kiss. All boring and plain. But when finding out about the original tales you find that these tales were quite violent. The girl was killed, the apple was poison. It all was actually gruesome, but I saw them as just pretend. In our contemporary life violence is everywhere and people say life is no fairy tale. But isn't it? We see people killed for power everyday and dozens of princesses were plotted to be killed by a stepmother for their power. Isn't this the same as a gang shooting of their leader in order to gain new leadership? Fairy tales are much like our contemporary lives and we juts choose to ignore that or think of fairy tales as the pristine violence that is justified later or even soiled before the violence comes to happen. The violence in the fairytales is seen as morally correct. As in when a stepmother wants to kill the princess the stepmothers plan is discovered and foiled and we learn an important lesson about persevering or keeping to your dreams and somehow those will save you. TA-DA, the moral of the story justifies the violence to be had in the fairytale. 
But in our current life is our violence justified? Is the shooting of a little boy while playing in the park justifiable? Is the morality in the cops that put their sirens on in order to get to McDonald's in time to still catch the breakfast deal?
In Edward's own suburbia there are immoral people that are only lightly covered by morality. Joyce seems "innocent" if you avoid the cleavage, but to her neighbors nothing is really questioned. But when she tries to seduce Edward then accuses him of rape, we see how her immoral behavior is not even close to being justified. Edward is a simple plain person, trying to connect with others and trying not to hurt anyone. in actuality all the violence done by Edward is done completely by accident and is thought to be done purposely. The opposite of our fairytales, the harm done later justified with a moral, is here a moral act causing harm thought unjustifiably. The entire scene of suburbia that Edward is put in is backwards as they justify the immoral and treat the moral acts as unjustifiable and create so much hate towards Edward. 

Coby- Eddie Skizzor Hands

The town in which Edward lives, is directly derived from the lack luster minds of the majority of the citizens of that age. The age of denial of differences, and a strong belief in uniformity. Even though some would branch outside of the box, the majority rules as always. Mob mentality , so powerful it can caused by an infuated lie or ignorance. In reality the world in which I live, is progressed into something beautiful . The fact that i can walk down the street without having racial slurs screamed at me , or profane remarks about my actions that could be hardly misunderstood as suspicious. Now the majority is more excepting of different natures of people, no matter what walk of life or diety. We have ways to go, but compared to the society in which Edward lived in we are a dwarf among midgets...... Edward lived in not necassarily bad society, but a dangerous one people who are different. Extremely dangerous. A highly underdevolped society in which citizens concertrate more on themselves rather than others. The surbia had a robotic nature, that concentrated on boxing in the people from the outside world. Not necassarily enforced by government , but definitely pressured, which made the people of that typical suburbia think that there society was perfect the way it was. Their ignorance wasnt even a bliss, it was poison to outsiders, such as Edward.

If Edward where to be put into a modern day society, people would obviously be puzzled due to his sharp digits . But without a doubt accepted by many people. Especially at Loyola University New Orleans. His outside features would definitely be looked past, but still understood, and accepted. Definitely would be an ice breaker, but due to his underdevolped complex conversation would be very interesting. Hard and Interesting. But im sure the students at this school would definitely get a kick out the fact that he is out of the ordinary but recognize that Edward still is human and deserves to be treated like such. The art Edward would produce would be ideal for fitting in with Music Majors, and Art History Majors. Edward incompleteness can be in sense "complete" with the people that would surround him on a daily basis. That is morality of modern society, not just here at Loyno , but in a lot places versus the trash hole Edward was brought to in the film .

Williams-Let There Be Hands!

I am not exactly sure where I am supposed to go with the prompt.  If we are talking about morality, Edward seems to be the only character in this movie with it. Although he manipulates the meaning of right and wrong, he does it with his heart not with mal-intent. Everyone tries to portray the perfect personality, but in reality, every one is judgmental, selfish, and cruel. It is funny that the monster has more of heart than the suburban housewives combined.  On the other hand Peg has a heart, but she is too naïve to really make a difference in how the neighborhood works. She is like a doormat. People see her, use her, then move on. It is the same with Edward. He let’s everyone take advantage of him because he lives in this fairy tale world that if he nice and does good things people will love him.

Edward Scissorshands made me feel like I was in alternative universe. The nauseating pastel houses, the overly done housewives, and the overall shallowness of town, along with Danny Elfman’s score gave me a very Dr. Seuss vibe. Edward’s punk style and pale visage contrasted perfectly with the very made up and colorful people of  the neighborhood. Whereas Edward was quiet and sweet, the neighbors were loud and rude. If it was Burton’s goal, I believe he achieved having me believe that the housewives were more terrifying than Edward’s hands.  

While I enjoyed the movie, the overall fakeness of the characters was irritating. The redeeming quality, character wise, was Johnny Depp playing Edward. While he didn’t have many lines, Depp’s ability to characterize Edward’s sweet childlike innocence was brilliant and very well done. Also the ending of the movie is somewhat unsatisfying and anticlimactic. The ending seemed to come straight out of a very cheesy fairytale, which I guess in hindsight is the point. While it was cute and heartwarming, it didn’t exactly fit the tale. After a great climax to the movie, the ending made me feel like the angry mob when the officer said that Edward was gone, disappointed and confused.

So I guess in answer to the prompt, no the town is not squeaky clean. The people in are very corrupt, and it doesn’t seem that Edward made a difference when he left the town.

wadsworth- Edawrd Scissorhands

   Edward Scissorhands is a movie about a boy who was never complete. He trys to fit in and does for a little while, until things sort of fall apart. Towards the end you see that the girl Edward is in love with finally loves him back. This sounds like a fairy tale, right? Well some parts of the movie seem like a fairy tale, and others, well... they seem more violent and nothing like you see in a fairy tale. There is some violence in fairy tales, such as Hansel and Gretel, but the violence is normally to enhance the moral of the story. In Edward Scissorhands, Edward gets beat up by Kim's ex-boyfriend and their is no moral behind this. Edward, at this point in the movie, was getting harassed by everyone but the family who which he had lived with.
   Just like most fariey tales, the movie had a castle, a problem to be solved, (almost) romantic ending, and started with the opening of the story with it happening a long time ago. Edward lives in a castle on top of hill just outside of the town. He has to solve his problem about him being "incomplete"(not having his hands). The romantic part of the ending is when Kim tells Edward that she loves him and kisses him. The way old Kim started her story was "Well, a long time ago, an inventor lived in that mansion. He made many things, I suppose. He also created a man." This is just like any other fairy tale, with "once upon a time" begging.
   While there may be many of these fairy tale elements, there are some things in the movie that aren't fairy tale like. The very ending wasn't fairy tale like at all. In fairy tales that everyone knows there is a happy ending. And yes some people can say that Edward got to live and that is happy ending, but in fairy tales the girl and boy end up together and live happily ever after. 
   Edward in the begging was brought to this "picture perfect" city. We soon find out that this isn't true. The city is full of gossip and the people are very selfish. They are all into Edward's business and want him to help them for free and love him until they no longer need him around or want him around. The town has transgressed into a town full of harsh people that aren't realizing what is actually going on. They all at the end have no worries about what Edward had done for them or what a great guy he really was. They just saw what everyone was all assuming of Edward to be such a terrible person.  
   

Butler - Edward Scissorhands

The fairy tale-esque world Tim Burton creates in Edward Scissorhands is very reflective of the fairytales in the past. The fairy tale as we all know today is not the traditional fairy tale our ancestors grew up with. In the past, fairy tales have possessed a very dark and violent tone to go along with the story. However, this dark and violent tone was necessary for the story’s moral to be fully realized. The violence and darkness that would be found in these fairy tales involved such examples like Little Red Riding Hood being eaten by the Wolf, the Little Mermaid killing herself and turning into sea froth, and the evil stepsisters eyes being pecked out by birds in Cinderella. These violent endings were incredibly important to the story, as they created a good moral. These morals were great for their time period, however, they don’t necessarily hold up to today’s society.

Morality in modern times is very difficult to find. The world is filled with violence, hate, and lying. Because of this, many people in today’s world live lives that are not of a high moral standard. Examples of these kinds of people would be murderers, corrupt politicians, and shady businessmen. This leads to a small bubble of people who can truly be morally good. This bubble includes small children and babies due to their innocence. Their lack of knowledge helps to create morality in their lives. However, due to the outside forces of the world, this morality and innocence will soon diminish and create flaws in their personalities. This idea of innocence can be found in the beginning of the movie through the viewer’s first look at the suburban setting.

            The suburbia in which Edward is brought to originally appears to be a very kind and welcoming place to live. The houses are all the same basic size, and the houses come in a variety of bright pastels. This gives the viewer the idea that this suburban neighborhood is a very wonderful and joyous place to live. However, this notion is very wrong. Throughout the movie, the viewer learns of the various transgressions found throughout the community. These transgressions of the neighbor are numerous, the most noticeable of them being as nosy, gossiping neighbors, a nympho, and a hive mentality. This hive mentality is the biggest downfall of the community, as the community quickly turns on Edward after the police catch him at Jim’s house.

Perkal- Edward Scissorhands

A traditional fairytale is usually a story, which people wish would happen to them.  It is glossy and mostly has a happy ending, such as Disney or happy animated movies.  Edward Scissorhands, on the other hand, is not a typical fairytale.  I would not describe it as a fairy tale, but that it resembles one.  The movie starts out with a Grandmother telling a story to her granddaughter.  The audience is left in wonder throughout the whole movie as to who these two characters are. Edward Scissorhands has the violence of a traditional tale, similar to the old Disney movies until they were made to have happy endings. We see violence when Edward fights with Bella’s boyfriend, but only to defend her because he loves her.  Another time violence occurs in Edward Scissorhands is when Edward becomes angry and wrecks the house because that is what he is familiar with doing. Edward Scissorhands is similar to a fairytale because he is the outcast in a normal town, such as Cinderella who was an outcast in her own house with her family.  The idea of isolation or rejection seems to be a recurring theme in fairytales. 

In modern life mortality is seen in people who do good things for others.  In this instance, Peg would be the one with the morals in the story of Edward Scissorhands.  The society that Peg lives in is supposed to be where everyone is considered to be “normal” and following the correct morals.  The only person in Peg’s town that should be considered “squeaky clean” is Peg because she takes in Edward even though he is an outcast and may not be familiar with the aspect of living in a town with strict morals.  Small towns like Peg’s are so focused on their image and one small thing that goes wrong and the whole town is shattered by it.  Peg is able to change her friends view of Edward and help them to reach out of their comfort zone and accept him.  The town transgresses when Peg’s friends start to accept Edward even though he is different than him.  They find him unique because of his ability to cut their hair and make their plants look better.  There was a transition in the movie when Edward was at Peg’s first party and all of her friends started to accept Edward and become fascinated with him and he was able to use his talent to fit in with the town even after not being familiar with their morals. 

 

Eljumaily-Edward's Fairytale

Frankenstein, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk…..all of these common old fairytales rely on some sort of final moral lesson. What happens, however, when these fairytales are thrown into the cruel and unforgiving modern times that we live in? Edward Scissorhands performs just that complicated feat, turning a fairytale much like the Frankenstein monster’s into a tragedy of rejection and isolation. This isn’t much of a change from the original tales, but the combination of modern violence and ancient moral adventure makes for a much more complex tale. Edward’s quest into suburbia and his escape back into his mansion show the true colors of the seemingly clean and perfect town that the Bogg’s live in.

            One of the most surprising parts of Edward’s new home and family is that other than Peg and her children, there seems to be no moral foundation. Everyone gossips, cheats, steals, and gangs up against those who are different. Although the whole idea of bringing Edward into town was meant to help a lonely young boy out, it only showed him the true terrors of the world and ended up with him being run out. Much like Frankenstein, Edward only wants to help and do well, but is gradually seen as more and more of a freak and more of a liability.

            In almost every fairytale, the main character has some sort of incredible talent that makes up for their disability. The Frankenstein monster had incredible intelligence, but was misunderstood because of his grotesque image. Edward makes beautiful art with his hands, and at first the people of Suburbia take to him and love what he does. As it becomes clearer and clearer however that Edward is not anything like the rest of the people, they begin to take every excuse they can to make him seem like a dangerous creation. He turns down the seductress, gets used for theft, and always gets into trouble with his scissor hands.

            The moral of the fairytale that Burton tries to base this story on is less of a moral and more of a warning. As a troubled artist, Burton knows what it is like to feel rejection and fake love. Although everyone loves Edward and his talent from the start, they end up chasing him out of town. Burton tries to portray how he feels about the industry he works in by showing that everybody only loves you for a certain amount of time, until your talent gets old. The moral is to see through those who will give you false hope and love only for your talent and to stay close to those who truly love you. This is why Edward finally returns to his home on the mountain, knowing that Kim loves him and saved him.