Scissorhands Critique

Written By:

Jacob Gilbert-Mahoney

Mitchell Duncan

In the film Edward Scissorhands, Johnny Depp plays the lead role of Edward Scissorhands. His entire performance is rather silent, as he only speaks 169 words throughout the entire film. There are many themes within this particular movie, including romance, hatred, and fear. All of these incorporate into Depp’s character as an isolated monstrosity. This antihero, who dominantly speaks without speaking, can be very powerful and influential to the viewer through acting with his eyes. Once his secluded character is finally brought into society, he undergoes a slow change as to adapt newfound home.

Johnny Depp made many choices in the film that we make throughout our daily lives. The only difference is that his isolation caused him to never develop his common sense and difference right and wrong and good and evil. The more he stays within reality; he becomes more enabled to develop these traits. It does not come fast though, halfway through the film; he is tricked into robbing a house, and is then arrested. Soon after these events, his neighbor Joyce enacts to seduce him, but is rejected, causing her to take revenge by claiming he tried to “rape” her.  This combined with the break-in cause his former chums to turn their backs on him along with Peg and her family for taking him in.

The colors of the people’s clothing, houses, and cars contrast largely to Edward’s costuming. While everyone and everything appears colorful and flashy, Edward’s attire is of very black clothing, pale complexion, facial scars, and crazy hair. This was likely as a way to display Edward’s difficulty to blend with reality and the people he is surrounded with. His attrite also matches his disposition, which is very different from the happy and out going personalities of the community members. We find this very important because it displays the uniqueness of Edward and the similarities of everyone in the small neighborhood. Costuming is clearly of the essence in this motion picture because the actor can portray a monstrosity to his heart’s desire, but if he doesn’t appear different from the others, the full effect cannot sink in to the audience. We thought this was well used through the entirety of the screenplay, as it matched very well with the musical score.

The portrayal of his role uses different techniques. The director uses full-front position to help display vulnerability and silence as a character. His entire role is reprised through acting with his eyes. In variation, Tim Burton (director of the film) also uses the three-quarter turn at the first reveal of Edward to make appear hostile. As the plot evolves, this impression changes from a violent figure to a passion-driven character. This excellent use of camerawork and angling helps the viewers understand the characters and plot in a deeper meaning.

To establish an effective use of mystery, Burton uses many different techniques for lighting in the film. One example is his use of low-key lighting at the first reveal of Edward. This particular use of lighting is used to create a mysterious and somewhat ominous view of a character. At first glance, you can only see Edward’s silhouette as he emerges from the shadows, and revealing his scissorhands. This helps create this ominous feeling, exciting the viewer, and giving the deceiving sense that Peg, for example, felt in that instance.  Another easy to spot lighting technique is used is backlighting. This type of lighting is used effectively most during the romantic scenes. In Edward Scissorhands, Kim realizes her feeling for Edward when she is dancing in the “snow” (shaved ice from Edward’s ice sculpture). In the background you can spot bright flashes of light as if an aura around her, even though the scene was shot at night.

The film still has its share of flaws to it despite its overall positive appeal. Kim’s brother, Kevin, played by Robert Oliveri, plays a very small, and rather unimportant role throughout almost the entire film. The only major set piece he plays is near the film’s end when Edward saves him from a drunk driver, but his actions have the consequence of mistakenly cutting him while trying to help him up. Also, at the film’s end, it is revealed that the elderly woman speaking is Kim. She believes that Edward is still alive, even after all this time, because before he came down from the mansion, there was no snow, but after he did, there always was. The film claims that the ice sculptures he makes in his mansion, he uses to make snow, which falls upon the neighborhood below. The problem with this theory is how in the world he managed to get the ice, minus actually brining it into the mansion. It isn’t possible that he managed to carry those tons of ice into his home. Kim claims she never went up to the mansion afterwards because she wanted to remember her as a young girl and not as an elderly woman. That means had to remain entirely self-sufficient as he went back to his old life of isolation, so how does he manage to get all of that ice? This plot hole appears to be the only major one, but it is quite a big one.

To conclude, Edward Scissorhands is very well a good movie. It teaches high moral values, an obvious one being: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” It’s symbolic, enjoyable, and delivers an outgoing message to the audience. Yet the film has its issues, with a major plot hole, and the protagonist can be a tad over-the-top. Its understandable that Edward was secluded from society, thus has no common sense, but the only missing components were his hands. Cant he still portray emotions on some level rather than evolving them when finally in society? It is easily a Tim Burton classic to be preserved through the ages.

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