How would you react if you stumbled across a teen with scissors for hands? Would you take him home, call the cops, or turn around and leave hoping to never see him again? Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands brings this scenario to life, questioning how accepting people can be about those that appear abnormal in their normal society.
A Boy Named Edward
An inventor living in an old gothic manor on the hill creates a young boy with scissors for hands. He creates a real pair of hands but dies from a heart attack before gifting the hands to his created son. Twenty years later, Peg Boggs comes across the manor selling Avon. Coming across young Edward, she decides to bring him home making him a part of her family. However, the town who once accepted him turns on the outcast wanting to believe the lies that he is nothing more than a monster.
Edward Scissorhands (1990) official trailer on Youtube
The Town Folk
Edward Scissorhands (Jonny Depp) is a young quiet teen that doesn’t understand the world around him due to his many years in isolation. He uses his hands to cut hair and hedges giving his earnings to the Boggs family to return their kindness for taking him in.
Kim Boggs (Winona Ryder) is Peg’s daughter and comes across Edward when returning home from college. At first, she’s scared of him and wants her parents to remove him from the home. Over time, her feelings for him changes and she falls in love with him. She is naïve wanting to be popular but at the same time trying to discover who she is outside of how her friends see her.
Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest) is a loving wife and caring mother to her two children. She takes Edward into her home seeing that he’s harmless and in need of guidance. She sees him as an innocent child and is protective of him trying to keep him safe from the other women in town.
Jim (Anthony Michael Hall) is Kim’s boyfriend and sees Edward as prey using Edward to break into his parents’ home and to take the blame for Jim’s actions. He believes that Kim belongs to him and will attack anyone that denies what he wants. He is hot tempered and rash using violence when others disagree with him.
Rejecting Being Normal
This movie is a unique take on the story of Frankenstein giving the old story a fresh update. Frankenstein’s monster was an innocent soul that was misunderstood by the town it was set loose upon. It’s interesting that the movie is a story within a story as a Grandmother is explaining how snow falls in the town connecting it to the unique snow angels Edward creates with ice.
I would rate this film a seven out of ten due to its poetic story and realistic development of its characters. The film goes for the generic mob scene, yet I found it odd that the entire town would go after a person based on rumors without giving them a trial or allowing the police to handle the situation. This made it seem less realistic given the era the film was created in.
The story shows that society will still lash out on those they consider to be outcasts not seeing them as victims or lonely innocents seeking out a helping hand. Showing that everyone even those that are created by an inventor wants nothing more then love and acceptance.
Now, shush, I’m trying to read
Luna
