Edward Scissorhands

Annotation for KRRR! 2013 by Daniela Paulová

Edward Scissorhands needs no introduction. The sweet, somewhat frightened and unhealthy pale Johnny Depp was certainly admired by many children in the 90s. It is from Edward with his characteristic disheveled raven hair, scratches on his face and huge scissors instead of hands that we can trace the beginning of the successful and rather unique in Hollywood creative collaboration between the Johnny Depp and Tim Burton tandem.

Edward Scissorhands is Tim Burton's most personal and intimate film to date. The story of a good-natured unfinished creation quite possibly represents his childhood experiences, where there was no place for the shy and introverted child that Tim Burton was. Through Edward, he portrays an atmosphere of isolation, misunderstanding and social rejection.

Edward is the unfinished creation of an old scientist who dies before he is able to finish his work. Edward's solitary life changes when the local Avon lady Pegg Boggs comes to visit him and takes him into her home. A typical American small town with gossiping neighbors accepts Edward as a distraction from the everyday stereotype, which includes seemingly casual barbecues, visits and cocktails. True, Edward's appearance definitely does not fit into the candy-colored pastel houses. However, thanks to his scissors, he finds application in beautifying not only trees and bushes, but also the idle small-town ladies themselves. However, Edward differs from others and seems like a monster, he is able to show much more understanding, emotion and love than the envious and vengeful people around him.

Edward Scissorhands is built mainly on fairy tale and horror conventions, which is already evident in the opening sequences of the film. While the opening credits refer to the aesthetics of horror films, the beginning of the storyline calmly pushes us into our seats. Together with the little girl lying in a huge bed, we anxiously await the adventurous romantic fairy tale that the grandmother, sitting in a classic upholstered wing chair, is about to tell us. The horror connotations announced at the beginning of the film are further strengthened by the casting of Vincent Price in the role of the inventor. Let us recall that Vincent Price was an icon of horror films of the 50s and 60s, and with his role in Edward Scissorhands, he returned to his favorite genre at the very end of his film career after a long hiatus. The final scene, when we return to the children's room, closes the fairy tale arc, which is made special by horror conventions. Tim Burton wanted to film Edward Scissorhands in his hometown of Burbank, California. However, in his opinion, the town had changed so much that the entire production was moved to Florida. In the town of Lutz, they rented fifty family houses and repainted their facades in pastel colors to make them look like they were cut from an American small-town idyll. The calm but disturbing colors hint at something sinister beneath the candy-candy facade... And perhaps it is thanks to this impressive clash of idyll and disillusion, fairy tale and horror, good monster and bad people that Edward Scissorhands, even more than twenty years after its creation, feels a bit contemporary and a bit like from another time.