Malay Frankenweenie Blog

Imagine that you are a film critic for The Maroon.  Write a review of the 2012 Frankenweenie in which you reference the 1984 film.  You should discuss the stop-motion animation of the later film, the ways that animation allows for more freedom of action, and the way that live characters change people’s reaction to those characters.

Sparky in Frankenweenie (2012 Version)

Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie is a fun film that serves as a tribute to his to his early years in film where he produced a short under the same name in 1984. Both Frankenweenie films serve as homage to classic monster movies like Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein, Bela Lugosi’s Dracula as well as many others. The general plots of both films are the same, however some changes were made to the 2012 film in order to accommodate younger audiences. 

The basic plot for both films goes like this: Victor Frankenstein lives in a quiet suburban neighborhood with his parents and his dog Sparky.  Sparky chases after a baseball, but unfortunately get hit by an oncoming car and dies. Victor is devastated and gets the idea to bring Sparky back to life using electricity.  During a lightning storm, Victor goes out to Sparky’s grave, digs him up and takes him back to his attic that has been transformed into a laboratory.  Victor places Sparky on a board attached to pulleys and lifts him up so that way the lightning will hit the bolts in Sparky’s neck, creating enough electricity to jolt his heart back alive.  The plan succeeds and Sparky comes back to life, making Victor giddy with joy. Unfortunately, Sparky cannot be seen since everyone thinks he’s dead, but one afternoon while Victor is at school, Sparky escapes out of the house and wreaks havoc on the whole neighborhood.  Victor’s parents discover that Sparky is alive and decide to let Victor keep him even though the idea of having a reanimated corpse disturbs them (as it would pretty much anyone else). The film ends with Sparky causing more havoc and being chased by a mob of townspeople to a windmill that gets caught on fire. Victor runs into the windmill to save Sparky, but gets trapped. Sparky sees that Victor cannot help himself, so he drags his friend out of the windmill and the townspeople proclaim him a hero and no longer a monster. As Sparky proudly shows the townspeople his dedication to his friend, debris from the burning windmill fall on and kills him. Victor wakes up to see his dog dead once again, but since the townspeople saw what a good dog Sparky actually was, they decide to hook up jumper cables from their car batteries to Sparky and revive him again thus ending the film. 

The 1984 version of Frankenweenie uses live actors, while the 2012 version is all stop motion and computer animation. The use of live actors limits the amount of creative freedom for the filmmaker because people cannot be as easily manipulated as animated characters. In the 2012 version, almost all of the supporting characters were caricatures of some type, which adds an element of humor into the film. Examples of these overdone characters would be Edgar the henchman, Mr. Rzykruski the science teacher and Toshiaki the star baseball pitcher. Having the 2012 version be animated also helped to expand the freedom of action in the movie. There is a scene in the 2012 film where Toshiaki and Bob are testing out a homemade jetpack on Bob’s roof and, of course, everything goes wrong and Bob lands straight on his face while Toshiaki just stands there and films everything. That scene added some humor to the film (arguably) and help to lighten up the mood. That scene could not have been done in the 1984 version for two reasons: 1. Those characters were not involved and 2. Even if they had been, the scene would have been too risky and dark to do especially with child actors. Animation allows more humor to come through because, in this case, no one is actually getting hurt.  

Overall both films are great to watch, it is just a matter of preference which one a person will like most. The 1984 version has a more serious undertone, where as the 2012 version has more goofy, slapstick humor.

Malay Sweeney Todd Blog

   Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street challenges viewers to sympathize with and relate to Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett. How does Time Burton overcome moral revulsion and murder and cannibalism? No matter what iteration of the story one finds, cannibalism is always a central element. This element attempts"to make sense of the most atavistic of human impulses, emotions, desires, and destinies" (The Wonderful and Surprising History 69). See the article posted before doing the blog, so you can discuss cannibalism in relation to growth and urbanization of London.

  Cannibalism is taken to its literal and metaphorical meanings in Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. 

Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett

  Literally, the customers of Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop are eating their fellow citizens because industrialization has forced the price of meat to skyrocket and why pay for meat when you can get it for free? Mrs. Lovett is a businesswoman working her way around the system, but she is also working around the fact that she wants Sweeney Todd for herself. She corrupts him and makes him go mad by telling him the story of what happened to his wife and daughter. Her version of the story makes Todd have sympathy for her for being kind to his wife, but in reality Mrs. Lovett treated Lucy terribly and kept her hid away from the rest of the world. 

  Also, and I am not too sure of this, but I believe she may have conspired with Judge Turpin in trying to get rid of Todd’s wife, but Lovett placed all the blame of Turpin to make herself look like the better person in Todd’s eyes. In this way Lovett and Turpin are metaphorically devouring Lucy by making her his and her object of attention. The metaphor of cannibalism also can be seen in how Turpin uses his position as judge to get what he wants. He “eats up” the people he does not like by giving them harsh sentences such as the scene when he sentences the little redhead boy to be hung until he dies.  He especially uses his power to get rid of Todd in order to have Lucy and Johanna for himself. 

  The urbanization of London is causing the people to become corrupt and “devour” each other, whether it is through power in the government or power in scamming the masses like Senior Pirelli does with his elixir. One thing to be noted about the film also is the lack of color. Everything seems dark and dreary from the clothes to the state of the buildings to the attitude of the people. Nothing seems happy and the smokestacks always looming in the background show how urbanization and capitalism cause the morale of people to become savage towards one another. The people are devouring each other so that way they have a better chance of being the person in control as opposed to being the controlled.

Malay Big Fish Blog

Specter, Alabama

Discuss how Tim Burton merges the sunny character of Edward Bloom with the darker grotesque characters who people the film. Why do those people like Edward, and why does Edward like them? Discuss at least two scenes in your blog. Burton said of his own father that he had forgotten how much larger than life he was than his neighbors' parents.  He had only his canine teeth left, so he wore dentures that he would take out; then he would howl at the moon and scare the neighbors' children into thinking him a werewolf.  He was, said Burton, "a real fairy-tale character."

  Edward likes the darker characters because he does not see them for their darkness and strangeness; he only seems them as people. Others have rejected the darker characters because they are considered freaks, like the circus people, or odd like the people of Specter, but Edward likes these people because he’s such an open, non-judgmental person.  The scene when Edward goes to the circus and meets the Ring Master and the performers show how truly non-judgmental he is. Instead of rejecting these people, he actually ends up working for them doing various odd jobs and such in order to find out more about his eventual wife Sandra.

            The darker characters like Edward because he gives them a sense of belonging and they feel wanted by him. He has such a shining personality that they feel they do not have to worry about being judged or rejected. They also like how optimistic Edward is and his optimism gives them hope that they never really had before. Being shunned by society and then being accepted by someone from the outside, for them, is a really good feeling and it makes those people realize that, yes they are different in society’s eyes, but that being different is okay. A scene that shows this is when Edward meets Karl. Karl is trying to be driven out of the town, but after realizing that he’s just a misunderstood person, Edward takes the time to get to know him and realizes that Karl isn’t such a bad guy after all. Eventually they become good friends and Karl realizes that he doesn’t have to be alone because as long as he has Edward, everything is going to be okay.

            Tim Burton had a similar relationship with his father as Will does to his father. They are just trying to figure out whom the other person is and this misunderstanding drives them apart, but eventually they both learn what their father’s have to offer and that they are not such distant people after all and there are things they can learn and pass on to their own children.  

Malay Sleepy Hollow Blog

Burton incorporates much of the scenery of the story into the film. It’s harvest season and everyone is preparing himself or herself for winter. The city is filled with ghost stories and folklore, but the people of the town are not mentioned too often in the story unlike the movie. A striking difference between the story and the film is that Burton seems to take a more dark approach to the atmosphere. He keeps the season the same, but there is a much more eerie feeling to the town than in the story.  The main character’s names are, generally speaking, all the same, but the plot line is drastically different as most of you probably noticed. Burton goes with a more murder-mystery like approach where as in the original story there is more of a folktale approach. One thing that I really enjoyed about Burton’s take on the story is that he adds a second element of the supernatural through Katrina’s stepmother. The Headless Horseman’s character is mysterious enough, but I really liked how there was also an explanation behind why he cuts off people’s heads.

The town of Sleepy Hollow

            Burton was trying to do more with Irving’s story, which is why he added so many different elements to it. Perhaps Burton though that Irving’s ideas were good, but that they needed some more background information and explanation. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a classic horror story and I’m really happy that Burton decided to take his spin on it. Johnny Depp was amazing as always, but I think that a certain element was missing from not going by the original description of Ichabod Crane. Like I said, Depp’s performance was amazing, but I think that if Burton maybe wanted to win people over a little more, he should have gone by the original description of Crane and made him less scientific minded and more greedy since in the original story he just wants to marry Katrina for her land so he can turn around and make a profit on it.

            The two stories are both well done for what they are and if you try to compare one to the other it’s understandable why people might be dissatisfied or confused, but something that needs to be remembered is that Burton was not trying to do an exact remake of the story, he was just trying to fill in some background information while adding a bit of his own flare.

Malay Planet of the Apes Blog

Thade versus Davidson

Power versus exploitation is an obvious duality in Planet of the Apes. The apes are well educated and their social structure is fairly modern which is ironic because for being so educated, they treat humans as less than second-class citizens. There are many historical events that show how the exploitation of the inferiors is for the benefit of the powerful (The French Revolution is a prime example of the powerful taking advantage of those below them or a more modern example would be the exploitation of children in underdeveloped countries working 18-plus hours shifts per day for little pay only to the benefit of the company the children assemble products for.) In the film there are two specific scenes that stand out in my mind especially. When the apes capture Davidson after the ambush in the beginning of the film, other humans are pulling the cart that the captured humans are being crowded into. The humans pulling the cart and the humans in the cart are being treated like cattle for slaughter. The apes are exploiting the cart-pullers by using them like we would horses or oxen and the people in the cart are soon to be treated just the same. The second scene that stands out in my mind the most is the dinner scene at Ari’s house. The humans are the servants to the apes and by being forced into this type of slavery; the apes are exploiting the humans for their own benefit. A historical parallel to this would be serfdom in medieval Europe. The peasants had no hope of social mobility or material advancement the same way the humans have no hope of that either. The peasants were bound to their land and bound to their social class, as are the humans. The humans are born into a society that would not allow them the same freedoms and privileges as those above them and so by not allowing for material or social advancement, the humans were ultimately bound to their owners and their social class.  As stated before, the power versus exploitation theme in Planet of the Apes is obvious and perhaps what Burton is trying to say to the viewers is that there are still forms of exploitation happening today and we should give it attention in the same way we give attention to other big issues today too.

Malay Mars Attacks! Blog

 Choose two scenes that illustrate how Burton humorously satirizes government, the military, capitalism and patriotism inMars Attacks.  What is the film saying about sacred institutions? You might also discuss how the film parodies the science fiction genre taken so seriously by films such as Blade Runner, Alien, and Independence Day. If you have seenIndependence Day, think of the respect paid to the President in that film, versus the treatment of Jack Nicholson's role inMars Attacks.

Mars Attacks! Alien

In Mars Attacks! Burton satirizes government in the scene where the Martians kill all of the congressmen and women. The Martians go to Washington D.C. to apologize for killing all of the people in Nevada, however their apology is not sincere because within five minutes of being there, they annihilate everyone. By killing all of the congress-people, Burton further reveals the true anarchist nature of the Martians. Burton also makes a political statement in this scene criticizing the fact that the American government makes everyone conform to its standards and if they do not, then we invade those people’s country and start war. The Martians in Mars Attacks! are similar to the Martians in Plan Nine from Outer Space in that they represent the fact that American loves to destroy others who are different from us. Burton is saying that the anarchist spirit of the Mars Attacks! Martians are like the anarchist that America feels in that we do not have to abide by everyone else’s rules, but that they must abide by ours. Burton is satirizing the notion of American exceptionalism in this scene.

The satirizing of patriotism is present in the scene when the Washington Monument is about to fall over onto a group of Cub Scouts.  The idea that one of the most American of American monuments would crush a group of one of America’s most American organizations is ironic. It parallels the idea that America will destroy itself from the inside presented in Plan Nine from Outer Space. The satirizing of patriotism also is a reference to the hyper-patriotism in Independence Day. By making fun of that, Burton is also poking at the idea that America has too much patriotism in general because most of the monuments destroyed by the aliens are American monuments.

A common plague of the science fiction genre is that its films take themselves too seriously. For example, Independence Day is loaded with images of terror and destruction that make the viewers feel that all is lost and there is no hope left in sight. Burton pokes fun at that too by making the aliens look silly and the American people look silly because they lose a war to little green men with giant, exposed brains. Burton shows viewers that sci-fi doesn’t always have to be dreary and depressing.

Malay Ed Wood Blog

After you have watched the Tim Burton Film, read the posted article, and watched the documentary by Jonathan Ross, I want you to discuss three elements in Burton's Biopic that pay homage to what Wood as a director was doing in his films. Some scenes in Tim Bruton's film are actually taken directly from Wood's films.  Why?

Ed Wood

Element #1: Cross-Dressing. Now this might seem kind of obvious, but the fact that it is incorporated states a few things about Burton’s willingness to take risks. Burton could have easily left out the fact that Ed Wood liked to wear women’s clothing and made the biopic solely about how terrible his movies were, but he didn’t do that. Instead Burton focused in on that specific trait and showed how it made Ed Wood feel more comfortable and confident not only in himself as a person, but also as a director/producer/actor.

Element #2: Johnny Depp as Ed Wood. Burton has a knack for reusing actors over and over again in his films, which is what Ed Wood did in his films as well. This element is vital in the biopic because it shows how Burton draws some similarities to what Ed Wood was doing. By reusing the same actors and actresses over and over again in films, it becomes very evident, trademark almost, that “Oh this is an Ed Wood film.” Or “Oh this is a Tim Burton film”.

Element #3: Storybook beginning and ending: A biopic is a story, a film is a story and by having the film start with Criswell and end with Criswell there is a sense of wholeness and completion not only with the film itself, but Ed Wood as a person and his career. Ed Wood wanted to tell stories through motion picture and so it only seems fitting that Burton would tell Ed’s story through a motion picture.

The scenes taken directly from Wood’s films are also a way of paying homage to him because if the scenes were not in the biopic, some people may not have the motivation or want to see any of Ed’s films because of the fact that they are rated some of the worst films ever by one of the worst directors in all of film history. By adding in scenes directly from the movie, the audience gets a better sense of who Ed was and how he went about making his films in Burton’s biopic. Essentially what Burton is trying to get across is that Ed Wood was not a bad person at all, he was just incapable of realizing that what he was putting out was not good.