Malay Oyster Boy Blog 1

Anchor Baby and Mother

The story that I decided to analyze is Anchor Baby and all in all I think the main point that Burton is trying to get at here is that too often girls throw themselves away for something that is ultimately not what they imagined it to be mostly in the form of marriage having children. The lady in the sea seems to be alone and her desire to be one of the people on land is what pushes her to give up her life in the ocean and it seems that she does so without really considering the potential consequences of her actions. All she can see is what she allows herself to see; she does not critically analyze the situation by not thinking of the bad possibilities, but only the good ones. Her loneliness is the motivating force behind her wanting to go to land disguised as wanting Walker for herself. Perhaps she is an outsider in her community and just wants to be accepted somewhere else by someone else. The lady of the sea’s Jungian archetype is The Lover. She wants intimacy and experience even though it comes at the risk (and ultimately results in) her losing her own identity.

            The anchor baby is the consequence she faces as a result of not being more caring for herself and letting her desires completely engulf her. I would argue that the anchor baby is somewhat of a physical representation of the feelings of outsiderness and loneliness that the lady of the sea felt before she met Walker on land. Her emotions are now anchored to her and the thing she once tried getting rid of is now what she ends up with again and everything in this sense is completed. She begins a lonely person and ends a lonely person tied down by this anchor baby (her emotions). This is one of the few stories where I would say that there is a sense of resolution for this fact. As a child Burton was alone and was an outsider and arguably one of the anchors that always held him down was the fact that his parents neglected him as a child and perhaps what Burton is trying to get at here is not only the idea that women too easily throw themselves away, but also that people have these anchors that weigh them down through out their lives and in some cases that comes in the form of giving up ones own identity for someone else or being an outsider and neglected.

Malay Carnival Blog

Mardi Gras masks and beads

Carnival is about doing things that you would never normally do before you have to sacrifice something for Lent and the idea of masks and costumes helps to perfectly keep this idea alive by hiding the identity of the people doing the things that they want that they would normally never do otherwise. This is where the underlying chaos of Carnival comes into play.

I didn’t actually go out on Mardi Gras day, but other than Thursday at Muses I went to 5 different parades over the weekend (Iris, Tucks, Okeanos, Mid-City and Thoth). The colors at all of the parades were very bright and vibrant, reflecting the spirit of the season however there was almost a darker feel to the parades for the fact that everyone was wearing masks and in some cases dressed in full costume to hide their true identities. There were also darker and more evil elements in some of the floats too. At Iris there was a float that was Voodoo themed and had a giant Voodoo doll with pin stuck all in it that passed by and at Thoth there was a float called “The Valley of the Kings” as well as a float dedicated to Stephen King and more specifically the movie IT. Evil is present quite obviously in theses float because Voodoo dolls are used to bring harm to other people and the pharos of Egypt believed in the possible evils faced in the afterlife. The Stephen King float (which kind of speaks for itself) has evil elements in it because IT was supposed to be a nice clown that all the children loved, but instead ends up killing all of them.

Masks and the idea of having a double identity are very evident in Burton’s works; for example Catwoman is not only a secretary by the name of Selina Kyle, but the other side of her is a strong and very powerful feminine figure who calls herself Catwoman. During the day Selina Kyle would never be a strong and powerful woman, but as soon as the night draws near, she puts on the Cat suit and mask and becomes a completely different person, more confident and hard-as-nails, than earlier that day. The double identity concept reminds me of a quote from Alice in Wonderland where Alice says "'I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!'"(Alice in Wonderland, Caroll, Ch 2 Pg 8)

Malay Edward Scissorhands

Edward Scissorhands Art

The violence exhibited in traditional fairytales is often linked to the moral of the tale Urban myths are the modern day way of getting people to be controlled out of fear and fear is a huge motivator for most people. The morality in modern life comes from fear whether it be fear of the government, fear of a higher being and the afterlife or fears that are presented in fairy tales and urban legends. By preying on the minds of people who only listen to the news or television or what have you for direction and do not make their own opinions, the fear the media disperses on a daily basis is what runs their lives. Fear has the ability to make people conform and thus be afraid of stepping out of line.

In Edward Scissorhands, everyone’s houses are all plain, pastel colors; the cars are all plain pastel colors. Nothing seems to be out of line and everything runs as it should and no one questions the motives of their actions. They just mindless do as they always have done without criticizing or thinking why, that is until Edward comes into the picture. He stands out more than anyone in the town not only with his physical appearance, but his personality too.  Unlike the rest of the men portrayed in the town, Edward is very shy and very kept to himself. He doesn’t talk about the game on Sunday or how he has that big presentation for work on due Thursday, he just sits back and observes. Even though he doesn’t say much, sometimes it’s the quiet ones that speak the loudest. In this case Edward shows how the morality of the town is decaying. Even though everything looks pristine and nice on the outside, the people, especially the women, are all gossipy and constantly on the phone with one another saying things such as “Did you see so-and-so’s hair? Oh my gosh it was horrible!! And those shoes with that blouse…” The town slowly begins to decay even further when the people begin to take advantage of Edward and then no longer is he just the new guy in town, he turns into everyone’s personal barber, hedge trimmer, dog groomer. Edward is more human than any of the people in the town because he is willing to go out of his way to do nice things for people even when they treat him like dirt when the people of the town are all caught up in their gossip and themselves.