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Timothy William Burton was born on 25 August 1958 in Burbank, California. He began drawing at an early age, and later on attended the California Institute of Arts. He collaborated with Disney in the making of the six-minute animated film Vincent (1982), a tribute to Vincent Price with whom he would also collaborate in 199o’s Edward Scissorhands, and the 27-minute live action film Frankenweenie (1984), which was judged unsuitable for children and never got released. Burton subsequently stopped collaborating with Disney because he realized that the company’s style was very far from his own idiosyncrasy and sensibility. In 1985 he directed the film Pee Wee’s Adventure, an enormous box office-hit, and then the supernatural comedy Beetlejuice (1988). With 1989’s Batman, his less personal film so far and yet one of the most successful films of all times, Burton received critical and commercial acclaim and gained unprecedented power in Hollywood. No one could ever imagine the succession of films such as Edward Scissorhands (1990), Batman Returns (1992), Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Big Fish (2003), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Alice In Wonderland (2010), and many others.
As a child, Burton related to the monster figures which were abundant in the B-movies of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s: Frankenstein, Wolfman, Godzilla, an assortment of Draculas, Vincent Price’s villains and the monster of the black lagoon. This amalgam of influences made him later develop his own personal hero, the typical Burtonian male character. The image of the ‘'outcast’' appears in various forms in Burton’s movies: the persecuted monster, the mad genius, the maniac, the unfinished young man living in his own Gothic dreamworld, and the disturbed superhero who struggles with his evil alter ego. These guises overlap and amalgamate, weaving a complex picture of the typical Burtonian male character. Usually, the eccentric boy who hasn’t still grown up, stands against the 'reasonable' but 'cruel' crowd which cannot accept his 'difference', and most of the times he ends up being persecuted by it. Burton’s protagonists refuse to accept the official version of the world and through magic binoculars they notice things other people cannot see. They think that becoming part of their surrounding reality is something really scary.
Through the years, Burton created his own personal style which can be described as a 'great result with the use of very simple means', which has made him extremely popular with audiences of all ages. In many of his films, he narrates a quite simple story which is directly accessible by everyone thanks to the beautiful images he creates; they are far more eloquent than words. Despite being clear, however, Burton's message is emotionally deep and complex. He does not use any elaborate means of showing the complexity and unpredictability of the adult world, such as intricate montage, 'philosophical' long takes or logical discrepancies between picture and sound. On the contrary, there is an ultimate correlation between picture and sound and his grand imagery lies everywhere, from the beginning of the film until the end producing symbolisms which facilitate the plot. Setting, decorations, texture, colors, lighting, framing, make-up and costumes are, each in their own right, static elements of the mise-en-scène, making his works particularly atmospheric. His symbols are not covered with the veil of realism; on the contrary they can be interpreted in a variety of ways.
Burton’s films are very close to the German expressionist aesthetic (distortion of reality, extensive use of chiaroscuro, high degree of stylisation, emphasis on metaphor and symbol) whereas the narrative rules (there is no linearity nor any kind of structure) are sacrificed in order to give space to the visual magnitude. Furthermore, he uses many archetypal schemata such as the death of the father-creator, the conflict between father and son, the hero myth, as well as seductive female figures who, despite never being protagonists (with the exception of Corpse Bride’s Emily and Alice in Alice In Wonderland), they play key roles, for example Catwoman in Batman Returns, the witch in Big Fish, or the Red Queen in Alice In Wonderland.
In Burton’s case, the perfection of cinematic techniques is not as important as the initial impulse to create, to express a feeling, to give the audience a space where they can connect with the heroes on their own terms and at their own pace. After all, cinema is the kind of magic that creates life out of 'lifeless matter'.
Sources:
As a child, Burton related to the monster figures which were abundant in the B-movies of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s: Frankenstein, Wolfman, Godzilla, an assortment of Draculas, Vincent Price’s villains and the monster of the black lagoon. This amalgam of influences made him later develop his own personal hero, the typical Burtonian male character. The image of the ‘'outcast’' appears in various forms in Burton’s movies: the persecuted monster, the mad genius, the maniac, the unfinished young man living in his own Gothic dreamworld, and the disturbed superhero who struggles with his evil alter ego. These guises overlap and amalgamate, weaving a complex picture of the typical Burtonian male character. Usually, the eccentric boy who hasn’t still grown up, stands against the 'reasonable' but 'cruel' crowd which cannot accept his 'difference', and most of the times he ends up being persecuted by it. Burton’s protagonists refuse to accept the official version of the world and through magic binoculars they notice things other people cannot see. They think that becoming part of their surrounding reality is something really scary.
Through the years, Burton created his own personal style which can be described as a 'great result with the use of very simple means', which has made him extremely popular with audiences of all ages. In many of his films, he narrates a quite simple story which is directly accessible by everyone thanks to the beautiful images he creates; they are far more eloquent than words. Despite being clear, however, Burton's message is emotionally deep and complex. He does not use any elaborate means of showing the complexity and unpredictability of the adult world, such as intricate montage, 'philosophical' long takes or logical discrepancies between picture and sound. On the contrary, there is an ultimate correlation between picture and sound and his grand imagery lies everywhere, from the beginning of the film until the end producing symbolisms which facilitate the plot. Setting, decorations, texture, colors, lighting, framing, make-up and costumes are, each in their own right, static elements of the mise-en-scène, making his works particularly atmospheric. His symbols are not covered with the veil of realism; on the contrary they can be interpreted in a variety of ways.
Burton’s films are very close to the German expressionist aesthetic (distortion of reality, extensive use of chiaroscuro, high degree of stylisation, emphasis on metaphor and symbol) whereas the narrative rules (there is no linearity nor any kind of structure) are sacrificed in order to give space to the visual magnitude. Furthermore, he uses many archetypal schemata such as the death of the father-creator, the conflict between father and son, the hero myth, as well as seductive female figures who, despite never being protagonists (with the exception of Corpse Bride’s Emily and Alice in Alice In Wonderland), they play key roles, for example Catwoman in Batman Returns, the witch in Big Fish, or the Red Queen in Alice In Wonderland.
In Burton’s case, the perfection of cinematic techniques is not as important as the initial impulse to create, to express a feeling, to give the audience a space where they can connect with the heroes on their own terms and at their own pace. After all, cinema is the kind of magic that creates life out of 'lifeless matter'.
Sources:
Bassil-Morozow, H. (2010) Tim Burton: The Monster and the Crowd, London: Routledge
IMDb (n.d.) Biography for Tim Burton (I), www.imdb.com/name/ nm0000318/bio
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