The unkindest cut

A film, like all works of art, is the result of choices. Decisions about actors, setting, the way the story is told and the "look" of the film - lighting, costume and make-up - generally have to be made well before shooting begins. Analysing a film includes taking notice of these choices.

Edward Scissorhands (1990) is an intrinsically interesting movie, especially to teenagers - who should appreciate its stars, its story and its themes. The idea of the lonely, alienated young outsider is, after all, at least as old in movies as James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.

It's also an especially good film for appreciating that the "language" of film is unique, that the medium communicates in a different way from a book, a piece of music or even a TV programme. Like other films directed by Tim Burton, including the extraordinary-looking Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), it definitely benefits from being seen on a large screen - which is what makes the Film Institute of Ireland screenings of the film, in association with The Irish Times, particularly valuable (see below).

Edward Scissorhands defies easy categorisation. It has elements of the teen and horror genres. Its name is suggestive of a child's fairytale. It's funny. And it sharply satirises all sorts of things, from suburban respectability to the emptiness of a father's dinner-table advice.

Edward: the outsider

The character of Edward (Johnny Depp) is a fantasy figure, the not-quite-finished invention of a reclusive old scientist (Vincent Price), his "father", who dies just as he is presenting Edward with his real hands. We learn in Edward's flashbacks about his origins. Told by his friend and mother figure Peg to "be yourself", Edward dwells on the idea of self, remembering the various humanlike robots which inhabited his inventor's spooky lair. Has he really got a self, or is he just another imitation person, another of his inventor's machines?

Another flashback shows the inventor reading instructions on high-class table etiquette from a book on good manners. "Etiquette," the inventor tells Edward, "guards us from all humiliation and discomfort."

If only it were true. However, the inventor's tips on etiquette turn out to be as useless as the advice on starting a business he gets from his foster father, Mr Boggs (Alan Arkin). Once he comes down from the hill, humiliation and discomfort are unavoidable for Edward.

Although we learn early on that Edward's shy, gentle character is in benign contrast to his menacing appearance, the suburban world he enters judges things primarily on appearance. His exoticism draws a strong reaction from the townspeople, part attraction, part repulsion. But there's always the danger that they will turn against him, turn him into an outsider again.

Ironically, the local religious nut, Esmerelda, and the local spoiled juvenile delinquent, Jim, will voice and then enforce the community's urge for conformity.

His best defence is his mother figure, Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest). But her belief that Edward's difference can be covered with makeup (a quest that takes her all the way to the top of the Avon cosmetic company she works for!) means that, for all her affection, she can't quite cope with Edward's genuine difference.

Although Peg and even the stereotyped local housewives may have learned something by the end of the film from their encounter with the exotic Edward, only one character can be said to really change, and that's Kim Boggs (Winona Ryder).

How does that happen? Why, by the power of love of course.

The way this occurs is itself quite interesting. While Edward Scissorhands is quite scathing about suburban superficiality, it doesn't adopt the easy satirical target of television. Instead, when Edward goes on a local TV chat show to show off his hairstyling and pet-grooming skills, he's met by a sympathetic studio audience who have more helpful things to say than his "real-life" neighbours. When he's asked if he has a girlfriend, if there's a "special someone", Edward pauses interminably and leans slowly toward the microphone. Kim, watching at home, is suddenly transfixed. In spite of her mocking boyfriend, she and Edward "bond" with their eyes across the boundary of the TV screen - until Edward's hands set off sparks on the mike stand, he collapses and the moment is lost! Kim and Edward will have more "magic moments", but that TV-mediated one leaves us wondering: what's artificial, what's real?

This page is written by Harry Browne, based on the excellent, much more extensive study guide by Sarah Smith for the Film Institute of Ireland. It is available from the institute's education department (tel: (01) 679 5744; fax: (01) 671 1453; email: education@ifc.ie).