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| Ed Wood Film Poster |
While discussing Tim Burton’s Ed Wood in class, I fully supported its peculiar humor and
heartwarming relationship between Bela Lugosi and Ed Wood; however, after
reading Kathi Maoi’s movie review, I believe that Burton could have been more
realistic for his viewers. While I was entertained and drawn in by the
bizarrities and general plot, the naivity of Ed Wood did bother me at times. He
never truly undergoes any great change. He begins with these starry eyes of
becoming the greatest director, producer, and actor combo that the world has
ever seen. He also ends this way. Burton never reveals too many great
struggles. Ed Wood searches both for film investors and for acceptance of his
cross-dressing throughout the film. I think that the struggles Ed faced while
dressing in women’s clothing was well represented to Wood’s biographical life struggles;
however, the film fell short in representing his financial struggles. As Maoi
said, “Johnny Depp is marvelous… my only
complaint is that the writers did not allow him to express any of the
self-doubt and desperation Mr. Wood must have felt [when he wasn’t publicly
putting the most positive spin on his dubious film career].” I do agree that
writers could have focused on this segment of Wood’s life struggles more, but
at the same time I believe that Burton did a magnificent job as usual at
creating an emotional bond for his audience with the characters.
Another homage
that Burton executed nicely was incorporating scenes directly from Wood’s
films, like Plan 9 from Outer Space,
throughout the film. This directorial choice added to the realism in Wood’s
films and I also think he chose to do this because of the common theme between
many of the films. While Burton definitely related to Wood’s biographical life
as an odd film director, I think that some of the themes that Wood attempted to
portray really appealed to Burton. In Plan
9 from Outer Space, the aliens say that humans are juvenile and really do
not use their brains. They proceed to explain how this will be the downfall to
the entire universe. I think Burton really enjoys revealing humanity’s flaws as
well. Burton takes this similar concept and applies how people treat other
people (like with most people surrounding Ed Wood before he collects his
equally bizarre cast or “freaks” as his ex-girlfriend refers to them as). Although
I had never seen any of Ed Wood’s films before now, I still developed a
relationship with the characters and thoroughly enjoyed the screenplay
throughout Burton’s Ed Wood. Learning
more about Ed Wood biographically only added to another of Burton’s
entertaining and fascinating artworks.
I definitely agree with your point that in the film Ed Wood never seems to get discouraged or worry about finances or things of that nature, when in reality, he probably worried about those things a lot. But I think Depp's portrayal of Wood as a totally optimistic, never doubtful character works for this movie anyway. Like you said, the audience feels an emotional connection with Ed Wood and roots for him to succeed, and I'm not sure how much we would have rooted for him if we had seen him doubting himself the way everyone else did. I believe Burton emphasizes Ed's optimism throughout the film to show that he never lost hope and always believed in himself, even when the world said his movies were terrible. And I also agree with you that using scenes from Wood's actual movies adds to the realism and lets the audience see what Ed's films were actually like, instead of just Burton's interpretation of them.
ReplyDelete- Ashley Lay
I thought his financial struggles were represented fairly well in the film. Ed Wood lived in a dumpy, one bedroom apartment, barely had change for alcohol, and jumped at any sight of wealth he saw. What really highlights this idea is the way that the crew steals the giant octopus that Bela has to wrestle with and the way he begs Vampira to star in his films.
ReplyDelete-Summer Balbero