Reisz Big Fish

Edward Bloom

            I particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition between the sunny Edward Bloom and the somewhat darker character inhabiting Big Fish. The commonalities that the characters Edward Bloom ran into was that they were all rather misunderstood. Most people run away in disgust or ignorant fear; however, Bloom is not afraid (after all he knows how he is going to die) and takes the time to get to know the darker creatures. For example, the young boys run from the scary looking witch but Bloom stays and talks to her. Another example would be the giant who seems frightening at first but is simply a kind and misunderstood creature. Edward Bloom is such a sunny character because of his wide-eyed optimism towards life and people. He says during the werewolf scene that, “most things that you consider evil or wicked are simply lonely” (1:06:45). This understanding for outcasts and those who are misunderstood merges any creature with Bloom despite any personality differences. Edward himself likes them because they are so much greater than life, like him. He also has a compassionate heart that enjoys helping those in need. Bloom displays this by helping the giant find a home and saving Spectre free of charge.

However, a good heart is not enough to link together Bloom with such dark creatures. Another important factor is Edward Bloom’s grander-than-life personality. One would expect no ordinary creature in his fantasies. This personality matches directly with Burton’s real-life father who Burton has said was, “a real fairy-tale character.” Although Bloom is an average man, he was a great fairy-tale character through his fantasies and in his mind’s eye. I think that Burton took on Big Fish as a sort of homage to his father. Burton always loves tying in his personal life and emotions into his work, which I think can clearly be seen by the final mutual understanding between father and son. Perhaps Burton wished that he had the opportunity to reach this mutual understanding with his own father before he passed. Burton’s love for his father combined with his admiration for the strange and unusual, like Edward Bloom’s fantasies, can be seen through his work in the heart-wrenching film Big Fish.

Tim Burton Quote on Big Fish

Reisz Batman

Batman and The Joker

      Tim Burton practices film noir to create a unique mood throughout his version of Batman. A major element of film noir is the use of stark dark angular shadows mixed with an off-balance feel of the world. Burton’s set embodied this darkness with shadows in almost every frame and a 2-D comic book feel that created an off-balance feel for Gotham City.  Urban modernity is another key element of film noir, which is seen through Gotham city’s filth, industrialization, and heavy population. This urban element aided the dark and detached feel of the city that rubbed off on many of the characters. The urban modernity helped explain why the characters thought and behaved in the dark ways that they did. Burton himself despised suburbs and cities that looked all the same, like Gotham City. He believed that they cut people off from expressing themselves and promoted categorization. Gotham City's dark limitations clearly rubbed off on its citizens as many have become corrupt and backhanded figures.

Another revolutionary element of film noir that is especially prominent in Burton’s film was the depiction of femme fatales characters. The femme fatales characters use their powers of seductive in attempts to attain greater supremacy in society. Vicki Vale embodies this seductive siren role as she is first seen as a pair of long legs in heels. Knox is immediately drawn in as she continues seducing him in order to attain assistance in her quest for the Batman. She then continues to do a similar act with Wayne until she actually begins to fall in love with him. This shift in her motives is a common element in film noir in which the femme fatales becomes domesticated in society.

Other elements of this new seductive woman are portrayed in Jack’s mistress. This plays off of the original reason for the femme fatales characters which was the fear of men during World War II that their wives would cheat on them while they were away at war. Other small details Burton adds to the film that farther promote this include the portraits of harlot women that hang in the gangsters’ rooms and the tight low-cut dresses that many of the women wore. This picture of a woman was something forbidden and scandalous, which adds to Burton’s dark mood and corruption that shocked many viewers.

While many of these film noir techniques enhance the mood of the film, I think that it makes Burton stray from his traditional opinions and his film characteristics. Burton himself said that he felt the most emotionally detached from this film because of the creative restrictions that came with the scripts preproduction and constant changing. While I think that Batman and the Joker prove that people are complex individuals, the overall Manichean worldview of the characters and narrow categorization of women that film noir presents goes against Burton’s usual beliefs. Normally straying from stereotypical archetypes, Burton does fall more in line with it through his depiction of femme fatales women and quick idiotic romances. However, while many of the women are objectified, Burton is also presenting a type of woman that strays from society’s ‘norm.’